College kids are too young to handle credit. I think the class is a good idea but that parents have to tell their kids too.
Okay, what does personal finance have to do with standardized testing? Why would we want students to learn that?? (sarcasm off)
That's right. How will I ever get merit pay if I waste my time teaching kids not to bury themselves in debt? Well?
The movie Maxxed Out shows how families are destroyed because of debt. And, if reasonable limits were put on these applications, fewer people would qualify for a credit card. Babies and dogs get applications in the mail.
When I teach about the economy, it's amazing how some students think the credit card is "free". They have no idea about salaries and bill payments.
Have you noticed that Current Events is no longer a subject on the elementary report card? Before tests were in January, we would get the Times once a week and go over important issues. I liked using newspapers better than Scholastic News. Now teaching about the stock market is only open to TAG students through the Stock Market Game.
Many years ago my students were involved in so many activities like Project Legal Lives because we had the time to teach, be creative and incorporate higher order thinking skills. We even were required to put on class productions before the entire assembly. Weekly assembly programs are now a thing of the past in many schools now that tests are administered as early as November.
Unless "Coach" has a test prep book on personal finance, it will not make it's way into the classrooms since it will have no bearing on someone's political ambitions.
Not only kids need these.
My idiot sister just filed for bankrupcy because of debt. Once she filed, she started getting credit card applications and offers of credit for a new car, the philosophy being, she no longer has any debt to pay off. And, she is probably stupid enough to fall for it--she is 52 years old.
Your sister is by no means alone--this is a big problem here. I also saw that film Maxed Out, which Netflix offers instantly on the web if you're a member. It's very well done, but very disturbing.
Oy, I don't think I could watch it, but may give it a look on the web for a bit.
There is a special place in hell for those that keep offering credit cards to those who don't know how to use them responsibly. It's the financial version of crack.
As far as the class goes, it's a good start. On a somewhat related note, did everyone see that the "new and improved" Monopoly has an ATM machine instead of money???? Half the fun of the game was the play money- plus, as a kid, you could have something tangible to show how rich (or not) you were.
Though I am unbelievably ashamed to admit this, I was in the mortgage industry before I began teaching. I was with an absolutely predatory lender which turned around and sold loans mainly to Countrywide and HSBC, who had drawn up our standards. We had people qualifying for 2nd mortgages with only a 650 credit score, no income or asset verification. They didn't even need to have an appraisal as long as my internet pulled up decent comparable home values in the neighborhood. It was disgusting. I see my kids with $200 phones and $350 gaming systems and just imagine their names on low-scoring credit reports, having no frame of reference for the concept of "balancing a checkbook". They're screwed.
As an aside, my high school only taught balancing checkbooks and budgets to those students who they knew were on the verge of failing.
One of the most successful things I did with my 5th graders was to run a classroom economy. My students all had jobs, and just like the real world different jobs had different salaries. Some kids had to have 2-3 jobs to pay the rent on their desks; others had to hire employees to do their jobs effectively. "Teachers" helped other students; "Social workers" has lower grade buddies with behavior problems they would visit once or twice a week. They had bank interest-bearing bank accounts to learn the value of investment and they could get fired from their jobs for non-perfomance.
Like the real economy, it was at times sloppy and disorganized, but I think it gave my students an appreciation for personal finance and responsibility. I'd urge any classroom teacher to try it. Somewhere I have a list of the various jobs and job descriptions. Email me if you'd like it at rpondiscio@aol.com
As a college student, I too was honored that I qualified for a credit card! (Woo hoo, I'm really an adult now!). I ran it up to the limit, paid the minimum and never thought about the 21% interest I was paying. Thank goodness, when I got married, my husband consolidated my bills, got us a loan at 7% to pay off my bills and kept me away from a credit card for 10 years! Now we have one and it is paid off each month without paying any interest. We need to show students the bottom line about how much money what they are buying on credit is really costing them. This opened up my students' eyes quickly!
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