One of the things teachers find themselves doing  every so often is calling home about students whose grades are low or whose behavior is poor. Earlier this year I decided that in addition to calling home for these students, I would also call home for a few of my most pleasant and hard-working students. I wanted to let their parents know that I enjoyed having them in class and was impressed by their work ethic.

One of these calls was for a girl I had in my personal finance class last semester. The mother I spoke to seemed reluctant to believe her daughter was a hard worker and acted as though she was different at home compared to how I was describing her on the phone. As the conversation went on, this mother acknowledged that she thought the class was an important one that teaches valuable things to teenagers, but there was one thing she did not agree with.

“Oh, and what’s that?” I asked. She proceeded to tell me that she viewed the stock market as a form of gambling, and did not approve of such a thing. I was speechless at first, not knowing exactly how to respond. I could almost see her point, as no one really knows for sure what’s going to happen in the stock market and it’s very possible that a lot of money could be lost. However, it’s a perfectly legal way to invest one’s money in hopes of making it grow. It’s something that is important for students to learn, whether they are going into the business world or not, so they know what their options are.

I have my students compete against each other in a stock market simulation every semester, and some of the students get really into it (which makes me happy!). This is the activity that the mother objected to, though she couldn’t have been too upset about it because she never called me or the administration to complain – and I am thankful for that. I would hate to have to stop conducting it due to parent complaints. I find it to be such a great way of engaging my students and giving them some hands-on learning experiences.