why we should take personal finance in high school

Personal Finance Essay: Sydnee Foster

“Every student should take a personal finance course as part of the requirements for a high school diploma.”
Many people are not financially knowledgeable after they graduate from high schools, but most colleges offer a personal finance class. If you had it as a requirement for a high school diploma then students who didn’t or don’t plan on attending a collage wouldn’t have the information that this class teaches. Most parents teach their children how to deal with their finance but some parents or guardians of students might not have a sturdy knowledge of personal finance. So I think that making personal finance a requirement for graduation would be a wonderful idea that students will use in their everyday life.

If we make personal finance a graduation requirement some students may just blow it off and just waste time but and money taking a class, but there’s that risk for every class. I think that if we make it a graduation requirement then we should have an actual teacher not some online program, because then you get a more accurate view of the world and help when you have questions and give more personal ways to look at things instead of a program that just gives you facts no opinions. Hearing other peoples opinion helps you develop your own that u can someday share with others.

A reason for having a personal finance class requirement would be to help keep debt low. If more people knew how to handle their income there would not be so many people in dept. Dept. has increased so much over the years and in we continue to grow and the next generation will put us further I dept. unless we teach them how to handle their money. Studies show that “Almost one-third of college students, when reflecting back on their freshman year, admit that they were not very well prepared for personal money management on campus.” (http://www.financialeducatorscouncil.org/financial-literacy-statistics.html )

A high percentage of young adults have no experience with handling their money and end up on their own. If we had personal finance as a requirement then it would lower the lack of knowledge and the not having the ability to pay bills and other expenses. So all and all I think knowing how to handle your money wisely is a very important ability that can help student throughout their lives and help the next generation of students become adults suitable for society.

My final reason for making personal finance a graduation requirement is that students need to know these things so their prepared for life and ready to become an important character is society and to help us put America out of so much dept. Personal finance would make a major impact in some students but if those students wanted to study this class then they have the option to. You see young adults (18-29) who have no idea how to pay their expenses and that are learning on the way as they go through their life.

My conclusion is that if a real Personal finance class was made part of high schools as well as all colleges would help society grow and develop more and more everyday but, students might not like the idea of another class we have to take another class to be able to graduate. If you had a discussion with the class telling them why their taking this class and how it can help them as we grow older and help our economy.