1. Why
High
Schools
Must
Nationally
Require
Financial
Literacy
By Victor J. Lau
American teenagers are
financially illiterate;
specifically, many students
currently have trouble saving
and managing their money, let
alone investing and
earning. To make matters
worse, teenagers do not even
seek or learn about financial
education until they think they
actually need it — when they
are in debt. As a result, though
teenagers may excel
academically in school or in
other areas, financial illiteracy
will hinder their chances of
succeeding in the future.
Accordingly, some states have
already required financial
literacy courses for graduation. Figure 1. above,
depicts the 15 states (blue states) that require
financial literacy courses.1 With only 30 percent of
the nation mandating financial literacy courses,
students, as economic experts and journalists
suggest, are becoming more financially illiterate
on a national scale.
In order to help students succeed, high
schools must nationally require students
to learn financial literacy as a graduation
requirement.
Needless to say, altering a high school curriculum
involves long debates, and most often small
changes rarely get passed. Nevertheless, financial
specialists and professional economic counselors
have advocated that financial literacy appear in
high school education due to the following:
(1) Financial literacy is an essential skill.
(2) Relative to other countries, our nation’s future
generation is financially illiterate.
(3) Regarding results, financial literacy influences
certain characteristics such as financial behavior.
Figure
1.
Mandatory
Financial
Education
Across
U.S.A
Source
1:
USNews.com
(College
Students
Become
Less
Financially
Responsible)
2. Source
2:
FINRAFoundation.org
(The
Financial
Capability
of
Young
Adults)
Financial Literacy is an
Essential Skill
An essential skill our future generation must learn
is basic financial literacy. Understanding financial
literacy enables students to (1) complete daily
activities in a responsible manner, (2) accomplish
their professional and personal goals, and (3)
adapt to financial hardships.
Financial Literacy Involves Everyday
Situations
Financial literacy is incorporated in all our daily
activities – saving money, paying bills, investing in
ideas, buying and selling goods, and etc. When
most people do activities on a daily basis, they
would normally want to know how to accomplish
what they are doing correctly and safely. For
example, no state in its right mind will allow
people without basic driving education to drive.
Students learning financial literacy is no different
from learning how to drive. Logically speaking, for
example, when students obtain their first credit
card, they normally want to understand how to
responsibly use it – their first reaction is not “How
can I max out my credit and go into debt?” Since
people use financial literacy in almost everything
they do, they should first understand the concept
of financial literacy.
Financial Literacy Helps Accomplish
Goals
Individuals who understand
financial literacy have better
chances to accomplish their
goals. Florida’s state Chief
Financial Officer, Jeff Atwater,
assures that when students
learn financial literacy, they
will have the skills to succeed
in both their professional and
personal lives.2
For example, in his World’s
Largest Financial Literacy
Education Event, former
President Bill Clinton praised
financial literacy for helping
him to achieve his aspirations
to be president.3
Without people understanding
financial literacy, we may never have
had inspirational leaders.
According to former President Bill
Clinton, financial literacy is “a very fancy
term for saying spend it smart, don’t
blow it, save what you can, and know how
the economy works.”6
Students can Adapt to Financial
Hardships
America’s economy is constantly changing – from
war, politics, disasters, and etc. –, and consumers’
financial behaviors are indirectly affected by
economic events. Gary Mottola from the National
Financial Capability Study (NFCS) states that The
Great Recession may not affect our future
generation’s financial behavior, but many other
future challenges like the 2016 United States
Presidential Election can affect how they
financially react.4 As a result, each generation has
their own financial problems to deal with, and
each generation responds differently to financial
situations.
However, younger generations are still financially
illiterate when compared to older generations.
Figure 2, below, shows the results of financial
knowledge over different generations. The 2012
survey, conducted by the NCFS (State-by-State
Survey), shows that Millennials generally scored
12 percent less than Boomers.5 Although the trend
of financial illiteracy over generations is subtly
3. Country Mean
Score Rank
Shanghai-‐China 603 1
Flemish
Community
(Belgium) 541 2
Estonia 529 3
Australia 526 4
New
Zealand 520 5
Czech
Republic 513 6
Poland 510 7
Latvia 501 8
United
States 492 9
Russian
Federation
486 10
France 486 11
Slovenia 485 12
Spain 484 13
Croatia 480 14
Israel
476 15
Slovack
Republic 470 16
Italy 466 17
Columbia 379 18
OECD
Average 500 N/A
Average
Performance
in
Financial
Literacy
Table
1.
