Improving Personal Finance Education In The United States

A major way to improve personal finance education in the United States is by showing the students that this content will help them in their lives, with emphasis on the need for it in the real world, thus motivating them to take an interest in the material through a variety of teaching methods. After all, “since financial education is not a requirement…it is important to provide other sources of financial information…which might stimulate the teen’s interest” (Varcoe et al. 70). Personal finance classes are not made a requirement in many states, however, those that do have these classes have seen many positive results from efforts to increase student motivation. For example, after the 2008 financial crisis in the United States, “15% [of personal

These young people may become overwhelmed with the amount of options or become too afraid to spend money in fear that they will make a life altering mistake with their expenses. It has been shown that many students are anxious about money, even when they have a good background in math and have had conversations about good personal finance skills before (Godfrey 2). Money often leaves “a legacy of fear” that will also be passed to the current generation of high school students (Coleman 2). In fact, “28% [of people] believe it is difficult to learn about personal finance because amid so many choices they don’t know where to turn” (Kadlac 2). However, these personal finance classes are not trying to scare students away from money, rather teach them how to use it wisely. The main purpose of personal finance education is to help students with “setting clear and attainable goals and developing a deep appreciation of how basic financial literacy will allow them to reach their goals” (Mandell and Klein 113). It is not about showing students that money is bad with negative overtones, but rather about showing them the positive affects it can have on their life if they use it wisely. Therefore, personal finance classes should be a part of the education system and they will not scare students away from money in the long

This is quite a big issue for the positive improvement of personal finance education because “we cannot expect someone who is in disarray with their own finances to be placed in a position of teaching someone, regardless of age, about their finances” (Coleman 2). Currently, “relatively few teachers believe they are adequately prepared to teach personal finance topics,” although teachers do believe it is important to teach these students personal finance in schools (Golden, Way, and Holden 1). However, there are very little programs in place which help educate these teachers and school systems also have issues blocking their way. One example is the lack of “a certification or specific education to teach financial education… [there is] no influence of state mandates on whether a teacher had taken a course in personal finance, taught a course, or felt competent to teach a course” (3). These programs need to be implemented in order to ensure that students are being taught by someone who is well educated about personal finance themselves. Some of the other issues that teachers face when beginning to interact with personal finance education are “dealings with the school administration…student interest… [and] classroom materials” (Loibl and Fisher 23). Teachers need support from school systems in order