EDIT: A lot of you are reading into the tweet while still somehow agreeing with the overall message. No one is saying we should eliminate music programs or that we should teach toddlers about healthcare plans. The tweet is making this thing called a --checks notes-- joke, that also conveys the message that schools could teach more practical skills that young adults will need going forward.
Kids should learn about taxes and other important life lessons. However musical studies help kids a lot. It improves memory, hand eye coordination, increases grey matter in their brains, improves fine motor skills…all sorts of benefits come from learning a musical instrument. Plus once they can actually play you’ll have a live in classical jukebox.
Have you heard hot cross buns? The tune has three notes, everyone plays the melody because that’s all their is, and it’s like 8 measures long. Maybe even 4 and we just played it slow, I don’t remember. It’s the beginner song. Elementary school kids can handle it, especially since we had to sing and dance every year up until then (also simple stuff for kids).
Kids learn to read, to write and to do basic math. Congrats, you can now do taxes and choose a health plan. Most specific tasks people complain about are just the application of other more general skills school aims to teach… And the people who make these complaints are usually the same ones who would fuck around in class and not listen even if they got the classes they “wish for”.
Music is also important, but your first sentence is bogus.
Are you from the US? Because our tax forms are needlessly complicated thanks to lobbyists. It’s not just basic math…by design. And since getting rid of the lobbyists is out of the school’s control, there SHOULD be education. No need to learn how to do it yourself, just pay for TurboTax to make it easy!
There should be more education for our financial system in general. But that would take money from the middlemen and we can’t have that here apparently
Yes I’m from the US and yes it IS easy for most people who can file a 1040 EZ. IF you have to file long form it is marginally more complicated I will grant you, but it’s still read and follow directions. There is still micro economics on the menu if you want more of the finer points of personal finance BUT that is an aside and you still don’t need a PhD to fill out a tax form.
It would of course be great if the government just eliminated or greatly reduced the tax filing process like other countries which as you say is the result of lobbying. HOWEVER. The education that is needed is not “how do I fill out my tax form”, but instead “how do lobbies and special interest groups ruin my life as a result of unfettered capitalism, and how can I help fix that problem”.
Taking the general lesson to the specific application can take training. Not everyone will understand taxes just by reading. Look at how many adults now a days don’t understand tax brackets as a good example. Tax brackets are something that is fairly simple to explain and yet we have a good portion of adults who don’t understand them and will insist they get less money while getting a raise.
My first sentence isn’t bogus, you just happened to understand the general lessons and apply them to the specific application. Other people find that challenging.
Thank you. Every time “why don’t they teach taxes in school?” comes up I want to pull my hair out. All most people have to do is copy about 10 numbers from their w2 into 10 boxes on their 1040ez, do elementary school math, and sign. That’s it. If you attended 2nd grade you learned all of this.
Ah yes, my school health class taught me about nutrition. So I should be able to go home and cook a healthy meal no problemo. Right? Riiiiiiight???
Okay but does the music have to be from a recorder? The sound makes me bleed from the eyes.
The Recorder in general isn’t a bad instrument, though. If you hear a flute from the Baroque period, it’s most likely the Recorder. It requires sophisticated technique, but since it’s cheap to make, teachers use it as a teaching method without even knowing that they use the tongue to stop their breath, or that air pressure varies depending on the pitch being made. Also, there are many types of Recorders. What the children use are Soprano recorders, which have a high pitch (duh).
A kid who complains about not learning taxes in school. Would never of paid attention in those classes in school.
Would never of
It’s “would never’ve” or “would never have”. Who wasn’t paying attention in class?
I didn’t pay attention to grammer because that’s for dorks who use the internet toooooooooooooo much
Being exceedingly pedantic about grammar to “own” somebody you disagree with doesn’t make you right, it just makes you an asshole.
This is barely a grammar issue and more of an ignore issue, besides it completely fits the topic this time.
The IRS gives you a 100 page step-by-step manual, and only requires addition, subtraction, multiplication and (rarely) division. For someone who just has a W-2, you fill out one field for income and do the math for the tax bracket.
Refigure your depletion deduction for the AMT. To do so, use only income and deductions allowed for the AMT when refiguring the limit based on taxable income from the property under section 613(a) and the limit based on taxable income, with certain adjustments, under section 613A(d)(1). Also, your depletion deduction for mines, wells, and other natural deposits under section 611 is limited to the property’s adjusted basis at the end of the year, as refigured for the AMT, unless you are an independent producer or royalty owner claiming percentage depletion for oil and gas wells under section 613A©.
I was taught budgeting in middle school where they actively taught people 3/4 of your monthly paycheck NEEDS to go to your mortgage.
I thought it was bank propaganda looking back on it.
Most people learn recorder around 8-10 years old. I don’t know why you would want to learn taxes at that age.
Schools teach mathematics, reading comprehension, and how to follow instructions. With those 3 skills people can do their taxes. We used to do it with a paper form and a paper book full of instructions. Now there are programs that do pretty much everything for you, all you need to do is answer questions. If you can’t figure out how to do taxes then you have a bigger problem than the schools not directly teaching you how. As far as understanding all of the intricacies of US tax law, that is a much larger, more complex issue than they would or could reach in general education. There are entire university programs for that education.
I’m not defending our tax system, I’m saying that with a remedial education you can figure out how to file your taxes. I agree that our system is overly complex to benefit the wealthy. It would be great if they just told us what we owe and we confirm it. But given the system we have, you can figure out how to file your taxes. It’s not that difficult for an average person, in an average situation.
Schools teach mathematics, reading comprehension, and how to follow instructions. With those 3 skills people can do their taxes.
Sure, and since laws are just writing you don’t need lawyers at all, everyone can just represent themselves. In fact, why do specialties exist at all? Programming is just typing, and everyone can type, so everyone can program. Surgery is just cutting things, so if you can use a knife, you can be a surgeon.
I mean, how could someone not easily know what to do when given such clear instructions as:
"Refigure your depletion deduction for the AMT. To do so, use only income and deductions allowed for the AMT when refiguring the limit based on taxable income from the property under section 613(a) and the limit based on taxable income, with certain adjustments, under section 613A(d)(1). Also, your depletion deduction for mines, wells, and other natural deposits under section 611 is limited to the property’s adjusted basis at the end of the year, as refigured for the AMT, unless you are an independent producer or royalty owner claiming percentage depletion for oil and gas wells under section 613A©. "
And none of those examples that you gave are taught in elementary school or highschool. They’re taught as college careers because there’s a breadth of knowledge required to specialize in those fields. We also have tax attorneys, and accountants who specialize in personal tax filing. They learned those skills in college.
Absurd. We should never replace the arts with Home Economics. Two different things. Maybe less time should be spent in those Bush Era textbooks.
It’s meant to be absurd. Buried in the absurdity is a grain of truth.
The problem is, neither the arts nor home economics are valued in the education sphere and we don’t base education policies on science.
As an example, an elementary music teacher I know said “in a school year I will have seen each child for 24 hours. That’s not enough time to reach them some music theory or how to play an instrument.”
