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Monday, July 7, 2008
Teaching Dollar$ and $ense
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It seems as though every day we get more bad news about the economy. Headlines scream that Georgia has one of the highest rates of personal bankruptcy and home foreclosures in the nation.
All this depressing news makes me wonder if schools are doing enough to make sure students don’t make the same money mistakes when they become adults.
The state used to require students take a personal finance class before graduation. That changed in the early 1980s when these lessons were added to economics classes.
The new social studies standards are supposed to include lessons about personal finance, starting in elementary school and continuing through high school. (Of course after seeing what happened with the social studies CRCT this year, some of those standards are getting redone.)
Still, should schools teach personal finance? Students could learn how to comparison shop, manage savings accounts and determine whether a credit card or college loan rate is a good deal.
One could argue children should learn about personal finance at home. But with so many Georgia adults struggling with their own finances, how can we expect them to teach good money-saving skills to their children?
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