I agree, he got into a lot of asset management and schtuff I had no use for when I read it. Almost 10 years ago now…
If I condensed it down to only the relevant sections, the entirety of my suggested reading material fits on a single sheet of paper. It would take less time to read than this thread.
As much as I hate the idea of creationism getting any play in schools, it’s not going to cause anyone to lose their retirement savings, get foreclosed on, get their car repo’d or live paycheck to paycheck because of payday loan fees and massive credit card bills.
None of those things happen to people because they don’t know the causes of the Civil War, or who was president in 1837 or because they mix up Wisconsin and Minnesota on a map.
Those things happen because people don’t know how to take care of their money. These kids are going to spend the next 40+ years of their life spending 40+ hours a week working to be given something called “money”. I don’t think it’s too much to ask that our schools teach them how to make the most of that money and not flush it all down the crapper instead.
I think there should be more of these financial skills integrated into class time.
I’m 24. In the third grade, I learned how to balance a checkbook as part of the math curriculum. Everyone had their own fake checkbooks, complete with checks and check register. It was a good teaching tool because it was hands on. In the seventh grade, we learned about interest and how APY works when compounded in different ways. This should have been repeated later on with some context as to how it works in regard to lending and credit; the 11th grade would have been a good spot for it. In college, I took a class called “Practical Finite Math” because it fulfilled the basic requirements for my major. I learned how to do my own taxes, and how to determine whether to itemize my expenses or to take the standard deduction. Of course, it’s been long enough between then and when I actually started doing my own taxes that I’ve forgotten what some of the standard deductions are. :smack: This is why they have income tax manuals and other handy guidelines.
I wish I had learned about insurance, how investments work, family planning options (I may not have needed it, but it’d be nice if someone steered pregnant girls to someone who’ll give them an unbiased opinion instead of to those religious pregnancy centers that lie to them, damnit!), what should go into a household budget, basic information on what to look for in a car/house/etc., and a little bit more about things like contracts and how to spot a bad one in school.
If we were going to stick these life lessons in somewhere, it’d best be reviewed during a mandatory economics & government class toward the end of high school. At that point, the kids would be old enough that they’d be using these skills within the next few years and the tips might sink in. Kids have comparatively short school days, and I wouldn’t see it as unreasonable to add on a half hour class per year on these life skills; there are too many people floundering out there that wouldn’t be doing so if they had at least been shown how the “real world” grown-up stuff is supposed to work.
But not every high school kid does know what they’re doing to their credit, or how that might impact their future. Just like some parents won’t or can’t give their kids the facts about sex, some parents won’t or can’t talk with their kids about personal finance.
Some schools do teach about money in math class. But that usually happens in the slower-track classes- the kids who are taking Algebra II or trigonometry don’t get a discussion of finances in high school. Unfortunately, a lot of people assume that, because you know the basic math behind personal finance, that means you know how to handle your money.
Personal financial management skills should be taught using a pencil, an eraser and paper. No calculators!
We had this kind of class in my high school, only it was called Senior Seminar. It detailed things like how a credit card works, what credit is, what negatively affects it, how to change a tire, how to balance your checkbook, the pros and cons of renting vs leasing, what you need to look out for when signing a rental agreement, how to take out a loan, when to take out a loan, how to save money by depositing a certain amount of your paycheck each week, etc. etc. Thinking back, I actually learned a lot from that class, probably one of the only ones in high school I can say that for.
ETA: It was a required course for every graduating senior.
-foxy
Required as a class: no. Too much required already.
Incorporated into existing classes: most definitely.
I do this with my Economics classes already. Every Wednesday is “Contemporary Topics,” where the kids get to pick the topic we cover. So far we have done auto financing, credit scores and credit cards. Next week, who knows? It’s been fun so far, and the kids seem to be really interested.
Boys took home eco when I went to junior high, over 40 years ago. Our favorite class (it was mostly cooking) since teenage boys love to eat. 
I think many such things have been cut due to budget problems.
As for the question, I definitely agree, also integrated. I’d tend to put it later, like senior year, to give the students the best shot at remembering this stuff when they need it.
My wife taught something like this when she taught at a school for nannies, since the young ladies (and one or two gentlemen) were pretty much clueless about balancing a checkbook, writing a letter of complaint, etc. It wasn’t so focused on credit scores, but this was before identity theft.
Someone mentioned it upthread about this being taught in the lower math classes. This needs to be changed in my opinion. All kids, not just the ones in higher math need to know about their credit scores and what to do about a solid financial portfolio.
I would very much recommend such a MANDATORY course. In teaching HS algebra, I was astonished by how many students did not understand compound interest, or the basics of investments. Their ignorance makes them prey for the credit card companies-and teenagers DON’T read the fine print. Recently , my CC company sent me a letter-explaining the interest rate charged on outstanding balances-after the grace period. it was stunning! They will charge 23.99% PLUS the prime rate (7%)! That works out to almost 31%!-Any our legislatures wonder why people are cynical! This is highway robbery-I once asked a student whether he should carry a balance on a CC-or take a personal loan (at 12%), pay off the balance, and make payments on the loan-he said he preferred to carry the balance on the CC! Unbelievable (but sadly, true).
A lot of the subjects posters are mentioning should already be covered elsewhere, right? They should know how the court system and taxes work already from social studies.
