NEWS: No Time to Teach Kids About Credit
In the same news week as the story about a
Georgia senator's move to require parental
consent to open all accounts for young adults
under the age of 21, comes the news that public
schools just do not have the time or resources
to educate grade-schoolers about the basics of
financial management and good credit.
It's not that educational programs do not exist;
they have been rolled out in several
incarnations in many school districts. There
have been series of curriculum on money
management devised, which walk high school-aged
students through the fundamentals of card
ownership: interest rates, different ways of
borrowing, and the pros and cons of plastic
purchasing. The sad fact exists, however, that
public schools just do not have the resources
(teachers and money) to keep them afloat – and,
even if they did, kids don't have room in their
busy schedules to take them. There is a
nationwide trend towards increased graduation
requirements, and research indicates that the
overwhelming majority of students either can't
or don't devote the elective credits necessary
to taking classes on financial planning.
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