This blog contains posts and comments written by students in Dr. Tufte's economics classes at Southern Utah University.
4/11/2006
Lack Of Financial Knowledge Highlights True Problem
After reading the contents of a post called “USATODAY.com - U.S. teenagers lack financial literacy” from the FinanceProfessor blog, I was not surprised at all. The article linked within the post goes on to show the grim statistics of high school students’ lack of financial knowledge. After reading this article, my first thought was that their lack of knowledge signals a major lack of competent teaching. Based on my own high school experience, I feel there is a real disconnect between many high school classes, and relevant real life instruction, including basic financial techniques such as budgeting, and investing, etc. The only class I recall teaching much in the way of financial information were my adult roles I and II classes. I think it’s time to stop reporting on this information, and start being proactive about it. I liked the blog author’s suggestion to start volunteering at high schools to teach students valuable financial information. I’m sure the positive externalities associated with such service would prove invaluable!
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3 comments:
-1 on Will's comment for grammatical problems.
-1 on Cole's comment for grammatical problems.
There is a movement to get this sort of thing taught in schools nationwide. The problem with parents doing it is that the clearly do a lousy job.
Dr. Tufte said that the problem with leaving financial lessons up to parents is that they are doing a lousy job. I couldn't agree more! Parents who have good financial skills teach their kids good financial habits. Parents who have bad financial skills teach their kids bad financial habits (even if it's just by example). So, the rich (good financial skills) get richer and the poor (bad financial skills) get poorer. It is an endless cycle that must be stopped early on, because we are just bailing the poor out through taxes anyway. I feel that financial skills are extremely important and several personal finance classes should be required in schools. If kids are already taught at home, that's great, because the more education on such an important life skill, the better.
I agree completely, money is a very important part of our lives and should be taught at a very early age. I wish I knew the importance of budgets, saving, spending etc. when I was younger. My first major financial transaction took place right out of college with a new car purchase, which later proved to be one of my worst financial decisions. Take a look at my car tips article.
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