Rogue Reform 4: Personal Finance meets the Real World
Hello! Welcome to more of Mrs. Crews’s radical ideas to make school relevant.
The biggest problem I observe while in schools is the complete disengagement of older high schoolers because their academic schedule, which has basically just been handed to them to execute, has become increasingly disconnected from their real life. Many of these students are working jobs to save for a car or college or to support the family and pay rent. Many students are raising their younger siblings. Why not let these students receive graduation credit for these real-world contributions?
Young adults in their twenties often complain that school just didn’t prepare us for “adulting”. Things like paying taxes, balancing a checkbook (or tracking spending online), and managing a credit card. We all learn it from either our parents (I was lucky to have a dad in the finance world), peers or siblings who have gone before, or we just muddle through.
So, my radical suggestion is this: Schools should require one whole semester of personal finance in the classroom, followed by one whole semester of work experience, either paid or an internship with imaginary/estimated pay. We have got to get these kids out of the classroom and into the community, learning lessons that have real world ramifications.
Our students would learn three big things. One, they would learn how to manage money and set financial goals and begin saving for the future while still teens (and those extra few years of socking away money will pay fantastic dividends in retirement!). They would learn these lessons while still under supervision and guidance before their livelihood really depends on their financial choices. Secondly, students would learn how to apply and interview for jobs successfully, because school credit and bank accounts depend on it.
Lastly, students would learn how to act professionally and how to be kind and have empathy for the employees they interact with as customers. For example, if a student was required to work for a semester and they landed a job at McDonald’s, they would suddenly have a whole lot more empathy for that retail worker they encounter next time they head to the drive-thru. Oh and they’d have real consequences for talking back to the boss.
Good citizenship, good money management, and real-world earning experience. And on top of it, students build confidence and learn tons of random skills that help them feel competent at life. When I was in grad school for teaching, I worked at a sandwich shop. And I absolutely loved it. It was easy, I brought home a paycheck for the work I did, and when school was hard, I could go into work and feel like I accomplished something. And I am a whole lot more patient and kind when I eat out.