Laws that would have ensured pupils from five to 16 received a full financial education got lost in the 'wash up'. An application is calling on the next government to bring it back.

    At school the children are taught to add up and subtract(减法) but, extraordinarily ,are not routinely shown how to open a bank account — let alone how to manage their finances in an increasingly complex and demanding world.

    Today the parenting website Mumsnet and the consumer campaigner Martin Lewis have joined forces to launch an online application to make financial education a compulsory element of the school curriculum in England. Children from five to 16 should be taught about everything from pocket money to pensions, they say. And that was exactly the plan preserved in the Children, Schools and Families bill that was shelved by the government in the so-called “wash-up” earlier this month — the rush to legislation before parliament was dismissed.Consumer and parent groups believe financial education has always been one of the most frustrating omissions of the curriculum.

    As the Personal Finance Education Group (Pfeg) points out, the good habits of young children do not last long. Over 75% of seven- to 11-year-olds are savers but by the time they get to 17,over half of them are in debt to family and friends.By this age,26% see a credit card or overdraft(透支) as a way of extending their spending power.Pfeg predicts that these young people will “find it much harder to avoid the serious unexpected dangers that have befallen many of their parents' generation unless they receive good quality financial education while at school.”

    The UK has been in the worst financial recession(衰退)for generations.It does seem odd that — unless parents step in — young people are left in the dark until they are cruelly introduced to the world of debt when they turn up at university. In a recent poll of over 8,000 people, 97% supported financial education in schools,while 3% said it was a job for parents.

    Each year, we are exposed to ten thousand ads on average. They try to sell us their products by using beautiful art, videos, images or slogans that are catchy. The most famous companies have highly popular logos that can be recognized by almost everybody. For those of you who have seen the movie Finding Forrester, there is that scene where Jamal walks up to some guy with a BMW and asks him what the car logo means. The man did not know the answer and since that day, whenever I see a famous company logo I try to find the meaning of it.

    Many think the horse on the Ferrari logo represents the horsepower of the cars they manufacture. The story behind it is far more interesting. During World War I, a pilot, Count Francesco Baracca, painted the horse on his airplane to bring him luck. He had it on his plane because it was the logo of his squadron（空军中队）. Baracca's mother then convinced Enzo Ferrari to put the logo on his racing cars in the early 1930's to bring good luck to the drivers. The logo then stayed the same ever since. The yellow on the background represents the birthplace of Enzo Ferrari.

    Starbucks started in 1971, in Seattle. The mermaid（美人鱼）represented on the logo is now known by any coffee drinker. It is a mythological sea creature with the look of a female, the only difference being that they have a tail of a fish. The reason why Starbucks incorporated one in their company logo is that it was believed that mermaids used to sing to sailors in order to make them walk away from their ship or to ground their ships. In the 1500s, spices, tea and coffee were popular merchandise to trade. So the mermaid in the logo of Starbucks is the one that "brings" coffee and tea to the stores.

    While WeChat is China's biggest mobile messaging app, there are many similar apps in other countries that offer similar features.

    WhatsApp (US)

    Users: more than 300 million

    Platforms: Android, iOS, Windows Phone, BlackBerry

    Features: Text chat, push-to-talk, file sharing, location sharing

    With more than 300 million active users, WhatsApp is one of WeChat's biggest competitors.

    Developed by two ex-Yahoo employees in 2009, WhatsApp originally focused on text chat, but on Aug. 6 it also started push - to - talk service. It's noted for its accessibility, ease of use and the absence of advertisements. The service is free for the first year, after which $ 0.99 (6. 06 yuan) is charged for a one –year subscription.

    Kakao Talk (South Korea)

    Users: more than 100 million

    Platform: Android, iOS, windows Phone, BlackBerry and Bada (an operate system developed by Samsung)

    Features: Text chat, group chat, push–to–talk, group calls, file sharing

    With more than 100 million users in more than 230 countries, Kakao Talk is a multi - platform (多平台) texting application that allows users to send and receive messages for tree. With Kakao Talk, users can message each other one-on-one or in group chats with unlimited numbers of friends. You can also choose from more than 250 animated emoticons and share them with friends.

    Line (Japan)

    Users: more than 200 million

    Platforms: Android, iOS, Windows Phone, BlackBerry and PC

    Features: Text chat, group chat, push–to–talk, file sharing, location sharing, gaming, stickers

    Line tops the list of the most downloaded free apps in 52 countries. Apart from text and voice messaging, Line provides its users with more than 250 original stickers and emotions to buy from its own shop. In the first quarter of 2013 alone, it made $ 17 million just from stickers. The popular app also allows friends to battle each other in the Line games.

