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Financial literacy should be taught at schools essay
Strengths and weaknesses of financial literacy
Strengths and weaknesses of financial literacy
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Do the kids of today understand what a 401K is, how taxes work or how one goes about buying stocks? Most do not, as financial literacy, the ability to understand how money works in the world, is not a required class in school. Despite being a required part of modern life. This is presenting a major problem to those who are about to be released into the world with little to no knowledge about it. Financial Literacy should be required in high schools as students do not receive education on the topic anywhere else, it will help them later in life and it could improve their financial choices.
To begin, kids are not learning about financials anywhere. Others will argue, that financial matters change too often to ever properly teach the subject well. However, kids often don't even know some of the consistent basic terms and applications within
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One article said it perfectly, "Throwing the financially illiterate into that maelstrom is like taking students currently enrolled in driver’s education and asking them to compete in the Indianapolis 500."(Thaler) . People expect teens to be able to spread out an allowance or paycheck, for gas and personal uses. But more often than not, they depend heavily on their parents when they run out. They won't be able to do that in the future and it would be best if they were taught now and could practice budgeting. It has been found that Financial literacy education causes a lasting difference in a person's personal finance behaviors. (Malcolm). It is doubtless that it would help immediately afterwards also. Hence, financial education will help immediately, as well as throughout a persons
Taking a financial literacy class would help students learn how to stay out of debt. According to the article, “Finance Course Prompts Debate” by Gina Davis, the class would “cover concepts such as money management, consumer rights, and responsibilities,
Etzioni explains that working jobs doesn’t teach teens good money habits. First of all, I don’t believe it is McDonald’s job to teach kids how to use their money. One of the biggest advantages to having money at that age is that they can completely mess up and it won’t affect them in a dangerous way. Having money to spend can teach kids to spend their money wisely. The first several times they see something they want they will buy and find out later when it goes on sale that they messed up. Also teens try to borrow money all the time to get what they want quick. Often times they will end up in debt, but lucky for them they’re young enough that their parents can bail them out. If they don’t have the chance to make these mistakes before they move away, the consequences could be much more
Most kids that have graduated high school have never been educated on the subject of personal finance, so they don’t know things like how to pay bills, or even how to do something as simple as applying for a job. According to a family friend of mine, Ron Hart; who happens to also be an award-wining author and TV/radio commentator, believes that students in high school don’t learn anything about how to get a job or get prepared financially. He states that, “ Students should prepare for a job. Maybe, instead of taking a fifth field trip to the Trail of Tears site, do one to learn about real jobs in an area they might want.” Hart believes that most basic high schools aren’t teaching students how to become financially stable for their future, which can cause major issues. He claims that “few schools teach about the value of hard work, ingenuity, gumption and entrepreneurship. Those lessons are as rare as Donald Trump bumper stickers in the faculty parking lot.” Hart also goes on to talk about how high school does not prepare you for life the same way college will. There are so many more lessons to learn there that people are missing out on. College is very important due to the fact that it will teach students more skills about finance and job seeking that most high schools don’t. In college, kids will learn how to save and budget their money, pay for their own expenses, and prioritize their needs verses their wants. Learning financial responsibility is also something that kids will carry with them throughout their jobs and their life. Having more freedom to understand the concepts of person finance will allow students to make mature decisions while easing their way into real world
In schools where financial literacy courses are foreign, for example, students as well as teachers may find themselves lost and confused. In Document A, 64% of teachers K-12 reported being unprepared or “not-well qualified” to teach finance. These problems have been outspoken by several critics, such as in Document B, where Burns cites that high schoolers that took a semester-long personal-finance course tested worse than those who did not, and that some feel math or statistics would be much more useful than finance. It’s hard to refute evidence such as this, but subjects can be changed, revamped. Much like we add new things to history when events occur, or science when research proves a new theory, we can improve financial literacy by how the world economy moves. In the digital age of commerce, we can adapt and change our system, much like Thaler in Document C advises, promoting In-time education when needed, simple rules of thumb to create everyday knowledge, and user-friendly support on the Internet to digitalize finance. In an age where you can know the time, temperature, and weather of London at any moment, from anywhere around the world, why should we not be able to ask how to save, when to save, where to save, or whether we're overpaying on a house or car? Those who deem studies on present financial literacy evidence of it being useless and a waste of money must understand that the subject is not set in stone. We will experiment, shift, change, and one day, we will find the right
One might say there is a strong argument for the requirement of financial literacy for students in America. Americans continue to have increased balances on their credit cards as well as show a continued increase in bankruptcy filings according to statistics. Even the “baby boomer” generation is no longer exempt from financial hardships, as their generation has recently taken the title of “Fastest Growing Bankruptcy Demographic” from the 25 – 34 year olds (Linfield, 2011). Would it not make sense to say that Americans need to learn how to budget and borrow more wisely? Would not the best place to start be in schools? Well, the answer to that question is not a simple one.
