A good, local newspaper story ran on Saturday, January 10, but perhaps you missed it. Well, good news should be shared repeatedly. Beginning this fall, Hawai`i’s Department of Education will mandate that all students must finish an accredited financial literacy course in order to graduate high school. Hawai`i’s public school system thus joins 28 other states (finally and happily) that have put this vital requirement in place.
Amid the many mind-expanding opportunities that schools hopefully provide for kids, financial literacy as a must-have is wise. The Hawai`i Council on Economic Education (HCEE) spent decades trying to push this concept through, but it’s been tough with all of the mandates placed on educators to find room, time, training, and energy to put this type of learning into place; permanently.
88% of U.S. adults believe a personal finance course should be required of kids. And why not? Stanford’s Graduate School of Business states that roughly two-thirds of the global population cannot pass basic financial literacy tests.
Historically, public school economic education availability directly correlated to a given school’s teacher pool. If a teacher versed in economics was on staff and engaged, you might see an elective economics course offered. But when that person moved on or retired, the school’s economics efforts went bankrupt. But no longer…
The focus of this financial literacy learning will include “earning income, spending, saving, investing, managing credit and managing risk”, according to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Hopefully, 2027 graduates and future alums will resist taking out home loans they probably cannot afford without pain; perhaps they’ll avoid the dreaded, drastic- plastic syndrome, caused by running up credit card debt via sometimes usurious interest rates. Maybe some will be sensitized to avoid flashing their digital appendages (a/k/a cell phones) if they crave $9 mocha, double-latte, espresso frappes. The financial crisis of 2008/2009 was birthed by too many bad home loans taken out by naïve (adult) homebuyers.
Public schools will have flexibility instituting the financial requirements- through single courses, mixed into the lessons of already-existing classes, via personal tutorial engagement and other approaches the DOE will soon offer (along with teacher training).
In a world where ignorance seems to be bliss or at least encouraged at times, where information is cheap to find and often highly inaccurate, helping our students with practical financial knowledge should serve them well in life forevermore; it’s almost like money in the bank.
Think about it…