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Post on 25-Mar-2016
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Justin Chan
Economics
A Financially Illiterate NationOver the years, I’ve been collecting and hoarding approximately 40%~50% of the money I received
for presents, gifts, and the occasional award. Now, money is a very versatile and perhaps controversial
object. It can buy services, goods, needs, and gradually knowledge or skills. But does the money you
have measure the amount of hard work you’ve done to earn it? If children take their parent’s money,
what does that mean? The symbolism of money may be unclear, but the uses of it isn’t, at least it seems
that way to me. Money is involved in everything you do, whether it be waking up to an alarm, or driving
to the store. It’s everywhere.
One day during economics class, we were introduced to something called “Financial Literacy” which was
basically the knowledge of dealing with financial situations and your money. I never gave money much
thought other than that it was good if you earned it, and you were rewarded by working hard and saving
smart. With this in mind, all I did was save portions of my money and put it in the bank. Actually,
I didn’t even put it in the bank, I gave it to my Mom and asked her to do it for me. I honestly didn’t
know if it went to the checking or savings accounts, if at all. That class I realized, I know nothing! Not
to sound condescending or conceited, but some (keyword here is some) may think of me as an above
average kid or smart kid. But this topic alone I know very little about, so what about those around me?
Am I alone?
As the class went on, I thought about anything I knew that actually mattered in terms of financial matters.
Credit cards, banks, money... It all came back to money, but there are larger forces at work with what
happens to it. I knew that credit card companies were out to get your money, but if you paid more than
the minimum, and on time, everything was all good right? My parents never actually taught me anything,
nothing new in the regards. I couldn’t blame them for my financial illiteracy, if one wants to gain
knowledge, one must seek it.
During the period, we were given statistics and a news article pertaining to Financial Literacy Month.
One of the opening sentences of the news article said that you’re not alone if you’re a parent that hasn’t
talked to their children about the financial issues of life. In fact, “surveys indicate that parents are less
likely to discuss financial matters with their children than other, seemingly more difficult topics such as
drugs and sexual behavior.” I’ve never actually talked to my parents about either of those, nor have I
dabbled in them, but to not talk about a very serious matter of life that affects you no matter who you are,
what you are, less than those awkward situations seems pretty crazy.
I’m not the extreme philosophical guy to dabble on certain topics for more than a 5 minutes, so I decided
to learn more next class. But of course, during Algebra class, where our teacher gives the kids in class
some inside info on what’s what in the form of a slight rant, tells us that our financial education/literacy
class is being cut next year. To be perfectly honest, I didn’t even know we had one. But it did pertain to
me in the way that I knew very little, and that class was a wealth of information that was being buried and
cut off from me as well as other students. The class was apparently going to be spread apart to the math
department, as if they didn’t have enough classes to teach...
The students need to learn to be financially literate, just like reading. Two different things, but the same
concept altogether. The world runs on money, just like it runs on reading. And writing. Research shows
that teaching financial skills to students at an early age leads to money-management skills that “well into
adulthood”. It would be absolutely foolish to brush aside a topic so important. Yes, dumping a necessary
class on to a full department is considered brushing it aside. Some of the more basic but still very good
things that people do as a result of financial literacy is having fewer maxed out credit cards, having higher
savings, and paying debt on time.
In a survey in 2011, approximately 41% of Moms wanted to be more financially literate in order to pass
the knowledge onto their children. This statistic shows that even adults don’t know the ins and outs of
the financial world. Having a job, managing a budget, or having been or currently in a tough spot helps
alleviate the situation of being financially illiterate, perhaps to the point where they are in a healthy
situation. But there are still 53% of teens who want to learn more about managing money. Financial
literacy shouldn’t be a chore, it should be a way of thinking that is critical. The task falls on the hands
of parents at home, and teachers at school. A study shows that HALF of Americans are in debt. I don’t
know about you, but I’d rather learn now, in high school where I can, rather than later when it really
matters.
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