Students’
Financial
Literacy
According
to
Countries
Source
3:
OECD.org
(Results
from
PISA
2012
Financial
Literacy)
decreasing, more students will eventually be
affected over time. If this trend continues,
students will eventually have trouble
understanding basic financial knowledge, which
older generations can easily comprehend.
Fortunately, learning financial literacy can help
students be on par or even better with their older
generations. Students can learn what financial
mistakes older generations made, so students can
avoid any similar disasters. Therefore, by
incorporating financial literacy courses,
educational policy makers can make a difference in
students’ careers and financial lives.
To prepare our students to succeed in the
future is our duty, not only for their sake
but also for our nation’s future.
Our Nation’s Future
Generation Lack Financial
Literacy
As mentioned above, former President Bill Clinton
stated that financial literacy is understanding how
the economy works. Though America is
economically strong, its future generation lacks
the financial skills to lead it.
America has a Strong Economy
The United States has one of the greatest
economies in the world. With economies,
measured by Gross Domestic Product (GDP),
United States comes first with $17.9 trillion,
followed by China with $11.4 trillion and Japan
with $4.1 trillion.7 However, other countries will
inevitably surpass the United States economically
if our students don’t even understand basic
financial literacy.
Our Students Lack Financial Literacy
As a matter of fact, in the financial literacy
assessment conducted by the Paris-based
Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development (OECD), researchers have found that
students in the United States are relatively average
in terms of financial literacy when compared to
other national powerhouses.8
Table 1, to the right, shows the ranks of students’
financial literacy according to their respective
country; the United States ranks in the 60th
percentile in terms of financial literacy.9 While
countries like China, Australia, and Poland are
improving their students’ financial literacy, United
States’ students’ are falling behind. The United
States cannot settle with average financial literacy
scores, and even U.S. Education Secretary Arne
Duncan agrees with this. According to Duncan,
our economy has been drastically changing over
the past few decades, and future generations must
be able to apply their financial knowledge to
current events.10 Consequently, students’ lack of
financial literacy will negatively affect their
nation’s future.
Financial literacy involves everyday decisions and
is essential for one’s success. When individuals
are financially literate, their communities
generally become financially literate; and when
communities continually make financially
responsible decisions, their economy will
thrive. Financial literacy, therefore, is essential
not only for students’ success but also for their
nation’s future. Now the question persists: Given
that our students are financially illiterate
compared to other countries’ students, does
financial literacy accurately measure up with
financial success?
4. Financial Literacy Influences
Financial Behavior
Now the question persists: Do financial literacy
programs create financially successful students?
Specifically, does financial literacy accurately
measure up with financial success?
The answer is no.
However, financial literacy enables students to
make wise financial decisions.
Financial Literacy Programs Don’t
Measure Financial Success
According to Harvard’s and USC’s business journal
articles on financial literacy, high levels of
financial literacy don’t indicate financial success or
failure – and that’s okay.11 New America RSS
economic expert, Alejandra Karen, states that
financial literacy programs cannot measure its
impact on students’ future success since most
evaluations focus on abstract measurements such
as financial knowledge, satisfaction, or
confidence.12
In any financial literacy experiment, individuals
have different levels of prior financial knowledge
due to many external factors, such as their
environment or culture. In addition, measuring
satisfaction and confidence is entirely subjective.
Therefore, financial literacy programs are not
meant to measure financial success, as the dean of
the University at Buffalo School of Management,
Lewis Mandell, affirmed.13 In other words,
financial literacy programs are evaluating the
wrong effects of financial literacy.
Rather than comparing students’ financial literacy
with financial success, we should evaluate
financial literacy with financial behavior.
Financial behavior involves how people
responsibly react to a certain financial situation
and wisely make a sound decision. Furthermore,
measuring financial behavior is objective, since a
decision is either made or not.
Financial Literacy Programs Change
Students’ Financial Behavior
Financial literacy ultimately plays an important
role when individuals make proper financial
decisions. As a result, proper financial decisions
lead to proper financial behavior. For example, in
her Insights: Financial Capability survey,
Annamaria Lusardi found the following:
Regardless of their economic characteristics and
circumstances, people who are financially literate
are more likely to have retirement and private
pension plans.14
Financial literacy does not discriminate the effects
of financial behavior. In a partnership study
between USA TODAY by EverFi and Higher One,
students with financial literacy were more inclined
to pay credit card bills on time and less likely to go
over their credit card limit.15 When students are
financially educated, they can properly handle
financial situations, or at least have a general
understanding of what’s going on. As such,
financial literacy programs teaches students to
behave responsibly in financial situations.
