Why should we teach financial education in school?
Few parents of students in elementary school, high school, or college would disagree if you said; we need to teach basic economics and financial education as mandatory parts of our education system, and yet we don’t? Why? Well, that was the question that was recently raised in our think tank. What can we teach children?
What about how to balance a checkbook, how to calculate simple interest and amortization, and how about personal budgeting and credit card debt problems? What about student loan offsets for college tuition? Is that a taboo? I’m sorry, but why not? Why should something be prohibited? Let’s talk, okay?
You see, one guy from the think tank agreed with me that he liked the beginning and was surprised that it wasn’t already part of the curriculum. Of course, he also told me that my ideas of ‘balancing a checkbook’ were a bit archaic; “Really? How many people still use checks? They haven’t written one in this decade.”
Okay, I recognize that point, still the principles of looking at a bank statement are valuable. Oddly, I’ve only written a handful of checks this year, now that I think about it.
Another couple of points: In the US we see $1.3 trillion in outstanding tuition debt: 40% over 90 days in the back, most of those students will default eventually, worse either way, they’re economically enslaved Since that debt can’t be paid off in bankruptcy, at least not yet, Democrats want to forgive and eventually give free college tuition, yet those loans were taken unwisely.
Another challenge Auto loans, zero interest, zero payments until next year, and loans for those with substandard credit—that’s another sign of poor decision-making. What if those people had better knowledge about interest, loans, and money?
When people took out ARM home loans during the run-up to the 2008 financial crisis, many said they didn’t understand what they were signing. Maybe they did, but they used it as an excuse, either way they should have known what they were signing up for and what they were getting into.
Why are we in such a hurry to economically enslave the next generation with debt? They come out of college and can’t buy a car, start a business or buy a house, how does that help move our economy forward? Something is wrong, and it’s something we can fix simply by teaching financial literacy, which is as important to success in life as math, science, reading, and writing. Please consider this.