That is a good point, lots of kids today live in that " I must have....I need that" society where they haven't got a clue about handling financial matters and the parents don't teach them.... they just keep giving!!!
I don't necessasarily believe it's the teacher's job to teach these kids how to deal with money, I think that is a parent's job.....the teacher's aren't responsible for everything a child does!!!
That is a big problem, kids having too much sway over their parents and the parents just can't say no in a lot of cases...so they incur all sorts of debt as a result.
Mind you, a lot of adults can't handle money either, so it's a problem all round really.

Great idea!!

I am a four year old economist

I think people in washington and the world of education should read your column. We need to teach high school students more practical and useful tools. I agree with you 100%.

Great article. Two things that should return to the mainstream middle school/high school classroom are Financial Education and Civics as mandatory courses.

As a sixth grader in a gifted child program, we traded stocks for a month and competed for high yields as a contest, but that was really poorly designed as it did not take into account commissions, capital gains taxes, nor the real world ideas of shorting stocks, etc. There was never anything taught on budgeting, loans, etc. Economic education is as critical to a person's future success as reading comprehension and math skills.

Civics should be taught so that people really understand how government operates at a local, county, state, and federal level. We encourage people to vote, but don't give them a real clue as to how the system works so that they can be effectively gamed or lied to by the those in power.

It seems that people who take a citizenship test have to know more about this country and financial reality than the average US high school student. That must change.

I'm afraid I'll have to disagree with the underlaying argument here - schools are not responsible for teaching young people to manage money. Maybe my view is skewed from being raised by a Jewish mother, but I feel the concepts of an allowance, money for chores, personal responsibility (and accountability), and the need to live within one's means should be covered at home, not at school.

While I did find Personal Finance to be very interesting and useful when I took it senior year in college, I felt much of it was common sense I had already learned. My parents never taught me the finer points of mutual funds, but they didn't need to -�I got the big picture. Maybe that's why I have a zero credit card balance in spite of my turbulent employment lately.

Perhaps a better solution is to ensure that all teenagers spend at least _some_ time working for minimum wage. Nothing educates you more than earning far less than you should.

And if I could do it all again, I would have taken Latin in minute. It's hard to keep up as a hobby. Post hoc, ergo propter hoc, cogito.

I remember as a kid growing up in a large family and was thrilled to get one gift for christmas that I wanted. Each one of us kids had a request and each one got the one gift. I wanted a baby doll and carriage. Am 60 yrs old and still remember what my doll looked like. My brothers and sisters all wanted bikes and got them. But the best thing was sharing our dinners together. It was great. The best time is making dinners together.

My daughters went to an outstanding single-sex private school in Farmington, CT, where Financial Literacy was addressed thoroughly and regularly. They are both well prepared for the real world, thanks to the school's awareness that women, in particular, need to be educated in this area.

In the U.S., we are as squeamish about talking money as we are sex.

I'm a college sophomore myself and couldn't agree more. I think the curricula of the K-12 educations system is in large part, dated. (To say the least). One of my biggest gripes is not blaming the credit card companies or anyone else for that matter, but it seems that we often don't realize that we're adults or that what we're doing has a long-term effect on our adult lives until two years after we did the damage. Then we spend the next seven years trying to clean it all up.

I heartily agree. I also came from a family where money was not talked about much, at least not with the kids. My parents had periodic, sometimes frightening arguments about finances, which did nothing to increase my interest in, or comfort with money. Not every child will be blessed with parents wise enough to pass on their financial wisdom (should they posess any) to their children. Now I'm about to graduate from college with a degree in Environmental Science. If I'd had the time, I would have loved to take some classes in economics or business, but my requirements didn't leave me enough time for that.

I do believe that part of the reason American public schools haven't addressed this at all is that Americans are squeamish about class. We like to pretend that this is a classless society, when nothing could be further from the truth. Investigating the world of finance thoroughly would reveal some of the schisms in American society, which would make some people extremely uncomfortable. But it's unconscionable to hold our children's financial futures hostage to our sense of comfort.

so if i were more frugal it would have prevented the subprime loan mess and collapse of global finance???

sorry, learning Latin is EXACTLY what primary and secondary schools are for. you can specialize in college.

maybe they should have taught me how to change a tire or how to survive in the woods.

as others have noted, personal finance, personal hygiene, etc are not legitimate subjects for our public schools.

I too was student of Latin but also a victim of my own ignorance of the credit game. I was a top-ranked student in a top-tier high school. I excelled in languages and civics, which is probably why I have a good grasp of what is going on in the world outside my front door. And though I possessed much intellectual curiousity, I never ventured into the Finance section of the library... there were much more interesting things going on with Proust and Anais Nin. I would go on to attend an ivy-league school and since I didn't come from money, that new computer, those books, and my sweater collection from J.Crew weren't gonig to pay for themselves. I was able to reign things in piece by piece after graduate school, but the price the less-than-privileged have to pay in this country just to gain entry and prove their mettle in the academic arena is so overwhelming there would still be a massive credit problem in this country if people weren't also trying to satiate a spiritual famine with material goods.

There is a lot of personal responsibility involved here, but if the American education system thinks that learning calculus is more critical to personal development than learning the difference between variable and fixed interest rates, then we deserve the mess we are in. Sometimes the only way to teach a child not to touch a hot stove is to let them get burned. So let's just hope, for everyone's sake, we have learned our lesson.

I'm 23 and I just graduated from college. I get my first credit card when I entered my freshman year at college. To this day, I have always paid out my balance in full. I only have credit cards as a convenience, because I don't like dealing with cash. What's even better, my main one gives me 1% cash back on all purchases. Essentially, since I pay it all off, they're paying me to have a credit card. Pretty neat, huh?

I completely agree with the article. It wouldn't be that hard to integrate home economics education into the curriculum. No money is needed. But... Call me a pessimist/conspiracy theorist, but it's not in the best interest of the credit companies to see this change in the school system, because they are making money off us like crazy. In other words, they would be lobbying like crazy if this was ever introduced...

I agree. I've been saying this for years. Unfortunately, some of my friends are part of the cause of this financial crisis. I'm proud to say that I am not, as I have zero debt and have been living well within my limits--no thanks to my school. My parents spent a lot of time teaching me how to handle plastic and bills long before I left the house.

As for anyone who says it's not the school's responsibility and only one of the home, I have to agree/disagree. It is the responsibility of the home first and foremost, but one of the great qualities of America is that your success is not limited to the home you come from. Debt isn't just something individuals incur, it tends to be a family cycle. If your parents overspend, chances are you will. The education system (idealistically) is a great equalizer that breaks generational cycles and helps those with enough ambition to reach greater heights than their family.

The education system will not solve the financial crisis, but it will certainly help empower those that want to learn. Especially those that come from indebted families.

I would like to preface my comment by stating that I am a high school Latin teacher. Having said that, I could not agree more with your sentiments; it is vital that we start teaching our children financial responsibility. I never had financial education in high school or college or grad school and to this day struggle to raise a family on a tight budget. It is not that I am frivolous with money, rather I do not really understand how finances of any sort work.
I see far too many of my students leaving HS to enter a world that is as unfamiliar to them as ancient Rome would be. Clearly I value a classical education, but the essential role of public school should be to prepare our students for ALL of the responsibilities that adulthood brings. We (in public schools) are mandated to teach health, fitness, sexuality, decision-making, computer literacy, etc., etc. It is an embarrassment that our public education system does not see it as vital to teach our children financial literacy.