Most of them are very young, anywhere from eighteen to twenty-two. In some cases, they may have never held a “real job,” as many bank on the fact that they will be drafted into a professional league, where they will make millions upon millions of dollars. Also, a great amount of college students do not possess the ability to handle their money in proper and intelligent way. This chart (Bidwell 1) displays how college students are becoming even less financially active and responsible. They tend to spend their money on things other than financial necessities, which the chart shows. Students spend less time focusing on important things like paying bills and balancing their checkbook, and more time dedicated to their other activities in
However, to quote Shawn Cole, “My gut feeling is that teaching math or statistics would be more useful.” By incorporating important personal finances lessons into everyday class, Mr. Frost had success; therefore, making a whole new mandatory class in school curriculum is unnecessary, expensive, and time consuming
Making improvements on our financial literacy results in a wave of impacts on our economy and the financial health in our society because of responisble behiavior with our finances. These modifications to our behavior are neccesary because it let's us address primary cultural problems, for example over-credits on your purchases, mortgages possibly resulting in debt, dealing with expectations on inflation and also planning on your retirement.
Some schools have little money and few teachers and Matthew Yale said, “[T]he Department of Education’s next step is to work with districts and teachers and help them find the money they need” (Bernard 6). It will take parents to start this movement (Bernard 7) because parents have to be willing to give up more money so that their children know what to do with their money. Financial literacy courses can potentially make students overconfident about their skills and make them do even worse (Burns 8). Harvard Business School performed a study where it was concluded that financial literacy courses “weren’t effective in changing people’s financial decisions” (Burns 10). Thaler stated “A new paper by three business school professors … uses a technique called meta-analysis looking at results from 168 scientific studies of effects to teach people to be financially astute, or at least less clueless. The authors’ conclusions are clear: over all, financial education is laudable, but not particularly helpful” (13). The shows that financial literacy courses are good but they are not helping the youth as of now, so the right combination has not been found to teach the youth how to control their
One way our school could accomplish the goal of financial literacy education is creating a set class for high school students towards the end of their high school career. Offering classes in a curriculum that is set helps kids become better prepared for the real world. They receive a better understanding of what it is like having a great deal of responsibility, without the overwhelming of stress that comes with it since the class would be set in a classroom. According to the article written by Laura Langemo from Fox6 entitled “MPS Eighth-Graders Get a Lesson in Financial Literacy”, the Milwaukee Public School District Superintendent Gregory Thornton states, “We need [students] to be ready financially. We need them to be ready to step into the world and be able to actually navigate and manage money.” Students should feel confident after graduating that they will be capable of receiving such a great sense of responsibility. Teaching students about financial literacy at an older age throughout high school will allow them to be ready for their lives ahead. According to this article, many of the students were surprised with how bills amass in such a rapid pace. Similarly, the article from the Sandpiper by Edie Ellison includes information about being able to offer high school students classes in
They say that nurturing Americans to be capable of handling their own financial needs is highly unlike in the complicated and fast-moving nature of economics. Lauren Willis cites examples of test scores, saying that “graduates of retirement-planning classes thought their literacy had increased, when their financial test scores had not.” (Burns). However, no studies have proved that taking finance courses can be detrimental to a person’s ability to make economic choices. Therefore, these classes should be incorporated into a student’s academic
...ial literacy, encouraging independent thinking, and reinforcing good habits. Building financial literacy in children while they are young gives them a chance to use and begin to understand money for a longer period of time. Therefore, giving them a better understanding of it when they are older and, in a way, giving them a head start for being financially responsible as adults. Encouraging independent thinking will give adolescents a chance to think for themselves even if it is small decisions at first. Because they will most likely value their money and not want to give it away for just anything, their peers will have less of an influence on their decisions. You, as a parent, can reinforce good habits like self-discipline, setting short and long term goals, and learning and practicing good work ethic. Nagging all the time has got to stop. Set up an allowance system.
Is it really necessary for high school students to be required to take a semester class of personal finance? In fact, there are many people who believe taking this class is a necessity: however, there are many people who disagree with the high school students not having to take this class. People have stated that many students should take this class to improve on their financial literacy. On the other hand, several people say that students shouldn’t be required to take this class because they believe that the students know just enough about finances. This essay will state why many people believe that high school students should be required to take this class before graduating high school.
In regards to school finance, the ultimate goal of school administrators is to provide all students with the most cost effective, comprehensive education that meets all federal, state, and local requirements and that reflects the values and beliefs within the community. This means that it is an expectation for schools to equip all students equally with the best possible educational opportunities that a community is willing to furnish. However, to accomplish this, school administrators must be able to sustain school programs throughout various economic periods.