11/20/2023 0 Comments Making financial decisions"Personal finance instruction includes teaching things like managing a budget, picking stocks, diversifying your investment portfolio and insurance, and those things are really important to learn, but they're not particularly relevant to 16- or 17-year olds, let alone middle schoolers or elementary school students," Scott Wolla, economic education officer at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Not every student will go to college, for example, but all students should be equipped to make that decision after weighing the costs and benefits. Cannon and other experts say decision-making provides a framework for students to get into those deeper topics on an as-needed basis. There are plenty of nitty-gritty topics to get into within personal finance from understanding the power of compound interest to knowing the challenges of adjustable-rate loans. "That theme is really a theme of the economics discipline, and we view personal finance as an extension of economics." "The biggest single theme by far is decision making - weighing costs, benefits, marginal cost, marginal benefits and thinking through future consequences as best you can," Cannon says. Along with proposing course topics, they endorse semester-long, standalone personal finance courses, rather than just requiring that some financial concepts be taught within a math, economics or other class.Īs of March 2023, about 24% of students go to schools that uphold the "gold standard" of personal finance education, according to NGPF, where it's both required and comprehensive.ĭespite different standards and course descriptions, educators from various locations generally agree that teaching students how to make thoughtful decisions is at the heart of all personal finance education. NGPF also works on the policy side to help ensure when states are mandating personal finance education, they're doing so effectively. "And then we can't teach all that, so we say, 'What are the basics?'" "We sort of sit around and say, 'Alright, what is it about budgeting you think every kid needs to know? Give us the laundry list,'" Cannon tells CNBC Make It. The National Council for Economic Education identifies six critical topic areas in their personal finance standards:ĭeveloping the local standards can come down to "whoever's in the room," according to Chris Cannon, chief program officer at the Georgia Council on Economic Education, who worked on Georgia's personal finance education standards. ![]() Much work has gone into developing standards for each state that school districts then use to develop curriculum to teach the required material.Īlong with advocating for personal finance education in schools, organizations like NGPF and the Council for Economic Education work to develop standards they feel will best equip students with necessary and relevant financial education. ![]() When it comes to mandating personal finance education, it's not as simple as legislators or school boards agreeing that there need to be courses available.
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