I read a lot about the lack of financial education in the United States. It’s a popular topic among personal finance bloggers and in media interviews. But I wonder how widespread the problem really is.
At my high school during the mid-eighties, juniors were required to take a semester of personal finance. I thought the class was lame. It wasn’t challenging. I never did any of my homework, and so earned an F on every assignment. But I always received the top score on every test. The teacher wanted to fail me, but his own grading system required that he pass me with a D. (This was the only D I ever received in school — I was a B+ student from junior high through college.)
I often wonder if my poor performance in this class contributed to the money struggles I faced later in life. Maybe I should have paid attention, but how do you motivate a bright high school student to focus on “how to write a check” when he’d rather be passing notes with girls?
I saw a poll recently that showed roughly half of U.S. students take a money management class in school. How many of you took personal finance in high school? What did you learn? Was the class effective? Do you think it helped you learn to work with money? Did your parents give you the skills you needed?
My parents didn’t teach me money skills. My father taught me the entrepreneurial spirit, but his other money habits were irresponsible. What I know about money came from books, and from experience, and from the wisdom of friends.
How can we teach young people to use money wisely? How do you plan to teach your kids?
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I didn’t take a finances class in high school. I don’t know if it was an option. But my parents did prepare me well, both in talking about their budgets and what we could afford (sometimes in terms of what we could give up to be able to buy different things) and I generally budgeted my allowance well as a child — saving up for big things. It helps that I was a natural tightwad.
I do think that carried over into being able to manage on not very much money in college and save a great deal at my first jobs.
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I never took a Personal Finance course, and I doubt one was even offered. I did take Economics in high school, but we never got much into the individual’s role as a saver, consumer, etc.
I’m not sure a PF course would have stuck with me in high school. I was too busy “rebelling”–figuring out who I was, developing a taste for various academic subjects, trying to make friends, escaping being around my parents whenever possible, etc. My goal was to develop a unique identity that, in my opinion then, transcended the bourgeois lifestyle of my parents. Much of my current anti-consumerist philosophy comes from those days, as I eschewed tv and other mass media, yet embraced books. (I’m a Renaissance scholar now….) However, just as I felt a distaste for hyperconsumerism, it never bothered me that I spent countless hours at cafes and bookstores…. It took a while for me to complete the circle and develop a more pragmatic, savings-oriented, and balanced view of personal finance and lifestyle philosophy.
Even throughout my high school and college rebellion, my parents’ imprint regarding finances stayed with me. I was really good at paying bills on time, accruing enough debt to show that I was a “reliable debtor,” and so on, but it wasn’t until my early 30s when I realized that it isn’t enough to keep a steady pace on the earning/spending treadmill.
I used to see my dad as some kind of expert with finances: he owned a couple of businesses, and he still surrounds himself with the vernacular of financial competence, such as Quicken and other tools. But he never really saved very much. I’ve learned a lot from his missteps, though he wouldn’t recognize them as such.
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[...] Financial Education: Are Schools Doing Enough? by JD @ Get Rich Slowly. On the topic of lack of financial education in US, JD asks his readers how they plan to teach money skills to kids. If you have an answer to the question below, you better head over to Get Rich Slowly and make all of us wiser: but how do you motivate a bright high school student to focus on “how to write a check” when he’d rather be passing notes with girls? [...]
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I think a “finance” class I took in Jr High was spent tracking 5 randomly selected stocks over several weeks. That was it. Everyone got a paper every day and got to find and chart their stock.
In high school, there was a brief “finance” lesson portion in Home Ec, I think. The only thing I recall learning from that was how to write a check and the most simplest and glancing mention that you need to spend less than you make.
So, go Bears! I wonder if it’s better now.
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As I review the comments, it seems I was not the only one to have financial trouble. Even though my father brought himself out of poverty he did not pass on what he had learned. I did not want this for my sons.
