As the parent of four children, I am happy to see that a class covering the basics has been added to their curriculum.

In today's economy, our kids need all the education they can get to be fiscally responsible.

Of course, parents should be teaching their children these things, but the is no such thing as being too savvy with regard to being financially responsible. They need every piece of information they can get.

As a matter of fact, I'm sure there are a few adults who would benefit from a refresher course like this!

For the most part parents are able to teach their kids financial responsibility, however, with all the demands placed on families, time becomes a big issue. Also, the school system gets blamed for a lot of things that realistically should be taught at home.

So, what do parents teach their kids? It seems kids learn how to do everything at school now.

"I think that the only way young adults will get this information is if the school system teaches it to them."
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Are you saying that parents aren't capable of teaching their children fiscal responsibility?

I remember when I was at Craig, there was a Business & Marketing class available as an elective. In the class, one of our assignments was to keep a checking/savings account. That did help, but a more in depth course of study is needed. College finance, credit card obligations, and retirement planning are all topics that need to be studied. This should not be an elective, but a mandatory course. Especially since there are so many families who don't take on the responsibility of teaching their children about these issues. Since discussing ones finances with friends has been deemed rude by our society, I think that the only way young adults will get this information is if the school system teaches it to them.

I am a retired business ed. teacher who had tried for many years to get a required finance course. Of course, the almighty dollar put a stop to that. The classes that had to be held needed to be college prep and AP. Even though less than half or our school population went to college. I had been told, we need to do what is best for the students. Well, it seems we did, but not what was best for the majority of the students, just the minority. There are numerous areas that need to be improved upon in our education system, but it seems like the squeaky wheel gets the grease, and this is not always the best solution.

Milton middle school was doing this in the mid 80s... if I recall correctly, it was a month-long "event" interwoven with the math, social studies, and other classes.

All sixth grade students were given a checkbook and some fixed amount of play money, say $500. One could "invest" in the stock market, following actual stocks in the Gazette; one could bring goods to school or provide services for sale during lunch, recess, and other proscribed times; and certainly there were other activities that escape my memory.

As it turned out, some students became quite wealthy and others very quickly lost all of their money and could no longer actively participate. Some did nothing with their money at all and had exactly the same amount at the end of the experience.

Hat's off to what was, at least then, a top-notch public education all the way through high school.

Janesville schools have had a class covering these topics for many years. It used to be called MONEY EDUCATION and was team taught between math, social studies and Home Ec. The course has evolved into classes today in Family and Consumer Education, Business Ed. and Consumer Math. Therefore, students have opportunities to get this information in school. But none of these are REQUIRED classes. Big Foot has gone a step further and I think they are doing the right thing. Parents, when you sit down with your child each winter and help them select their courses for the next year, suggest that they take one of these. All subject selection sheets are supposed to be signed by a parent before they are turned back to the school.

It's about time! Maybe some of these kids can teach their parents what they have learned. I have only one question and it is rhetorical. What is a savings account? ;-)

Slow learners:
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Public schools and school boards.....imagine that

Some schools seem to be finally "getting it", but only about 30 years too late...Tragically it will probably be another 3 to 5 before the rest of them "get it".

It's about time the schools did something like this! I hope it helps!! Way to go, Big Foot!

I think this would be great to teach students. Also a good thing to teach them about is how credit card companies throw themselves at young adults. You have been pre-approved... to bury yourself in a mountain of debt while the credit card companies get rich.

Like I said, this type of class would be wonderful and Id love to see this when my son is old enough. As a parent too you can try to tell them these things and teach them how to balance a checkbook but I think a course would really be something they could really benefit from.

I also wish they had this type of course when I was in high school. I also had to learn the hard way.

Didn't this used to be called Consumer Education? We were required to take it (in Illinois) freshman year (waaay back in the 80s).

My daughter took Personal Finance as a Business Education elective at Parker and she said it was one of the most worthwhile classes she ever had!

I know my daughter learned how to write a check and keep records of it in 3rd grade. The JR Achievement program came and gave a great presentation once a month and the kids really got it. She also has learned about keeping a budget through her 4H activities. She had to keep her receipts for the money she spent on her projects, and tally the money she got from selling a animal. I also made her earn the money for the project expenses to begin with. At the end of the year each project got separated down to what each one cost and what money was brought in. It really has surprised her just where her money went. Know she knows that when I say we can't afford it because of such and such she understands what I am talking about.
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I encourage every parent to get their child into a class that teaches them these basic everyday finances. Whether it is through the school system or if you have to teach them yourself, or in some credit unions/ banks they have a youth checking account and class that teaches them real life check balancing etc.. This IS the stuff they will use in life and it is soooo much easier to learn it know than the hard way later.

