Student knowledge standards

[rex]

Just have to post this up to see if I am right. Whilst having a wonderful Christmas dinner and conversation and wine flowing well a family conversation/argument ensued.
We were discussing the stock market and I mentioned the Dow Jones. My son who has completed his first year at uni studying economics, finance and banking had no idea what the Dow Jones was.
He argued that it’s not his fault he does not know it and it’s not a widely used term and is not used in the media.
I suggested that it is a general knowledge thing and I was surprised that he did not know it especially considering his subject.
Your opinions would be appreciated if I’m wrong on this and it is not something that an economics student should know by the end of his first year.

Merry Christmas to all.

[carreauchompeur]

fk me, that’s concerning.

[xeny]

Can he list any other market indexes, or explain why they might be useful?

[mikees]

That’s poor! What about FTSE or NASDAQ?

[civicduty]

American stock exchange?

[hyphen]

rex said:

My son who has completed his first year at uni studying economics, finance and banking had no idea what the Dow Jones was.
He argued that it’s not his fault he does not know it and it’s not a widely used term and is not used in the media.

Although he is technically correct, it's the University's fault.

[ILikeCake]

Meh.

In my experience the limits of what someone 'should' know are entirely arbitrary. Normally based on the opinion holder's own knowledge rather than a standard benchmark.

I know the D Jones is an American indices similar to the FTSE 100. I have no idea of its current value or what companies are contained. Is that good enough?

Merry Christmas! I'm tipsy.

[rex]

xeny said:

Can he list any other market indexes, or explain why they might be useful?

Apart from the FTSE 100 and NASDAQ then no.

Concerning.

[rex]

ILikeCake said:

Meh.

In my experience the limits of what someone 'should' know are entirely arbitrary. Normally based on the opinion holder's own knowledge rather than a standard benchmark.

I know the D Jones is an American indices similar to the FTSE 100. I have no idea of its current value or what companies are contained. Is that good enough?

Merry Christmas! I'm tipsy.

I agree that what someone should know is entirely arbitrary

At least you had heard of the Dow Jones. I was surprised that he has never even come across the name in all of his reading in the first year, let alone the companies contained within.

[DoubleD]

Do you know about economics or are you just asking him the only thing that you do know? I bet he has learnt a lot of other things in his first year, things that his uni must think is more important. And things that you may not know about.

[bitchstewie]

I'm a little surprised as it's mentioned in every single investment book I own.

That said, I'm sure many of us went through university only to discover that once we left and got into the world of employment there was a bunch of stuff Uni hadn't even touched upon.

[rex]

DoubleD said:

Do you know about economics or are you just asking him the only thing that you do know? I bet he has learnt a lot of other things in his first year, things that his uni must think is more important. And things that you may not know about.

I do not know about economics. It is not my field. I’m sure he has great knowledge of things I have no idea about or even heard of. My concern is that he is studying economics but has never come across a term that I consider general knowledge about economics/ banking/ finance

He is also advising me that I am consulting a biased population of male, middle aged, educated people. Two out of three ain’t bad

[CoolHands]

I think it’s irrelevant. He will be learning about micro and macro etc not some foreign index

[Dr Jekyll]

I really don't see how you could get through a week without hearing about the Dow Jones.

[DIW35]

Don't see how he can say it's not used in the media, as it's often mentioned when the subject matter is relevant.

[DanL]

Surprising he’s not heard of the Dow, or (presumably) Nikkei... As for the media:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-46679094

[talksthetorque]

Does he not watch the news? I accept at his age he may never have read a physical copy of a serious newspaper.
I went to a st school and then on to a crap university where I failed misreably at a non-business related degree , but i guess that at the age of 12 I could tell you the locations of the FTSE, the Dow Jones, the Nikkei and the Dax.

Maybe they're not on the "main" news programmes any more, but hidden in Channel 4's News and Newsnight and that's why he hasn't come across them.

[DoubleD]

rex said:

DoubleD said:

Do you know about economics or are you just asking him the only thing that you do know? I bet he has learnt a lot of other things in his first year, things that his uni must think is more important. And things that you may not know about.

I do not know about economics. It is not my field. I’m sure he has great knowledge of things I have no idea about or even heard of. My concern is that he is studying economics but has never come across a term that I consider general knowledge about economics/ banking/ finance

He is also advising me that I am consulting a biased population of male, middle aged, educated people. Two out of three ain’t bad

Your first line above answers the question.

If you knew about economics then you would be asking more in depth questions, rather than just something you heard on the TV. I agree its a bit odd that he hasnt been taught this, but I dont know about economics either so maybe it isnt relevant.

[craigjm]

How directly relevant to the field of economics is the requirement to know the name of a foreign stock index?

[TwistingMyMelon]

Family banter sounds ace at yours !

Joking! Wouldn't worry , ecconomics Is far and wide reaching .

Usually some of the best paid and highest career reaching people I've worked with have little knowledge outside of what they work on.