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E U R O P E A N L E A G U E F O R M I D D L E L E V E L E D U C A T I O N Fortunately, I’m not alone.  The Harris Poll has been conducting surveys among a wide demographic of Americans since 1963.  In 2013, they found that almost 99 percent of adults say personal finance should be a mandatory course in school.  But according to the Council For Economic Education, just five U.S. states required a stand-alone semester- long personal finance course for high school graduation in 2016.     Some U.S. states, however, are taking action. Daniel R. Mortensen, the Executive Director for Virginia’s Council on Economic Education says his state is leading the charge for financial education.  Virginia’s Standards of Learning include elements of economics and personal finance at every grade level.  He says, “Since Virginia is one of only three states with a full-credit requirement in both economics and personal finance, Virginia’s students are poised to have a competitive advantage.” likely to save money, have a budget and invest.   Ted Beck’s February 2017 story in The Wall Street Journal says much the same thing.  Graduates with tougher financial literacy standards get a better financial start.  Referencing data from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority's Investor Education Foundation (FINRA), he says high school students that take personal finance classes have better average credit scores and lower debt-delinquency rates as young adults.   The FINRA study shows credit scores improved the most among young adults in states that had mandated financial education classes. The best results came when the content was also integrated into the academic curriculum.  In such cases, schools didn’t just include personal finance concepts in stand- alone classes.  They blended financial lessons into other courses too.  The state of Virginia offers training for its teachers.  Daniel R. Mortensen says Virginia’s state teachers need to have “the content knowledge and engaging, effective lessons to use in teaching their students.”  Virginia’s students are required to take a full-year course in economics and personal finance to graduate. For example, credit scores among young adults in Georgia improved by almost 11 points (1.8 percent) compared to credit score averages before Georgia mandated personal finance classes. In Idaho, credit scores increased by 16 points (2.6 percent).  In Texas, scores increased by 32 points (5.2 percent).  But not everyone agrees that personal finance classes help.  Helaine Olen  wrote a strong argument for Pacific Standard, saying personal finance classes don’t benefit high school or college students.  A 2009 study funded by the National Endowment For Financial Education (NEFE) says 89 percent of American teachers believe students should take a financial education course or pass a competency test for high school graduation.  But fewer than 20 percent of teachers felt competent enough to teach any of the six personal finance topics mentioned in the survey.   That’s why NEFE created a curriculum for teens between the ages of 13 and 18.  It A study, however, conducted by research firm Penn Schoen Berland says otherwise.  It randomly selected 1,200 high school seniors. The study claims that high school seniors who had taken a personal finance class were more 8