In the latest round of legislative proposals, some states are merely encouraging the teaching of financial skills while a few would make the subject a graduation requirement. Ohio, for instance, is considering a proposal that would require high school students to pass a half-credit class in personal finance in order to graduate. The class must be taught by a teacher trained in the subject matter.
The bill would also create a fund to help pay for training to teach the subject, said State Senator Steve Wilson, a Republican and former banking executive who co-sponsored the bill. He said he was hopeful that the bill would be voted out of committee this month.
“Kids come out of school having no clue about financial literacy,” Senator Wilson said. “You go out into the world greatly disadvantaged.”
Many financial literacy advocates consider a full-semester course the gold standard for personal finance instruction. Rebecca Maxcy, director of the Financial Education Initiative at the University of Chicago, said many courses focused mainly on skills, like writing a check or filing taxes. While those lessons can be helpful, she said, it’s important for courses to include discussions of how personal values and attitudes about money influence behavior, as well as an examination of the financial systems and potential barriers that students will encounter in the world of money.
Questions like “Who benefits when you open a bank account?” can prompt meaningful discussions, she said.
Some curriculum options, however, offer more condensed, basic instruction.
Everfi, a digital instructional company, offers a free seven-session program for high school financial literacy. Students take interactive, self-guided lessons in topics like banking, budgeting and college financing.
Sidney Strause, a freshman at Marshall University in West Virginia, said she had taken Everfi’s course as a junior in high school. The lessons were assigned as part of another course she was taking, and typically took 45 minutes to an hour to complete.