Throughout my high school career, I started to realize how much crucial information was being left out of the curriculum. I am not arguing that core classes such as math, science, English, history, and foreign languages are not important, because everybody does need to have a solid understanding of all of those in order to succeed in whatever career path they chose to go into. But let’s be real- how come geometry is mandatory while classes that are much more critical for our future like financial management and understanding taxes are not? I can prove a triangle is isosceles, but I don’t know how to pay taxes, get a loan, or buy a house. Why does the education system keep prioritizing classes that are much less beneficial to us, while completely ignoring the ones that can immensely impact our adulthood? 

With huge amounts of credit card and student loan debt affecting millions of Americans, it is easy to wonder how we got stuck in this mess to begin with. Why aren’t Americans better educated about finances and money management? Why isn’t financial literacy or money management taught in schools? Why are only 17% of American high schoolers required to take even just one semester of a financial literacy-based class in order to graduate? In my opinion, these are such important questions that are not asked enough. It seems like money management classes would be considered core classes for any school curriculum beginning in the elementary-middle school years but especially for high schoolers and college students who are on the brink of entering the ‘real’ world. With college tuition, student loans, job pay, and rent just around the corner, classes like financial management should be a no-brainer. And to add even more fuel to the fire, poor financial management does not just lead to debts and bad credit history scores, but also to poor mental health (higher stress and anxiety levels, depression, shame) and even medical problems like higher blood pressure and ulcers.

As of today, upon high school graduation, the average American high schooler receives an extensive educational knowledge in the core subjects of mathematics, science, English and social studies- knowledge that supposedly needs to equip him or her towards a flourishing future academically, emotionally, and financially. Nevertheless, according to an ING Direct study, an overwhelming majority of teens (87%) admit of possessing severely limited knowledge about financial management- a fundamental life skill for achieving personal success. That is a huge number of students that are about to enter the real world but have little to no idea how to financially succeed in it. With 87% having limited knowledge about financial management, how can we expect them to know how to correctly handle their money and build a successful life for themselves and their future families?

As I searched for the reason for this immense lack of financial education, I found an answer that made me really angry (and upset): financial management is simply not a part of standardized exams such as the PSAT, SAT, and ACT.

With schools caring most about their students getting good scores on these standardized exams, subjects that teach real life skills, no matter how important they are, are simply not worth the time and are many times disregarded when it comes to the curriculum. These subjects do not matter in evaluating a school’s success, so why should we devote time to them? This results in crucial life skills being left out of the classrooms, and students that can solve complex math problems but don’t even know how to open their own bank accounts or write a check. 

Another major reason for this problem is that many schools consider financial education as the parents’ responsibility. And while I agree that the most critical education for any child in the world is from their parents, dumping the entire financial education responsibility on them is not necessarily the answer to this problem. For one, many parents do not know how to correctly manage their own finances, because just like most of us, no one ever taught them how to do it right. Two, not all parents have time to educate their children about money. Many parents work full-time or are a single parent and do not have enough time to educate their children about finances. Three, in many families, money is sort of a taboo topic. We learn from a young age that money is a private matter and that only adults should know and worry about it. And while I understand the want to not share financial concerns with kids because kids should not need to worry about money, this leads to kids who grow up to be adults who know nothing about finances. We grow up hearing nothing about savings, investments, incomes, etc. and then when it is our turn to be adults we simply do not know enough about these important topics.

I truly believe that it is the educational system calling to ensure that students are provided all foundations to personal success, educating students about financial management and responsibility, including skills that will equip them with essential tools to a successful life financially as well emotionally. This can be done by initiating a mandatory financial management course for all schools in the US, therefore making financial education a higher priority like it should have been from the start.  I addition, we need to make the topics of money and finances less taboo at home, which would mean students would be exposed to these life foundations early on. This would allow the young generation to understand how to efficiently manage their finances, where their tax money goes, why savings are important, thus enhancing their awareness of a more cautious financial lifestyle and qualitative decision making. I know that I personally would have benefited so much if my high school offered financial management classes and I hope that the education system acts soon to make financial management a national priority in order to tackle the immense student debt problem currently going on in the US.

Once the education system decides to first and foremost serve its students and care about their future, only then will we be able to begin solving this problem.

Resources:

Teaching Gap: 83% of Teens Don’t Know How to Manage Money | Fox Business

Why Isn’t Financial Literacy and Money Management Taught in Schools? (doctorfinances.com)

Why Finance Isn’t Taught in School and How to Raise Money-Smart Kids (freedomsprout.com)