Financial Education in Schools
By GreenMoo
@GreenMoo (11833)
August 18, 2011 4:34am CST
At school we learn all sorts of things, some of which are useful to us as adults and some not so. But there are things which I think are essential for all young people to learn, and how to manage their personal finances is one of them.
We live in a consumer culture where there is intense pressure on us to spend, spend, spend, and to enter into contracts with financial institutions to borrow money. I find it horrifying that so many people don't understand the basics of their loans and credit cards. How many people do you know that have no idea how compound interest is calculated? Yet that is what most of us pay on the money we borrow on our credit cards! Is it any wonder that so many people get into difficulties with borrowing money they cannot really afford to pay back?
I think that basic financial education is something that should be part of the school curriculum. Basic stuff like how to understand a financial contract before you sign it, how to work out how much you'll actually pay, and how to budget.
Do you think these sort of skills would be useful for young people to learn? Would they have helped you? Are these things already taught in schools where you live?
1 person likes this
11 responses
@QeeGood (1213)
• Sweden
18 Aug 11
Financial education how to manage the basical monthly administration living on your own with your monthly expenses would be a good things for students to learn. What to think about when they think they need a loan or what are the consequences getting a credit card. There are many things do know and to learn to not learn the hard lessons having problems to get out of debts. 
1 person likes this
@QeeGood (1213)
• Sweden
19 Aug 11
Well, here in Sweden there are smart business people. They offer you like a loan of $300,00 within 24 hours. You just send and sms from your cellphone with personal info. for you to get your money the same day. The terms to pay back the laon is like 7 - 14 days with interests % of 30. Aren't you paying it back in time the debt is increasing fast. I stay away from that kind of loan.
@varier (5685)
• Indonesia
18 Aug 11
I am not sure it is good to intoduce "money" to kids or young person. They are too naive
And of top of that, usually persons at school aren't having any fixed salary, so I don't think Financial Education would be useful at that time
Anyway, I was having "basic" Financial Education in my religion class :D
- Don't be greedy.
- Don't spend your money too much, especially on things that you don't really need
or so..
I learnt it all from my religion class 
And of top of that, usually persons at school aren't having any fixed salary, so I don't think Financial Education would be useful at that time
Anyway, I was having "basic" Financial Education in my religion class :D
- Don't be greedy.
- Don't spend your money too much, especially on things that you don't really need
or so..
I learnt it all from my religion class 1 person likes this
@GreenMoo (11833)
•
18 Aug 11
Kids may well be naive, but do you really think it's a good idea to turn them out into the world at the end of their school days still naive? When they leave school they will need to make financial decisions, and if they have no experience or training in this area this is when they are likely to get into difficulties. Of course kids have no salary whilst at school, but education is an investment in their future, when they will have money to spend.
1 person likes this
@varier (5685)
• Indonesia
18 Aug 11
I mean, a basic financial education for kids should be great. But I think a special class for Financial Education would be too much
I think it would be better to insert that kind of education into another class, for example, into religion class, like I mentioned before.
It is a good education, but when it is too much, I think it would be harmful for kids or young person 
I think it would be better to insert that kind of education into another class, for example, into religion class, like I mentioned before.
It is a good education, but when it is too much, I think it would be harmful for kids or young person @GreenMoo (11833)
•
19 Aug 11
Maths class is a good opportunity to practice the sort of calculations I had in mind, as the example by NoWayRo elsewhere in this discussion shows.
I personally don't agree with you. I think teaching young people how to deal with their finances is an essential skill today. I'm thinking that understanding how it all works is essential to protecting yourself from it all.
@ebuscat (5935)
• Philippines
18 Aug 11
For me not good for now we live in the crisis time all we do is much to know hoe to budget our money.
@NoWayRo (1061)
• Romania
18 Aug 11
The summer school where I work part time tries to implement something like that, in the form of keeping the math problems as close to the reality as possible. Kids have to solve things like "if you borrow 100$ from the bank for 8 months, and the interest rate is 3% per month, and you have to pay 2$ in commissions for each reimbursement, how much will you give to the bank in total?" Hopefully it will prove useful on the long term. I'm afraid the teachers don't know too much about finances either, so they can only teach what they know.
