Most winners in play-money investing games end up wishing they'd invested real dollars. Not in this year's Stock Market Game for students in grades four through 12, run by the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association. Well, except for that team that shorted Wachovia Corp. (NYSE: WB) in late September; they managed to more than double their fake money.

The lessons learned may be exactly the opposite of those the Securities Industry board had hoped.

The kids started the game shortly after school began this fall, so most students have experienced a steep slide in their faux portfolios. One student had it worse: he played the game last year and decided to try it out this year with real money, saving his birthday and Christmas money to buy into a mutual fund. Now he's afraid to open his statements (his fund is down 44.9% this year).

Michael Ashworth, a 13-year-old Delaware middle schooler interviewed by the Wall Street Journal, had been getting excited about investing and had asked his mother for stocks for Christmas. After the market downturn? "I told her not to do it. I asked for a parakeet instead," he said.

Perhaps the rest of us would do well to follow the lead of Mr. Ashworth. If not a parakeet, perhaps a flock of chickens?

When I think back to high school, and all the odors that bothered me, perfumes and cologne are pretty low on the list. The kid who had trouble paying attention in English class after lunch, and had that thick herbal smell? That was annoying. The disheveled Latin teacher whose breath was so bad I had to turn away when he talked? Or how about the kid who only smelled decent the day of his monthly shower?

No, according to The Wall Street Journal (subscription required), some people insist that the real culprit is perfume. I'm serious. As designers roll-out new scents with colorful packaging to attract the back-to-school crowd, some schools are fighting back. They charge that excessive-cologne/perfume is an "air-quality issue." One principal interviewed feels, "Kids don't shower the way they used to." He complains that students are spraying Axe, a potent bodyspray, in lieu of showering after gym. But isn't that better than the alternative of spraying nothing?

The article also points out that a lot of teens are shelling out $50 for a bottle of designer stuff, in an effort to gain some affectation of a brand they can't really afford -- Marc Jacobs perfume instead of a Marc Jacobs bag. That's just silly. I have several bottles of knock-off designer cologne that I got at the Dollar Tree (NASDAQ: DLTR) -- 66% off, for 33 cents per bottle. I get compliments on it constantly.

While the sweetest of soft drinks may now be off limits in high-school vending machines, some hip new options may soon be available to the nation's students.

In May 2006, the beverage industry voluntarily agreed to stop selling full-calorie sodas in schools. The agreement stated that companies could sell milk, water, diet sodas, sports drinks, and unsweetened and low-calorie juices.

The industry has now expanded this list to include additional beverages meeting the criterion of fewer than 100 calories per 12 ounces. Certain flavored iced teas and vitamin-flavored waters fit the bill. Most varieties of Glaceau VitaminWater, a recent acquisition of Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO), have 75 calories or less. The same is true for the various flavors of SoBe LifeWater, owned by PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP).

Bad news for our country's future: According to a piece in today's Wall Street Journal, most high school kids aren't too sharp on the economics front: "On a zero-to-300 point scale, 12th graders had an average score of 150 points in the first-ever economics test administered under the federal government's National Assessment of Educational Progress, or NAEP."

Some of the statistics:

60% could identify factors that lead to an increase in the national debt. That might sound good, but take a look at how the question was phrased:

Suppose that the federal government initially has a balanced budget. Which of the following changes in government tax revenues and expenditures over time will definitely lead to an increase in the national debt?

A) Increase (to revenues); no change (to expenditures)

B) Increase; decrease

C) Decrease; increase

D) No change; decrease

The answer is C. I'm surprised that only 60% could figure out that a decrease in revenue and increase in spending would lead to an increase in debt.

32% of the students could identify how investment in education can affect economic growth.

11% could analyze how a change in the unemployment rate affects income, spending and production.

What's a shame is that I really believe that economics could be made into the most interesting high school class if it was approached with creatitivity. In recent years, there have been a slew of amazing books on economics: Freakonomics, The Undercover Economist, Travels of a T-shirt in the Global Economy, etc.

I bet that if schools ditched traditional textbooks and adopted a more user-friendly format, we would see these numbers skyrocket. People learn better when they're not bored.