Why don't we teach personal finance in school?

[relentlessjoy]

DEFINITELY AGREE!

I think we should teach basic Intro to Economics to all high school students.

I have visited some public schools (in NYC) where students have the option of taking "Personal Finance" instead of the traditional math class and while that's problematic (it shouldn't be either or-- students need both, and not just the "less academically advanced" students need to be taking personal finance!) the students were all super engaged and invested in the subject matter. How often can you say that about a high school math class?

When we've got presidential candidates like Hillary Clinton and John McCain who can't even (or refuse to see) understand the principle of supply and demand then you know that something's wrong!

--an English major! see, I'm not even biased toward Econ

[Lisa23]

Personal Finance should be second nature to everyone, not a mystery. The only way this will happen is to have it in the schools-

[Megan]

In grade school, a teacher taught us how to use a checkbook and the importance of learning to balance a checkbook. Not in use as much now, but still a good mental skill - don't spend more than you have.

In high school, my brother took some business courses that incorporated personal finance. He was smart enough to know that he should take some of his savings and invest it in a few choice mutual funds, which years later are still doing well.

I think schools sometimes try to incorporate personal finance - but there are so many subject areas that teachers have to cram into kids' heads before they head off to college (or wherever they might be going) that PF falls by the wayside.

[wwstewart]

Well, the problem with schools is that too much emphasis is placed on standardized testing (to make sure that everyone is on the same level) rather than real education.

I understand testing is needed to ensure that students make it out with a 'standard' level of education, but when a school focuses solely on student's passing a test (for which the school is compensated if they meet a certain 'quota'), you know that the schools are just like any other business - money motivated. Good for business, bad for kids.

If the schools aren't going to do it, parents should. But yeah, schools should MAKE SURE that the kids are given the skills they need to 'make it in today's world'. I mean, that's what they are for, right?

[MoneyMinding]

I can think of a couple of problems with how finance is taught currently.

First, we don't start young enough. I'm in my 40s, and as a kid in the second grade, my favourite activity was to play "store". Small lessons in personal finance could be sprinkled throughout the curriculum - in math (money transactions), social studies (how a business runs), language arts (starting with the City Mouse and the Country Mouse), geography (looking at micro-businesses in India and how people are rising from poverty there), etc.

Second, the people who write the lessons don't have a clue! Educational curriculum development is mainly the domain of teachers and former teachers. Lovely people with a heart for children, and usually a rock steady job where they have never had to think about personal finance. So it's usually not their forte.

I highly recommend Junior Achievement and other volunteer organizations that get business people and other money experts into the classroom and teaching children about money. I volunteered with Junior Achievement when I was a financial planner, and I hope to do so again in the future.

[engchik]

i went to a catholic high school (graduated in 94) and one of our electives was personal finance. taught us how to write a check, open a savings account, how to begin a budget, what % of your check to save. i used to be mad b/c the public high school taught fun electives, but i will certainly say i learned a lot from that class, and never forgot the valuable lessons...but i don't know of any other school that taught that.

[robothuman]

If personal finance was a part of basic education a lot of this controversy over short term loans would simply vanish, as people would finally know what kinds of loans they should take for what. It's that simple.