Thanks for the apology, doc0430. And don't think the banks lost the second time around, they just came back to pick over your friend's bones for a while. (I doubt your friend had a decent interest rate!) It is true that credit is mysteriously easy to get post-bankruptcy. The 2005 law requires a credit counseling session be taken before filing, and a financial management class be completed before discharge. Most attorneys consider the minimal requirements under the law to be more of a nuisance than an educational experience, though -- like the driving classes you can attend to get points removed.
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I do think that the complexity of today's environment does demand a class like this. It isn't strictly math and doesn't really fit the curriculum there. Certainly I know that the vagaries of the Jumbo Option ARM with an 80/20 second mortgage and PMI are much more confusing to people than going in to the local bank office for a standard 30-year fixed-rate mortgage with fully funded down payment. Most of the people who got these, it appears, were given only the vaguest explanation of what they were getting into from their mortgage brokers. Maybe they should have listened better, but then, they shouldn't be getting their education from an interested party in the first place.
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As one of my friends in the legal business once observed, at a typical real estate closing there is nobody there who represents the interests of the consumer. The bank, the broker, and the seller all have different reasons for putting the best face on the deal that they can, even if they're honest.

All the knowledge the student needs to know to do this is presented in Math.

I totally agree that this is looooong overdue! Kudos to Bigfoot for caring. My only suggestion would be that most of the financial literacy course content mentioned (how to write checks, how credit cards work, supply and demand, savings accounts, student loans, home equity), could and should be taught in elementary school, at least at an introductory level. After all, the most important day-to-day skills, such as balancing a checking account, are really just an application of grade school math - addition and subtraction.
Sadly, I know many adults who are unable to successfully maintain a simple checking account. This keeps them in a lifelong state of (what I call) a "broke mentality".

this stuff should have been part of the school curiculum when the school house was in a cave. but that is when the school board came about and now we have multi-million dollar buildings and students graduating that can't read, but at least the eliet sports teams had two gyms to pratice in. and every twenty years or so an athlete was good enough to be recruited by a prestigious college to play a sport. thanks school boards.

It's about time!! These are important lessons to learn, and so much healthier to learn this way than by trial and error.

One other topic I would add is insurance (health/life/auto). It's amazing what people don't know about their insurance policies, and it can get you into trouble.

LOL I am with you on the Pandas and People. But seriously, Janesville schools does have a finance class, but get this, you can only take it if you have not taken any other math classes! How backward is that, you should have all kids take that class BEFORE they can take any other math class. Schools should be teaching life skills and financial health should be first and foremost.

Finally...a school gets it. Finance is as important as English.

janesvillean-You totally missed my point, I'm not saying bankruptcy is easy for everyone I only used it as an example that I saw with A few, and in those cases one of my friends ended up in worse shape than he was in before the bankruptcy 11 new credit cards because all the banks new he couldn't file again at least for 7 years I believe and thats how some of these bottom feeding banks got themselves into trouble at the same time taking high risks and charging sky high interest rates only to have this person default on them, In any case it was A lose lose situation for both the banks and my friend that I think tomorrows adults need to be taught about to avoid these situations! Sorry if I offended you as to the bankruptcy comparision.

doc0430, bankruptcy is far from an easy way out, and despite popular opinion, a majority of people who pursue it do so only as a last resort and after a life-changing event such as a business failure or expensive medical treatment.
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If you were able to pay off your debts only by living cheaply, you were not really someone who needed bankruptcy -- just credit counseling, or a personal discipline plan like a debt snowball.

This is A great idea and I believe ALL the high schools should be looking at having these types of classes..... I for one can say I would have benefited from A class like this. I learned it the hard way through mistakes and years of stupid debts I had to dig my way out of, I am however proud to say that even though I could have taken the easy way out through BANKRUPTCY like A few of my friends did, but I worked hard and lived cheaply for many years. I hope that tomorrows adults will have the education in these areas, it's even more important these days in the tough economic era we are currently in.