Why high school students don’t know how to manage their finances

Get your kids involved in managing money when they are in school.

14:29 08 October 2014

Students in secondary schools are busy studying advanced chemistry, the history of the world and calculus, and rarely are they ever given the all-important money lessons that assists them have the financial gist to steer in the real world. 

 

Most students clear high school without ever learning the basics in finance such as writing a check, creating a budget or making an invoice. Even though the latest financial crunch has prompted a sense of alarm in the need to equip students with financial lessons, little has been achieved yet.

 

Unqualified Teachers

 

Most teachers are unqualified to teach financial lessons to help raise the country’s financial literacy levels. Very few teachers in the country would feel comfortable teaching students about debt and risk management.  If the teachers were to provide the learners with inaccurate lessons on personal finance, it could only worsen the situation. Perhaps the state should start by offering formal financial training to teachers because they are more than willing to facilitate money lessons among the students. 

 

Timing

 

It has been argued that high school may not be the right time to endow students with financial lessons. Some people think that finances should be taught at the primary level. People in this school of thought argue that children start an understanding about money at a younger stage and thus financial classes should not wait until high school. 

 

However, others have observed that students taking money lessons at high school syncs the classes well with what is happening in real life. It is the time they begin to earn from part time jobs, they get their driver’s licenses and they think about insuring their cars. It is the right time because they can learn about student loan right before they join college.