1 person likes this
@changjiangzhibin89 (17243)
• China
18 Aug 11
What you said is true.Today we live in the era of market economy,If we were wanting in personal finance ,we should run into snags and be foiled everywhere.And again,with the explosive development of knowledge,we must be alive to new ideas and knowledge relating to finance.
@changjiangzhibin89 (17243)
• China
19 Aug 11
Since you frequently deal with the bank so you gradually know what's what in this respect.Genuine knowledge comes from practice.
@AgentGulaman (3546)
• Philippines
18 Aug 11
I think this is what Robert Kiyosaki also tackles regarding the education system. Except for the Finance majors and accountants, financial management isn't really taught out. In my engineering course however, I took an elective pertaining to engineering economics which gave me an idea about financial matters. I do believe it would be good for a country's economy if schools teach financial education to students. It would surely be useful because these are the people using money. Having information about how money works will make them think of deciding how they will use their money. I really would like to see the curriculum change to help produced financially capable professionals which can really make a country stable.
1 person likes this
@judelen (428)
• Philippines
19 Aug 11
Hello! In Robert Kiyosaki principle in financial aspect is good. People should know on how to use their money carefully. Doing business is a great deal to improve money matters. The book of Robert entitled "My Rich Dad and My Poor Dad" it's a great opening to us especially when our thinking is only we can earn money through employment, but the most of all doing business is a great source of good income. Research to my blog i'm sure you can learn more on money management and other financial aspect you can try to apply in your life.
@GreenMoo (11833)
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19 Aug 11
Exactly! An allowance should not just be an opportunity for kids to buy things, it should be an educational opportunity where kids learn how to use it, budget with it, save it, and so on. I know they can't take out loans and credit cards, but they should at least learn how to manage those when the opportunity does come along, otherwise they could become prey to every financial vulture out there.
@BarBaraPrz (51838)
• St. Catharines, Ontario
18 Aug 11
My teacher in Grade 5 often strayed from the official sylabus. When he wasn't regaling us with stories of his exploits during "the war" he taught us useful things like how to look things up in the phone book, what to do in an emergency, simple self-defence tactics, and bookkeeping. He also told us about the joys of compound interest.
@p1kef1sh (45681)
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19 Aug 11
The school system that you and I went through is appalling at teaching life skills. I can make a pipecleaner dodecahderon but I can't work out compound interest! (Well I can now but not back then). Yet it's the latter that has been of the greatest importance to me. I can tell you all about cwms (I just wanted to type a "funny" word) and oxbow lakes; how to conjugate avoir and etre (sorry about the lack of accents), and probably just remember Boyle's Law - but I didn't learn how to balance my cheque book or how to budget my earninga so that I could eat, pay rent, get to and from work and still have money for fun. I don't think that the majority of schools here teach these things even now. Although I have read that they should.
@GreenMoo (11833)
•
19 Aug 11
You´ve just made think I´m terribly poorly educated. I don´t know what a cwm is (though I´ll find out now, very handy for scrabble!), or an oxbow lake, and I don´t know who Boyle was, let alone what his Law was.
Some financial basics would have been more useful all round.
@bounce58 (17380)
• Canada
21 Aug 11
What a fantastic idea!
Maybe a subject in high school. Specially that there are a lot of people that don't proceed to college after high school. This would ensure that they would know something about contracts, basic accounting, and even just balancing their own checkbooks, etc. It may not mean to a few, but it would ensure that a lot will not be burdened down in their own debts.
@libramie (562)
• Philippines
18 Aug 11
Compound and simple interest concerning money taught us in school at elementary level under mathematics subject. But the importance of money is not. Hence, mostly parents nowadays, a time of crisis, talked and give knowledge to their children about household financial matters, expenditures and budgeting using prior necessities. But even they've grown up under this situation, many will become spendthrift mostly the credit card holders. They spend happily more than they earned, that's why they can't paid on time and earned more and more compounded interest which lead them to a sad ending.
