Health Classes Should Address Stock Market
The stock market is a constant gamble that preys on the vulnerable. Those who most often find themselves at a loss are the armchair traders—the ones who do trade from the comfort of their own homes, but have less experience. Sadly, many amateur traders like these often lose large sums of money in mere minutes.
In late January, users from the social media site Reddit in the subreddit Wall Street Bets (WSB) attempted a series of short squeezes on stocks like Gamestop (GME) while simultaneously catching the spotlight of media outlets across the internet. However, promises of wealth fell apart when the main site used for trading Robinhood was not able to pay out those cashing out looking for a quick buck causing GameStop’s stock to plunge more than 60 percent, causing traders to lose money. This wasn’t the first time the Robinhood has been featured in the news due to poor management. Last summer, a 20year old college student committed suicide after finding out about his $730,000 debt which, when in actuality he had a positive sum of $20,000 in his account.
Such financial ruin appear to be the consequence of unrealistic media portrayals of winning big in the stock market like in the movie The Wolf of Wall Street and The Big Short as well as through internet get-rich-quick gurus like Gary Vee, they entice the gullible with promises of high-class lifestyles: fast cars, nice clothes and lavish vacations on private islands in Europe.
With all the representation in various forms of media the stock market is taking in new investors at a rate never seen before. Internet get rich quick gurus promise that with their help you can get there yourself, these forms of media romanticize the idea of investing and help to paint the stock market in a false light. Although we often see the positives of the market, we neglect that the stock market is a complete gamble and, more often than not, those without sufficient experience end up severely in debt. We neglect that with a shift of world events stocks can crumble and even the smartest on Wall Street can lose millions.
This is, without a doubt, another example of predatory capitalism marketing to the gullible. Juul advertisements to kids got them addicted to nicotine. McDonalds’ Happy Meals have entrenched unhealthy fast foods in many homes by targeting kids with cheap plastic toys. And now Robinhood’s marketing to teens and young adults is causing teens to enter a nuanced and complicated world with expectations of simplicity with big pay out. Young people entering the stock market world are incredibly impressionable. As young investors are often inexperienced, they take at face value the information that they may get from a guy on the internet who barely knows better than him. When things go south, these young investors often don’t have access to the resources that would help them properly diagnose their situation. By making the stock market seem like low-risk and like video game, Robinhood belies the real-world consequences for the unfortunate.
What can Exeter as well as other schools do to prevent our students from falling down this rabbit hole and ending up in debt? I believe the answer lies in our health classes. Teaching kids young the dangers of predatory marketing and false information can help avoid making the mistakes that would lead to serious financial loss. Instead of taking internet quizzes to find out what our personality type is, Health Classes should structure more in the concrete; helping students with real dilemmas that they may face in real life.