I like Sam’s list. But I would add understanding compound interest to it. Credit cards, saving for retirement and many other things are all based around this concept. I wouldn’t focus so much on the details like how credit cards work exactly. Just get them to understand the massive power that compounding interest has. If they understand that, then they’ll be aware of how it can hurt you (credit cards) or help you (investing for retirement).
Changing a tire? That’s what fathers are for.
Eh…I don’t know…while I think there needs to be more education and emphasis on financial responsibility and consequences…I believe that children have these neat things called parents that should be teaching these skills. I don’t need you to teach my child how to balance a checkbook…we do that at home and will encourage them to participate in household finances when they’re older. I need you to teach my child the basics of learning. Not that most of that crap matters in real life anyway…but they need to learn how to learn…that is what is most important in their futures.
edited to add and ralph124c I don’t know that I agree with your example. A personal loan normally has a higher interest rate than a credit card. Our card for example has a 7.9% interest rate…a personal loan runs at 11-14% last time I checked. Granted the advantage a personal loan has is that you’re forced to pay the entire balance off in a certain time period, rather than having an option of paying a ‘minimum’ that will keep you paying for years…but it’s not a pure black/white issue.
You might do that at home, but I would venture to say there are quite a few who don’t. If you say that most of the basics of learng is crap that doesn’t matter in real ife, then I’d think you would agree that credit scores ARE real life, and affect everything one does after college. No? So those basics of learning skills should be taught at a younger age.
At the same time, that’s a pretty hefty expectation, especially since it assumes that the parents have these life skills. These days, a lot of adults (with or without kids) are struggling to make ends meet, pay for retirement, and be fiscally responsible; I would wager that the people who can’t keep a budget or save for their future or afford what they need because they buy what they want and cannot afford are not capable of teaching their kids the skills that they need to avoid getting into a bad financial rut in the first place.
You’re doing all of this as a parent, but I would assume that you’re a fairly rare breed to actually be teaching your kids about household finances without the assistance of the school they’re attending or some credit counseling service.
All too often does this argument comes up. The same can be said about any subject. Why teach them history when the parents can? Why teach them science when the parents can? The fact is, is that the parents are busy doing their own thing… school is where they teach you the basics. Personal finance should be one of the basics. While AP English 765345 looks good to a college, it isn’t going to do any student good if they can’t figure out their finances.
Math teacher chiming in here - It’s sad that not many of my students understand interest, or credit scores, or how to balance a checkbook. However, my state requires that all students pass Algebra I and Geometry in order to get a diploma. Starting in 2 years, in order to get that diploma you also have to pass the state test in Algebra, so our curriculum there is pretty much dictated by the test. As exponential growth is not covered on the test, the low-level students never see interest problems. We are explicitly barred from teaching consumer math in our courses. The most practical problems we can cover is “If cell phone company A charges 49 per month plus .05 per text message and cell phone company B charges 39 per month plus .07 per text message, when will both plans cost the same? For what number of text messages would plan A be cheaper than plan B?”
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Yuck. It makes me sick that my students are so dumb when the leave my class. But, on the other hand, my mother made sure I knew how to balance a checkbook and compare interest rates and make good consumer choices before I got to high school, so I would have been bored out of my mind when I got to a course that some of you are proposing.
My main problem with education nowadays is that parents are rarely involved for the low-performing students until it’s too late. Why should we take even more responsibility for raising their kids away from them?
[/rant]
I guess this is what I was trying to get across. My wife is a teacher as well, and it’s disgusting how many parents don’t bother to take any responsibility for their kids at all. I don’t believe that the solution is to burden the education system with live lessons that I as a parent should be teaching my kids. Am I qualified to teach my kids chemistry or trig? Nope…but I can sure as hell do my job as a parent in preparing them on the responsibilities of becoming a contributing memeber of society. So no belching at the table, kicking puppies, or running up credit card debt.
I graduated HS in 2000. Since then I managed to trash my credit score and I am just now starting to rebuild. The only thing I ever learned about credit score is that “it’s important”, well to an 18 year old out on her own for the first time there is stuff that is way more important than the 'ol credit score. In fact for the first 4 years of my adult life I lived exactly as my parents taught me to. Paycheck to negative bank balance to paycheck, no savings and no thought to my financial future.
In school I remember learning how to write checks, this was part of our 2nd grade spelling unit. After that, nothing. There was a “life skills” class at my HS, however it was only open to a special group of at-risk kids. I guess they figured that since these kids were barely able to make it to school everyday it was more important for them to know how to balance the check book. They also had photography 
So in short I really do think that a “life skills” course needs to be mandatory for all 10th graders and then maybe a refresher when they are seniors.
Barrels
The problem is that many parents are no more qualified to teach these “life lessons” than you are to teach fluid dynamics. They don’t know anything about the best way to handle finances, so how can they teach their kids?
I’m not sure I would trust the parents just took out a 50-year no-interest mortgage so they could buy a 4000 square foot starter castle for them and their two kids to be able to teach the basics of personal financial responsibility. Heck, look at the Enron collapse. Someone decided it would be a fabulous idea to have their entire personal savings invested in the stock of the same company the work for, and it’s not the guy in tenth grade right now.