PreK-12 blog

Why we should teach personal finance in high schools

Reading, writing, and arithmetic are important foundations for all school-age students to help prepare them to be productive citizens. The same can be said for personal financial education.

The financial decisions facing high school graduates

Debt.com recently reported “financial ignorance cost the average American almost $1,400 last year.”1 When thinking about graduating from high school, most students are faced with going to college or getting a full-time job, being asked to make many new financial decisions, including:

• applying for financial aid for college
• housing costs
• transportation costs
• insurance costs (health, dental, vision, rental, car)
• food and everyday expenses

And these all coincide with three main categories of students’ financial goals and interests identified by Kailen Stover (May, 2021):

• living on their own
• credit and credit cards
• taxes

High school graduates are underprepared for their financial future

Today’s 18-year-olds face financial and money management decisions from high school graduation to retirement, with the decisions they make now often having long-term effects. However, young adults may not have the experience and education to make these decisions .³

The first major financial decision many high school seniors make is when they commit to a college/university or continued vocational training. Many of these high school seniors do not understand how payment of student loans will affect their budgets or finances beyond college.

Ann Carns (2022) wrote that financial concerns were increased because of the pandemic and the rise of inflation causing a strain on households. She also reports other factors such as student debt levels and precarious retirement security have made it even more imperative that personal financial literacy among high school students be a priority.⁴

How Personal Financial Literacy, 3rd Edition, can help

Personal Financial Literacy, 3rd edition teaches students the essential financial management skills needed for life. It provides students with not only financial or life lessons but allows them to apply those lessons in a real-world context. The third edition:

• teaches language/vocabulary of personal financial planning
• introduces financial plans, cash flow, spending decisions, budgets, and balance sheets
• provides information on renting or buying a home and the importance of homeowners or renters insurance
• discusses savings and investing, introducing the various financial institutions and the basics of choosing a bank, available banking services, checking accounts, savings accounts, retirement savings options, and investing fundamentals (including stocks/bonds/mutual funds)
• teaches how spending and credit affect future financial plans, emphasizing the importance of building good credit, protecting your identity, obtaining personal loans, and using credit cards wisely
• teaches the effects of the economy, government (taxes), and continued education on life-long financial plans
• gives an understanding of the importance of health insurance, life insurance, and other employer-provided benefits

Financial education = successful life

As stated earlier, financial decisions students begin to make right out of high school can and will affect them from graduation to retirement and beyond. Teaching students’ financial skills while they are still in school with a quality curriculum that successfully develops these skills is essential.

Learn more about Personal Financial Literacy, 3rd Edition by Jeffery Madura, Michael Casey, and Sherry Roberts

Sources

¹Debt.com Most Students Aren’t Prepared for Life After High School - Debt.com

²Stover, Kailen (May 18, 2021); “Getting Started Teaching Personal Finance”; Edutopia.org Getting Started Teaching Personal Finance in High School | Edutopia

³Frazier, Liz (August 29, 2019); “5 Reasons Personal Finance Should Be Taught in School”; Forbes 5 Reasons Personal Finance Should Be Taught In School (forbes.com)

⁴Carns, Ann (March 18, 2022); “Bringing Personal Finance to the Classroom for Generation Z”; The New Times https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/18/business/adviser-students-personal-finance.html
 

“We give students a real-life certification, in their hands that they can go and get a job after they leave the high school.” – Laura Deshazo, Utah State Office of Education

Skills have become the global currency of 21st-century economies. In a world where competition for jobs, pay increases, and academic success continues to increase, certifications offer an advantage as a credible, third-party assessment of one’s skill and knowledge of a given subject.

The value of certification

According to educationdata.org, national student loan debt has skyrocketed from 3.3 billion in 2003 to over 1.75 trillion in 2021. Industry certifications offer an affordable alternative for students to demonstrate their knowledge and credentials to pursue career opportunities without accumulating large debt.

Certification provides other significant advantages to candidates, including:

• validation of knowledge
• increased marketability, earning power, and confidence
• improved reputation
• enhanced credibility

Certification also offers specific benefits to high school-aged students. According to the Florida CAPE Performance Report, certification provides tangible improvements in academic performance, including:

• higher grade point average for certified high school students: 3.12 vs 2.78 (4.0 scale)
• higher graduation rates for certified high school students: 97.5% vs 78.4%
• increased post-secondary enrollment: 84% vs 82%
• reduced dropout rates: 0.2% vs 1.0%

Picking the right certification

Now that we know how valuable certification can be, let’s discuss how we can start. There are thousands of skills that students can learn and hundreds of certifications that they can obtain. Where is the best place to start? What are some of the foundational skills that students must learn?  

For several years, LinkedIn, along with many other thought leaders, has chosen “creativity” as the most important skill to have. They describe creativity as the ability to “creatively approach problems and tasks across all business roles, from software engineering to HR.” But are there certifications for such a skill? Fortunately, yes. 

Showing your creativity with Adobe Certified Professional  

Adobe^® Certified Professional is a suite of seven certifications. Each certification measures the candidate’s skills and knowledge with the corresponding Adobe Creative Cloud application, such as Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Premiere Pro.  

“By teaching and certifying students in these creative tools, we are not only teaching technical skills but also the ways to think and problem solve creatively,” says Erica Blum, Associate Professor of Arts and Design at Lindenwood University.

“These tools are not only for professional designers or artists. In fact, most of my students are not pursuing design as their career. But by learning how to use these tools, they are learning how to visualize what they envision. They are learning how to communicate and problem solve creatively.” 

Using effective training and certification preparation tools

Achieving Adobe Certified Professional certification can be challenging. Using the most effective training and certification preparation tools is essential. Pearson has launched new, online programs designed specifically to meet the needs of students hoping to earn their Certified Professional certification in a variety of Adobe applications.