Source
4:
DailyFinance.com
(Financial
Literacy
and
Financial
Success)
Source
5:
DecisionPartners.org
(Benefits
of
Financial
Literacy)
5. Conclusion
Generally, students’ success relies on their
education. Policymakers and educational leaders
must nationally require financial literacy courses
since understanding financial literacy is an
essential skill. Financial literacy can both help
students succeed in their professional and
personal lives and teach students how to deal with
any financial crisis. Furthermore, our nation’s
future economy depends on the financially
responsible choices we make as individuals and as
communities. Even though financial literacy does
not affect financial success, financial literacy plays
a crucial role in financial behavior – appropriate
financial behavior leads to wiser financial
decisions, such as paying credit card bills on time.
Once educational leaders nationally require
financial literacy courses, their students will thank
them for it.
6. Endnotes
1. Bidwell, Allie. 2015. Survey: College Students
Becoming Less Financially Responsible.
Retrieved February 23, 2016, from U.S.
News & World Report.
http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/data-
mine/2015/04/02/college-students-
becoming-less-financially-responsible-
study-says
2. Atwater, Jeff. 2013. The Importance of Financial
Literacy. Retrieved February 23, 2016, from
Council For Economic Education.
http://councilforeconed.org/2013/04/19/th
e-importance-of-financial-literacy/
3. Klein, Asher & Giordano, Jackie. 2014. Bill Clinton
Visits USC to Teach Kids Value of Financial
Literacy. Retrieved February 23, 2016, from
NBC Los Angeles.
http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/
Bill-Clinton-Visits-USC-to-Host-Financial-
Literacy-Event-282070241.html
4. Mottola, Gary R. 2014. The Financial Capability of
Young Adults—A Generational View.
Retrieved February 19, 2016, from US
Financial Capability.
http://www.usfinancialcapability.org/downl
oads/FinancialCapabilityofYoungAdults.pdf
5. IBID
6. Champlain College. 2015. The Case for High
School Financial Literacy. Retrieved
February 23, 2016, from Champlain College.
http://www.champlain.edu/centers-of-
excellence/center-for-financial-
literacy/report-making-the-grade/the-case-
for-high-school-financial-literacy
7. Knoema. 2015. World GDP Ranking 2015.
Retrieved February 23, 2016, from Knoema.
http://knoema.com/nwnfkne/world-gdp-
ranking-2015-data-and-charts
8. Programme For International Student Assessment
(PISA). 2012. Results From PISA 2012
Financial Literacy. Retrieved February 23,
2016, from Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development (OECD).
http://www.oecd.org/unitedstates/PISA-
2012-results-finlit-usa.pdf
9. IBID
10. Kerr, Jennifer C. 2014. Study: U.S. Students
Lagging on Financial Literacy. Retrieved
February 23, 2016, from The Ledger.
http://search.proquest.com/docview/15439
53544/8FEAF123D263440CPQ/8?accounti
d=4488
11. Cole, Shawn; Paulson, Anna; and Shastry, Gauri.
2014. High School Curriculum and
Financial Outcomes: The Impact of
Mandated Personal Finance and
Mathematics Courses. 31-35, retrieved
February 23, 2016, from Harvard Business
School.
http://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Publication%2
0Files/13-064_c7b52fa0-1242-4420-b9b6-
73d32c639826.pdf
12. Karen, Alejandra. 2008. The Effectiveness of
Youth Financial Education. Retrieved
February 23, 2016, from New America RSS.
https://www.newamerica.org/asset-
building/the-effectiveness-of-youth-
financial-education/
13. Mandell, Lewis. 2009. The Impact of Financial
Education in High School and College On
Financial Literacy and Subsequent
Financial Decision Making. 16-17, retrieved
February 23, 2016, from Penn State
University.
http://www.cstsforum.org/assets/media/do
cuments/MandellL_ImpactFinancialLitEdu
onSubFinancialBehavior_2009.pdf
14. Lusardi, Annamaria. 2013. Insights: Financial
Capability. Retrieved February 23, 2016,
from FINRA Investor Education.
http://www.finrafoundation.org/web/group
s/foundation/@foundation/documents/foun
dation/p240590.pdf
15. Malcolm, Hadley. 2014. Financial Literacy
Education has Lasting Impact. Retrieved
February 23, 2016, from USA Today.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/per
sonalfinance/2014/04/08/financial-literacy-
college-students/7296185/