And sometimes it happens before that. I think it's obvious that we need to get into the public schools to make sure that the students are prepared for that eventuality—the bank coming after them to try to get them into the credit card system.
If we do need to get into the public school system, of course, the role of the financial literacy leader will be to work with the provinces and try to make sure we implement some sort of curriculum.
In my background as a principal, I've implemented lots of curricula, and it goes back to what you were saying, Mr. Rabbior. I've implemented curricula to make friends, cooperate, read, write, type and text, dress appropriately, eat healthy, exercise, think critically; to learn basic math, history, geography, a second language, or English; and to learn about public speaking, self-esteem, self-discipline, cooperative learning, music appreciation, not bullying, valuing other's opinions, avoiding gangs and crime, caring for the environment, and becoming religiously tolerant.
The education system is inundated by all kinds of different groups trying to throw curriculum in and to jam curriculum in. It's probably one of the reasons that in Ontario you don't know what, where, or when.
In order for this to work—and I do believe it's very important—it's going to have to become a priority. I think that's a role for this leader.
As a principal, to cut through that, I said to my staff at the elementary level, “I want you to focus on one thing. If you do one thing, make sure we make our students literate.” I was talking, of course, about the ability to read, primarily, because if you have the ability to read, you can teach yourself anything else at any given time. I believe that the ability to read is the newest human right. I really do believe that.
It goes back to what you were saying, Mr. Rogers. You talked about the target of this primarily being our newcomers, our first nations communities, our youth in care, and our low-income people. All of those groups have a lack of literacy to begin with. If they don't have the ability to read, it's going to be very hard for them to pick up financial literacy later on.
If I were going back to being a principal now, after becoming a member of Parliament and going through the recession we went through and seeing the difficulties people are having with their finances, I think I would tell my teachers to focus not only on becoming literate and being able to read but also on becoming financially literate. I think I would make that a priority in my school, cutting through all those other things.
But it's going to be a difficult thing to implement in schools, in curriculum, because of all the things it's competing with. It's going to take a driving force.
Do you think a role for this leader would be to become that driving force across the nation to work with the provinces to make this a priority for curriculum implementation? I'm going to start with Mr. Rabbior and move down.