Financial Education for Children Is For Sale
Most adults that are products of the U.S. Public School System can look back and remember how much they didn't know about personal finance coming out of high school. Basic math is covered for all, and advanced placement classes would cover trigonometry and even abstract calculus for the truly adventurous. However, one critical mathematics discipline that is used by every American on almost a daily basis is still missing from most curriculums. This, of course, is Accounting, a class that is so important that you must take it in college to get most undergraduate degrees, and any degree in business.
Although everyone doesn't go to college, we are all a part of the economy and must be able to understand and manage our finances in it. How to balance a checkbook or budget money, as well as essential and complicated topics such as credit must be understood by everyone if they are to ever become fiscally responsible. Some states are moving in in the right direction already. Texas for example introduced HB 492 in 2005 that states:
Sec. 28.0021. PERSONAL FINANCIAL LITERACY. (a) The Texas essential knowledge and skills and Section 28.025 shall require instruction in personal financial literacy in one or more courses required for high school graduation. (b) School districts and open-enrollment charter schools shall incorporate instruction in personal financial literacy into any course meeting a requirement for an economics credit under Section 28.025, using materials approved by the board. (c) School districts and open-enrollment charter schools shall comply with Subsection (b) beginning with the 2006-2007 school year. The board shall adopt essential knowledge and skills for a course including the requirements of Subsection (a) not later than the 2008-2009 school year. This subsection and Subsection (b) expire September 1, 2009.
This is of course a single bill in a single state, but it does recognize the need for personal finance education. Although many schools in Texas might have adopted this into their curriculum, financial restraints inherent in the system as well as those created by the No Child Left Behind debacle more than likely slowed widespread adoption. If making changes in high school is such a problem then, what can parents do?
The Money Camp - Personal Finance Education
One innovative company decided to sell financial education to anyone who wanted it. Creative Wealth International, previously known as The Money Camp, provides a summer camp that centers on teaching people of all ages the importance of fiscal responsibility. Financial freedom is the catch phrase for the camp and attendees are schooled to think about money in new and interesting ways.
Creative Wealth International say's on it's website, “Financial literacy for kids is critical, but how to do it in a way that is relevant, effective and, let's even add, FUN is something most financial education programs have not figured out! We not only figured it out, we teach others how to do it just as well. Not only that but our programs are actually about more than money; they teach life skills that should be taught at home or in school but generally are not.”
Finance education that's fun sounds like the way to go, and with sponsors like Wells Fargo, Citibank, and a number of individual contributors there might be something to this group. Creative Wealth International however is not alone in offering this valuable service.
Jump$tart Coalition - Teaching Kids About Money
A non-profit organization based in Washington, DC calling itself The Jump$tart Coalition is ready to educate all ages of children from pre-kindergarten all the way through college in the area of financial literacy. According to Jump$tart they are a “network of 49 affiliated state coalitions and their local partners. Each state coalition is an independently governed and operated non-profit organization with its own leadership and bylaws, united with the national Jump$tart Coalition through an affiliation agreement and a desire to advance Jump$tart's mission of financial smarts for students, locally.”
Founded in 1995 by the then CEO of the Ford Motor Company William E. Odem, the Jump$tart Coalition now has over 150 national organizations involved in the program. These major financial groups include AARP, American Express, Bank of America, Capital One, Citi, and Experian.
It seems the private sector may be the path of least resistance in educating children on fiscal responsibility, and with pricing starting a $127 for the camps and many teaching resources available to parents it may be the most effective.
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