    The ocean is filled with eight million tons of rubbish—enough to fill five carrier bags for every foot of coastline on the planet. But a new invention could deal with this problem, one port at a time.

    A pair of surfers from Perth, Australia, has invented a "floating bin" that automatically draws rubbish floating on the water into it like a vacuum (真空) cleaner. While the invention may do little to battle against five giant "garbage islands" that flow around the world's  major ocean gyres (环流), it could stop waste from leaving harbours and marinas, for example. Peter Ceglinski and Andrew Turton said their device could spell the end of polluted seas.

    The concept is simple: A bucket connects to a water pump, drawing in any floating trash inside a removable net bag. There is also an optional oil-water separator system inside the pump. It can remove oil from the seawater before spitting it back into the ocean — pollution-free — through the other side of the pump.

    The water filtration (过滤) system is much like what you'd find in a fish tank, but it has the potential to clean up an entire ocean. The seabin can run 24/7, according to its website. And, amazingly, Peter and Andrew say they have never caught a fish or sea animal in their pumps in four years of testing.

    The Seabin Project aims to improve on the traditional and sometimes expensive — harbor cleaning methods of having a person physically remove trash from the water or sending boats equipped with nets to collect it. While it's not as extensive as 21-year-old Boyan Slat's plan to clean the entire Pacific Ocean in 10 years, starting in 2020, the seabin's creators said their device is something that harbors can start using to clean our oceans now.

    They're starting "close to the source of the problem in a controlled environment," Seabin's website states. "It's a big mission, but it can be done. In fact, we're doing it right now."

    Curiosity is what drives us to keep learning, keep trying, keep pushing forward. But how does one generate (产生) curiosity, in oneself or others? George Loewenstein, a professor of psychology at Carnegie Mellon University, offered an answer in the classic1994 paper, "The Psychology of Curiosity."

    Curiosity arises, Loewenstein wrote, "when attention becomes focused on a gap in one's knowledge. Such information gaps produce the feeling of deprivation (匮乏) labeled curiosity. The curious individual is motivated to obtain the missing information to reduce the feeling of deprivation." Loewenstein's theory helps explain why curiosity is such a force: it's not only a mental state but also an emotion, a powerful feeling that drives us forward.

    Scientist Daniel Willingham notes that teachers are often "so eager to get to the answer that we do not devote enough time to developing the question." Yet it's the question that stimulates (刺激) curiosity; being told an answer stops curiosity before it can even get going.

    In his 1994 paper, George Loewenstein noted that curiosity requires some basic knowledge. We're not curious about something we know absolutely nothing about. But as soon as we know even a little bit, our curiosity is aroused and we want to learn more. In fact, research shows that curiosity increases with knowledge: the more we know, the more we want to know. To get this process started, Loewenstein suggests, take steps with some interesting but incomplete information.

    Language teachers have long used communication in exercises that open an information gap and then require learners to communicate with each other in order to fill it. For example, one student might be given a series of pictures for the beginning of the story, while the student's partner is given a series of pictures showing how that same story ends. Only by speaking with each other (in the foreign language they are learning, of course) can the students fill in each others' information gaps.

    It's one of the most common questions adults ask children: what do you want to be when you grow up? Although childhood is supposed to be fun, kids also discuss important topics regarding their futures. Now, a new study finds that children who set big goals regarding their future status and education often set themselves up for success as they age. 

    The findings, published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, are the first to reveal a connection between life goal development and future success in school or the workplace. Rodica Damian, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Houston, and other researchers discovered that as children grow up, their goals naturally begin to change. However, as some childhood goals fall away, other goals related to a family stay strong. These include being close to relatives, building more friendships or finding a romantic partner, and even becoming more involved in your community or helping others. 

    During the study, researchers compared how their goals evolved as children moved from adolescence to adulthood and how a person's goals impacted their success in school and as an employee later on. Overall, a child's goals focusing on their education and future status were the most consistent predictors (预测因素) of income in adulthood. Simply put, when a child dreams big about doing well in school or achieving great success as an adult, these goals accurately paint a picture of how successful these children will be. So, the message is simple: dream big and dream of success, kids! Those goals can drive you to success when you grow up! 

    "Our work proves a strong connect ion between a child's life goals, educational achievement, and future occupational outcomes. This information is valuable for parents and educators who can use it to encourage children to set ambitious goals. Additionally, it helps develop strategies to support individuals in achieving their goals and reaching their full potential," Damian concludes.