I apologize in advance to any school administrators reading this blog who know far more than I do about why America teaches what it teaches in our schools. I can only comment on my personal experience, which was taking pre-calculus and calculus in high school and struggling through every minute of it. Then I took the one required math course at Indiana University during my undergrad and struggled through that one too. And what I can say now is that in my opinion most people would be better off in life if they were taught negotiation instead of calculus in school.
I know there are some people whose jobs require that they know a lot about math. If you are an engineer, a physicist or some other type of math nerd you are going to need those skills in life. But lets face it, if you are going to be an engineer you are going to have to take a lot of math courses in college. This makes sense. What does not make sense to me is requiring the english major who wants to teach 6th grade language arts suffer through calculus level math in high school and college. If the english major was interested in math he or she would have majored in math. And I won't even start about how useless calculus is in everyday life to most of us, because I think we all know that much.
Wouldn't it make sense if schools spent time on negotiation instead of math for those students not planning on going into a math-intensive field? It seems to me that learning how to negotiate is its own form of useful problem solving, which is similar to math, but a whole lot more useful to the general public. Think about how many people hate to buy a car due to the negotiating that goes on in order to get the best deal. Since we are all likely to buy several cars in our lifetime it seems like this is a useful skill to be teaching children in our schools.
Many of the clients I meet with at Halcomb Singler with debt problems are frustrated that the interest rates on their credit cards have risen or that they aren't making enough money at work. These frustrations lead to financial difficulty. Why not equip people through our schools with the skills necessary to be aware that one can call up a credit card company and negotiate the rate or walk into his or her boss' office and lay out the reasons that a raise is appropriate. Isn't the skill of negotiating down medical bills after a car accident more useful than calculus?
What I have observed with many of my clients at Halcomb Singler is that they are afraid to negotiate. This may be out of the fear of someone telling them "no," because they don't know if it appropriate to negotiate in a certain situation or because they don't know what to ask for in negotiations. In my opinion just about everything is negotiable. This is especially true for those who are behind on their bills and attempting to avoid bankruptcy. If you are able to pay $50.00 on a $150.00 bill why not call and see if the creditor will accept $50.00? This does not take any specialized legal knowledge. It simply takes the guts to pick up the phone and ask. The worst thing that can happen is that they say "no."
I think it is a great idea for people to try to negotiate down their debts to avoid filing for bankruptcy. However, those using this method should be aware that negotiations may have some negative tax consequences, so it is important to check with your accountant or attorney about the potential tax consequences of your negotiations prior to doing so. Now that I have potentially offended school administrators I ask any of you who are teachers, school administrators or parents of children in school whether we are preparing our students for the negotiation of life? If we are not I believe we are doing our children a disservice and we should start asking why such an important skill is overlooked by education.
Halcomb Singler, LLP, is a debt relief agency. It helps people file for bankruptcy under the bankruptcy code. No attorney-client relationship with the firm of Halcomb Singler, LLP, is created through this blog. Also, please note that Erika Singler is an attorney licensed in Indiana and does not seek to practice law in any jurisdiction in which they are not properly authorized to do so. The information contained in this blog is general in nature and should not be relied upon for the circumstances of any individual(s) or businesses.
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