Should personal finance be taught in High School?

[Paladin D]

I believe [b]personal finance[/b] (correct terminology?) should be taught in High School, considering this is an extremely important matter for one's future.

[photosynthesis]

I agree.

[Tony]

great idea! money managment goes a long way..

lesson one: open up a savings bond

[toledo_jesus]

yes, by jingo. teach kids to stay away from credit cards.

[Nathan]

I think it is a good idea. However, in doing this, there is definitely a danger of schools teaching kids "money worship" -- that the person with the most money is the happiest -- which isn't good.

I'm all for basic, cold money managment skills being taught. Anything above that I would be sceptical about.

[Proud2BCatholic139]

I took this class my sophomore year.
It is offered at my high school.
It is very beneficial.

[avemaria40]

My school offers that. I wish i had the time to take it, lol

[prose]

I think it should be a mandatory part of curriculum...

Even if it isn't a course in and of itself, finance should be worked into some sort of life skills course for sure.

I knew nothing when I graduated, and am only now starting to understand how to save, invest, etc.

If I only knew then what I know now..........

[Dust's Sister]

Yes, I definatly think there should be a "money management" class. It should be in the senior year as a required class. they should replace algebra with this.

~Darvon

[Paladin D]

I've come across debates where "sex-ed" in schools is needed, because most parents, unfortunately, don't take the time to teach their teens about sex. Instead of focusing on just sex, why aren't they educating students about their financial future?

[cmotherofpirl]

I have no clue what they teach nowadays - but back in the day we had home ec which covered everything in two years from cooking to checking writing and it was a required course.

[Jedi_StClaire]

I think learning how to balance a checkbook and how to make a budget should be things taught in high school. I took a class in which I learned how to write checks corectly, etc. I had fun with that class, one of the few I liked.

[cmotherofpirl]

when I had it it was 7th and 8th grade

[photosynthesis]

[quote name='Paladin D' date='Oct 15 2005, 11:55 PM']I've come across debates where "sex-ed" in schools is needed, because most parents, unfortunately, don't take the time to teach their teens about sex.  Instead of focusing on just sex, why aren't they educating students about their financial future?
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in my sex ed class my senior year in public high school, my teacher was a Catholic, so she focused on marriage and family life instead of birth control and abortion. She did teach about contraception but made it clear that she was against it, and advised all the students to practice abstinence. At the end of the year, we told her what kind of careers we wanted, and she gave us an appropriate salary for someone in that career... so i got 20k because i got to be a social worker. Then she paired us up w/ members of the opposite sex, and we would be "married" to each other. We then had to create a married budget.

it was somewhat educational.. better than regular sex ed.

[Philippe]

they have it at my school but its a senior slacker class

[Lounge Daddy]

I know this….
"back in the day" schools taught reading righting and maths - what the hell happened?
the only "touchy feely" class would have been "Rights and Responsibilities"
huh… and now today… today its only “Rights” ...

[jasJis]

I voted 'other', because:

Any middle-schooler has the basic math skills to manage a budget. The next step is to start budgeting. It's not complicated.
The 'problem' is people not wanting to budget, or start budgeting. Our culture is a spend/spend/spend society. A class would only be trying to convince you to start a budget. If you think you need money management help, then you need to start a budget. All personal finance mangers and classes and books start with a budget.
Start a budget now while you're in highschool or college while it's easy. By the time you're married a couple of years, you will have a great perspective on the details of what you have to spend and what you have to spend it on and propbably can do it without a monthly 'budget'. It's ingrained.
It should be a 'senior-slacker' class.

[avemaria40]

[quote name='photosynthesis' date='Oct 16 2005, 02:15 AM']in my sex ed class my senior year in public high school, my teacher was a Catholic, so she focused on marriage and family life instead of birth control and abortion.  She did teach about contraception but made it clear that she was against it, and advised all the students to practice abstinence.  At the end of the year, we told her what kind of careers we wanted, and she gave us an appropriate salary for someone in that career...  so i got 20k because i got to be a social worker.  Then she paired us up w/ members of the opposite sex, and we would be "married" to each other.  We then had to create a married budget.

it was somewhat educational..  better than regular sex ed.
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That's really cool! We don't get good abstinence/sex ed programs around here. They teach a bit about STD's in middle school and your advised to use condoms, but that abstinence is the best choice. But then again, our state has no laws against minors getting birth control and abortion, so I guess they think we don't need to learn anything about abstinence b/c "we're just going to do it anyway"

[Proud2BCatholic139]

That makes me sick to my stomach.