Yahoo Finance Jaime Leverton: FTX implosion exposes critical gap in education of Canada's children
Late last year, the spectacular implosion of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX led to some interesting conversations with fellow parents and highlighted a critical gap in the education of our children.
Many parents were fielding challenging questions from their children on digital currencies and safe investing that they needed help answering. In Canada, the use of digital is still very new; the Bank of Canada reports that only 13 per cent of Canadians own Bitcoin.
Worse, parents are increasingly anxious about their children’s financial literacy and ability to provide them with the level of sophistication and financial savvy required by the next generation.
Their concern is understandable. A 2022 Maura Public Opinion survey found that only 15 per cent of Canadians consider themselves financially literate regarding life insurance, investments, and stocks.
And a survey released by Toronto-Dominion Bank in October 2021 showed that 33 per cent of Canadian parents surveyed are not confident they are setting a healthy financial example for their children.
Increased financial literacy alongside a more future-forward economic focus (that includes digital assets) will better prepare the next generation to manage their money and business lives as well as help break cyclical generations of economic insecurity with more knowledge while helping lay the foundation for a more innovative economy.
To do this in a scalable, equitable and practical way, the solutions must come from Canada’s public schools. Parents cannot teach what they were never taught, and the failure to close this knowledge gap will further fuel generational economic inequality.
The good news is that all the components needed to address this issue are coming together. It helps that the call for increased financial literacy in schools is familiar and that the benefits are clear and well-accepted. Studies have found that school programs for financial literacy are linked to less debt and more assets among students.
And as financial matters — from financial products to investing and managing debt — have become much more complex than they used to be, the call for better financial education increases, and schools and school boards are stepping up.
Ontario announced high schools across the province would include financial literacy education as part of the revised and mandatory Grade 10 career studies course. Alberta has invested $5 million in basic financial literacy education programs for students in grades 3 to 12 over the next three years.
This is an opportunity to educate and empower the next generation to be part of shaping a future-forward economy. A genuinely future-forward curriculum is less about learning the ins and outs of digital assets and more about how the curriculum influences innovation and provides the sparks that will lead to the next generation of new companies and technologies.
A future-forward financial literacy curriculum should include components on how markets work, business financing, venture capital, equity and investing.
Making this level of financial literacy mandatory in schools and curriculums would be incredibly impactful. It would help end generational cycles of financial struggle that stem from a lack of financial knowledge and are then perpetuated in the next generation.
But it would also unlock new talent and innovation pipelines by exposing more kids to new thinking and ambitions. Financial literacy raises awareness of business opportunities and provides the necessary risk management skills and market knowledge to develop entrepreneurship and realize business opportunities.
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Getting more young people to understand how bold ideas can come to life increases the chances that more will pursue these pathways. This is how we seed up the next generation of companies and startups.
Jaime Leverton is chief executive of Hut 8 Mining Corp.
