Friday Musings 7-19-13

Made in China

Our household is hosting 2 teenage girls from China. Photo shows Silvia and Catalina with my daughter Aubrey (English names they asked us to call them.) They shared they study from 7:30 in the morning to 10 at night 6 days a week. They are very happy to have a break in their studies. After we picked them up at the airport Aubrey asked them, "Anything you want to know?" and they answered, "Where are the cute boys?" and "When can we shop?" We did go shopping one evening and they were so frustrated all the clothing was made in China. So starts our 10 day hosting adventure!

Happy 95th Birthday to Nelson Mandela

"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." Nelson Mandela

I think it is important to remember our "audacious" educational objectives. We write lesson plans thinking of individual or family outcomes..... but we must consider community, nation, and world changes, too. They are more likely to happen if we build them into the plan.

Proactive or Reactive opportunities for Education - No matter, let's take advantage of the situation

McDonalds Employee Budgeting Tools

McDonalds provided a favor for those of us in personal financial education this week. They brought to the forefront the topic of budgeting and for that I thank them. From a Forbes article.... "As the McDonald's decided to teach its employees how to create one. But in doing so, the company may have inadvertently done something else: Shown that it’s nearly impossible to make a living off the minimum wage.Take a look at the sample budget, provided in a Web site that McDonald’s created in conjunction with Visa  Here are some of the main criticisms of it:

saying goes, everyone should have a budget. No matter how much or how little you make, a budget will help you reach your financial goals, right? Possibly with that idea in mind,

• It assumes the worker is working two jobs.
• It surmises that health insurance costs $20 a month.
• It doesn’t include child care, groceries, clothing or gas for the worker’s car."

So, what is our response? Is it an opportunity to share our great materials, resources, and educational programs for the development of realistic budgets? I think so.

Financial education: Does your state make the grade? 

"Champlain College's Center for Financial Literacy, using national data, has graded all 50 states on their efforts to produce financially literate high school graduates. What the grading shows is that we have a long way to go before we are a financially literate nation."   What? Minnesota a "D" - aren't we always above average? And, who is Champlain College? Again, another opportunity to share educational information to inform this subject matter.
 
Note from the author of this blog: Hello. I am Trish Olson, a program leader with the University of Minnesota Extension Center for Family Development. I write this blog primarily for the team I work with in Extension, and welcome others who find it a useful weekly reflection. My goals for writing this blog are to stimulate informal discussion, look at local and world events in the context of our work in the Center for Family Development, and perhaps put a smile on your face. I do heavily quote from other sources - but always put quote in " " and cite the reference.  I really encourage the use of the comment function to fully benefit from this blog. If you have received this because someone forwarded it to you and  you would like to be added to the notification list contact me at pdolson@umn.edu. Have a nice day.