Why do schools never teach financial literacy and what should I learn instead?

Schools were built to train workers, not to produce people who think clearly about their own resources and power. There's an old logic in that—easier to manage people who don't ask questions about money. But here's what you actually need, and no curriculum teaches it systematically: how to distinguish between needs and manufactured wants. How to understand that every financial choice is an ethical choice—who benefits, who bears the cost, what kind of life you're building. How to read a contract. How compound interest works over decades, not just in theory but in your own future. How to recognize when someone is profiting from your confusion. Most importantly: that money is a mirror of your values. If you spend without thinking, you're living someone else's values. The schools skip this because it's dangerous—it would make you question advertising, debt, status symbols, all the machinery that keeps people controlled. Start now. Read one contract carefully. Calculate where $50/month becomes in ten years. Ask yourself what you actually want your life to look like. That's the education they should have given you.