Can you read $$$? by Eva

Can you read $$$? by Eva - February 2022 Scholarship Essay

If I had the opportunity to design a new elective class, I would choose to design a financial literacy class. This class would be beneficial to students because it would allow students to understand from an early age the importance of understanding their finances.
This financial class would contain the following curriculum: budgeting, loans, saving, economics of a college education, how to interact with financial institutions (for example: the difference between a bank and a credit union), what the ramifications of a certain financial decision is and even throw in some entrepreneurial ideas.
According to most sources, a significant amount of the Adult American population is not financially literate. According to Investopedia, an accredited financial encyclopedia, there is a push to increase financial literacy. This push comes from educators and the general public, because a significant portion of adults suffer from financial issues. The majority of American school districts do not have courses for financial literacy as part of their curriculum, so this cycle of financial illiteracy goes on.
This issue speaks to me personally because I grew up in a household where both of my parents are secure because they are financially literate. My mother budgets, saves and avoids debt because she had a clear understanding of the long term ramifications of financial decisions. My parents are by no means rich, but we are able to live comfortably because of their financial choices due to financial literacy.
I remember being in my middle school band class, and the teacher took a whole day to explain how finance works. He started talking about student loans, explaining how interest works, how balancing a budget works and warning students to think about their decisions before they make a commitment that could potentially affect their financial standing for the rest of their lives. Going to college was a hard decision for him; he was in his late 30’s and still paying off student loans. If the band teacher is the only one to take a day to explain financial literacy to students, it speaks to how important financial literacy is and is also a commentary of how poorly this idea is explored in the educational setting.
Realizing that the lack of education allows large financial institutions to take advantage of people who are not literate, I believe that this elective course would allow students to understand the system, and make it work for them, instead of them working for it. I believe that it will lower the debt per capita, and allow the students who took the class to be more productive because of having the tools to use their money more efficiently as well as not having to spend the best years of their lives paying off debt.
Ideally, this course would help to bridge the gap between classes, allowing students in worse financial situations to have the opportunity to get out of it, as well as help more privileged students understand the struggles of socioeconomic classes in a meaningful way.
This class would be to serve the students so they can move forward making informed decisions about their future from an educated perspective. If we value children's future we do not only value their ability to read and do math, but also their ability to care for and support themselves. We expect kids to go forth in the world literate and mathematically competent yet we do not expect them to go forth financially literate?

1. The S&P global financial center measures this as the following: 43% of adults in the United States are not financially literate.