Students leave high school without learning the way how to manage their money. What are the reasons and solutions of this issue?
High school students are studying up on literature, chemistry and world history; however, most are not learning fundamental money lessons to help themfinancially navigate the real world. Parents’ lack of financial knowledge and negligence towards the matter are the biggest culprits; thus, several measures need to be taken to tackle those heightened concerns.
On the one hand, regardless of the fact that an overwhelming majority of teens desire more financial education, neither parents nor educational institutions are paying proper attention to financial literacy. It is said that a number of high schools are doing the bare minimum to equip students with the required skills for money management. In other words, state governments are focused on teaching the core subjects of Maths and English that personal finance often gets overlooked. In addition, parents today are not confident in their abilities to teach their kids about money management. Sadly enough, many parents have not learned critical financial values themselves; hence, they may be passing bad financial habits to their kids.
In essence, most teenagers lack personal money management skill as noone around them talks about it. Therefore, it is vital for parents to use financial hardships and strained budgets as an opportunity to talk about finances and teach kids about managing money around the dinner table. Teenage kids should also be included in budget planning through a weekly or monthly allowance. Another feasible approach is the embedding of financial literacy course into the school curriculum. Amongst traditional core subjects, students should be required to complete personal-finance classes to graduate.
In conclusion, lack of financial knowledge could leave serious implications on a kid’s livelihood. This is calling for collective actions of parents and schools to bring money-related education into everyday conversations as well as the official curriculum.
