David Albelais ‘22
The Roundup
It is truly a miracle that the United States is finally starting to care about teaching high school students about important topics like finances and taxes instead of what William Taft did in 1903.
According to Career Builder, a major employment website, around 78% of working Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. This is a direct result of people not being educated enough on how to prioritize finance therefore limit financial opportunities.
After a few months of schools having financial literacy classes for highschools around the country, we can already see a significant difference between the ones who do enforce those classes and those that do not.
Not only this, but more and more educational programs and faculty are in full support of this. According to a study done by Marley Harvey and Carly Urban from the University of Wisconsin and Montana state university, there has been a significant increase in teacher participation in this new rigor. Even the professors in schools that do not teach it are trying to push for the financial literacy classes to be required to graduate high school.
The reason why financial literacy classes are so important for high school students (especially seniors) is because of how much they will have to use the advice in the coming years.
In a blog done by the company One Class, they state how in 2020 and 2021, 56% of students can not afford college or to continue their education. This is a huge problem for students that have no knowledge on financial aid, tax returns, student loans, and other methods of helping students graduate college.
With proper education on these topics, students will be able to know more about what colleges they can afford and most importantly, how they can afford it without getting into a huge amount of debt.
In our modern world, where huge economic crashes could happen at any time, people must be prepared for any emergency at any instant. The only way that most graduates will be able to be prepared properly for life after college and high school is through proper education and a plan for success.
