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