Laura, When I went to high school back around 1973 or so we did have a course in household finances, and it was required for all students. The only thing it didn't cover was how to do your own taxes. I wish it had. I've always done my own taxes and it amazes me how many people have no idea how the tax codes work (even people running small businesses), and thus are easily manipulated by politicians into supporting policies that will make them worse off. James Simmons <div class="gmail_quote">On Sun, Mar 3, 2013 at 8:49 PM, Laura Vargas <<a href="mailto:laura@somosazucar.org" target="_blank">laura@somosazucar.org</a>> wrote: <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"> <div>Interesting points of views from the permaculture list :D</div><div> <div class="gmail_quote">---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: venaurafarm <<a href="mailto:venaurafarm@bellsouth.net" target="_blank">venaurafarm@bellsouth.net</a>> Date: 2013/2/27 Subject: [permaculture] Courses needed in public education institutions: Re: Who is this + 'GOT BALLS?' To: permaculture <<a href="mailto:permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org" target="_blank">permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org</a>> On 2/27/2013 10:53 AM, deston denniston wrote: > Its nice to see so many people coming aware of the need to get a > national conversation and standard set in regards to certification. > Its also nice to see that the six years Ive been watching Vlad and > calling him a menace is finally being seen by others (there have been > a few, but this is the surge of awareness I had hopped to see six > years ago, when I had some verbal sparring right here on ibiblio with > him, prior to his exorcism... Yay! a national standards conversation > and some headway made to a national certifying body! Our permaculture > mind is often moribund- many people fail in permaculture 'businesses' > not because permaculture is flawed, but because they think it solves > all the problems. However, it doesn't directly model the necessary > actions for business success- that's not its job. It also says use > multiple elements for each function. So it pays to have other forms > and models of life assessment and arrangement to work with that are > complimentary to ones cash resliency and stability. With that, I > entreat you to check out our kickstarter project. VETS_CAFE is > producing Illuminated text and site designs for 2.5 acre veteran > owned organic permaculture farm via a PDC. Your support gets you > seedballs, which we have the capacity to produce at a few hundred > pounds a day, and capacity increases every time we tinker with it... > <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/694901181/vets-cafe-a-permaculture-design-project/posts." target="_blank">http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/694901181/vets-cafe-a-permaculture-design-project/posts.</a>.. > GOT BALLS? Other things people need include coursework to prepare them for economic survival. A high school course in 1) permaculture would be very useful plus 2) courses in computer programming to teach them how to think and 3) the following from a friend in NC: "I always used to wonder why high school students never got any coursework in household finances. You'd think the most important things they'd ever need to know would be: 1) How to do your own taxes, and take advantage of the tax code; 2) How to prepare (and stick to) a realistic household budget; 3) How to make large purchases: how to buy a car, and a house, without getting ripped off; 4) How to understand financing paperwork; when to sign, when not to sign; 5) How and when to sue; how to respond to being sued; 6) How to set up a small home business. These are the most important things everyone needs to be able to understand." _______________________________________________ permaculture mailing list <a href="mailto:permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org" target="_blank">permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org</a> subscribe/unsubscribe|user config|list info: <a href="http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/permaculture" target="_blank">http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/permaculture</a> message archives: <a href="http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/permaculture/" target="_blank">http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/permaculture/</a> Google message archive search: site: <a href="http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/permaculture" target="_blank">lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/permaculture</a> [searchstring] Permaculture Institute USA <a href="http://permaculture.org" target="_blank">http://permaculture.org</a> Avant Geared <a href="http://www.avantgeared.com" target="_blank">http://www.avantgeared.com</a> </div> <div> </div>-- Laura V. I&D SomosAZUCAR.Org Skype acaire IRC kaametza </div> _______________________________________________ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) <a href="mailto:IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org">IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org</a> <a href="http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep" target="_blank">http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep</a> </blockquote></div>