Realizing that my sons would not want to sit through a lecture, do work sheets or read a book, I sat down and wrote a computer program to simulate an average persons first five years out of school. They get a job, learn about taxes and various other surprises. The main thing is they learn that things happen to screw up your financial plans.
While working on this project(it took about 9 months)parents and teachers asked if I could make it for school use. I redid it for that purpose. Guess what? The schools did not even look at it even though they are now required to teach it in North Carolina schools. I offered it for FREE! No books to buy or teacher training required!
Next month is National Financial Education month. How many people know that? How many people will even hear about it? What do our nation organizations do with the money they receive?
I invite you to look at my program and see if it might benefit you or your children. Teachers are welcome to enroll their class. Comments are welcome.
http://www.OrbQuest.com
mkling@orbquest.com
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We were required to take both Personal Finance and Economics as seniors. It was a small school, so the same teacher taught every offering of both courses–he intermingled them, but here’s what we did: we had to find a job, place to live, car, etc….but we had to research the average salary for that profession in the area we wanted to live–then use that. We had to create a business, from concept to marketing, etc. We learned how to create a budget, pay bills, etc. We learned how to compute compound interest. We explored the cost of college/technical training and the effect it would have on future earnings. We learned about supply and demand, opportunity cost, the stock market and investing…. I’m sure there was more, but it’s been a decade.
Overall, I think we covered a lot.
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[...] example, J.D. from Get Rich Slowly was bored in his required high school personal finance class: I thought the class was lame. It wasn’t challenging. I never did any of my homework, and so [...]
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[...] Consumerism Commentary asks whether high schools should require money management classes. I believe there’s a time and place for learning personal finance as formal subject matter. I strongly believe that money management is something a student should be exposed to prior to becoming a credit card carrying member of the work force. The question is when should this exposure take place? Flexo says, how about 7th grade? A good debate rages on over there and in the rest of the blogosphere. [...]
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Jesse (#48) — you’re exactly right — I’d totally worry what the boneheads would be teaching my kids about PF! Oy — the mind reels!
And RJ (#52)– your riff about the counterculture really made me laugh. I was the same way in HS and even college! It cracks me up (actually, infuriates me) today to see all the kids in their Che Guevera T-shirts, meanwhile, they’ve got all the consumer trappings that they wouldn’t have under communism — iPods, cars (even beaters — which are better than anything a Cuban kid could drive), Abercrombie shirts and jeans, Ugg boots, PlayStations, the list goes on and on. Viva Che. Right.
All of which is to say — HS is too young. Everybody is rebelling and revving up their hormones and getting bailed out by the ‘rents.
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[...] education in schools that I’ve read in researching this article (and recommend reading): Get Rich Slowly StateAction Payplan Kansas Mind Your Decisions Piaw Mises PBS Debt-talk Aaron Ng The Hill Edutopia [...]
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In high school I had a short class on personal finance, but it wasn’t helpful as I had already had a job and checking account. When my younger brother took the class, he had a budgeting assignment that required every purchase to be made using at least 12 months of payments…including a stereo or television. I had a similar assignment in another class that I wasn’t allowed to have a roommate to make my rent cheaper, and I couldn’t save any money or I would fail the assignment. Teachers need to stop fueling the idea that it is okay to have no money saved for the future.
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Teens’ vision of themselves as invinceable often extends to money, so taking care of their bodies and their finances is something they might consider “later.” There are exceptions, of course, but in general I think most people aren’t ready to manage their finances responsibly until they’re in their mid 20s.
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Throughout high school, I was unable to partake in a personal finance or business-related courses since I was tracked as academic. I later graduated from college with a BS/BA in Business & Economics and joined the financial industry. I have always felt very strongly towards educating our youth on 21st century skills, such as personal finance. Today, I now teach Business Education at a high school level and join the mission of teaching our youth real world survival skills. WE NEED MORE PERSONAL FINANCE RELATED COURSES IN THE K-12 CURRICULUM!!!!
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