A financial analyst reveals how Indian schools train the middle class to obey, not build wealth—igniting a vital debate on financial education reform.
When Hyderabad‑based financial analyst Hardik Joshi took to LinkedIn earlier this week, he struck a nerve that many Indian professionals knew existed but had not yet voiced so bluntly. In a post that has since gone viral, Joshi argues that our schools are not equipping students with the tools to build wealth—they are training them instead to be compliant, risk‑averse employees.
“School teaches us how to be safe. How to be compliant. How to minimize risk,” Joshi wrote. “It doesn’t teach us how to create wealth.”
At the heart of Joshi’s critique is the belief that India’s traditional education system—shaped during colonial rule to produce clerks and bureaucrats—still emphasizes rote learning, obedience, and the avoidance of mistakes. These qualities may serve graduates well in corporate cubicles, but they do little to foster the entrepreneurial mind‑set or the financial acumen needed to start businesses, negotiate deals, or invest wisely.
From Budgeting to Bakery Ownership
In most secondary schools, financial lessons end at simple budgeting, saving pocket money, or calculating basic interest. But if you want to understand how to make your money work for you—by putting capital to work in stocks, real estate, or a startup—those lessons are conspicuously absent. “We learn budgeting, saving, maybe basic interest calculations if we’re lucky,” Joshi points out. “But rarely do we learn to think like an owner.”
Joshi’s vivid metaphor of the “small slice of the pie” versus owning the bakery has resonated widely. He notes that while some schools have begun introducing financial literacy modules, these too often focus on managing income—balancing a salary against expenses—instead of breaking the dependency on a salary altogether.
“How to manage your salary, not how to escape needing one,” he quips. “How to budget your small slice of the pie, not how to own the bakery.”
A Scarcity Mind‑Set
Joshi goes further, diagnosing what he calls a culture of scarcity that pervades both classrooms and homes. Under this mindset, students are taught to fear loss and to avoid risk—an attitude that stifles innovation. “Real wealth‑building is about understanding risk, not avoiding it,” he observes. “It’s about making money work for you, not just making enough to pay bills.”
According to Joshi, being taught only to play it safe conditions young minds to prize job security above all else. In the process, we lose future business founders, creative problem‑solvers, and financial innovators.
Voices from the Ground
Students and young professionals have poured into the comments section of Joshi’s post with their own experiences: a second‑year engineering student who launched a coding bootcamp on the side because “college never taught me how to monetize my skills,” and a chartered accountant who says his university never touched topics like venture capital or stock markets. Many say they felt “cheated” by the promise of education as a path to financial success.
Beyond Personal Finance
Joshi is careful to clarify that he is not dismissing the importance of education itself. His call is for a reimagining of financial education—one that goes far beyond passive personal finance tips and towards active wealth creation strategies. He envisions curricula that include case studies of successful startups, negotiations workshops, real‑world investing simulations, and mentorship programs pairing students with entrepreneurs.
“Learning about money and learning how to build wealth are two different things,” he reminds. “If you want the latter, don’t expect school to give it to you—you’ll have to seek it out yourself.”
Toward a New Paradigm
The debate sparked by Joshi’s post has been lively. Critics argue that schools already have an overpacked syllabus and that teaching entrepreneurship might be beyond their remit. Supporters counter that in a rapidly evolving global economy, financial empowerment is too vital to relegate to extracurricular workshops.
As India strives to nurture its next generation of leaders, innovators, and job‑creators, the call to shift from a culture of compliance to one of ownership and empowerment could not be more timely. If schools can embrace this challenge, they might not only help students secure jobs—they could inspire them to build the enterprises that generate employment, drive growth, and shape the country’s economic future.
In the meantime, Joshi’s message is clear: don’t wait for the system to change if you’re determined to build wealth. Seek out knowledge, take calculated risks, and start writing your own success story—because if you don’t, you may end up as just another comfortable cog in the machine.
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