The Class We All Miss by Grant

The Class We All Miss by Grant - November 2021 Scholarship Essay

As a current high school student, there are several classes that I could say are not relevant or affect me in the future. On the underhand, there is also one course that many students don't take seriously. I believe that if any class needs more emphasis in school is Financial Literacy. From my experience, I wished that I would pay more attention in that class. Just as simple as a thing like starting a savings account or managing the money you have now. According to Everfly.com, 83 percent of students want financial education in Schools. This shows that even students want financial education.
Students especially require courses, like Financial Lit. because of upcoming events like buying a car or college. Besides big purchases, students will be most likely spending money on themselves (I sure do) by buying things like food, movies, or video games. The class helps students find places to set up saving accounts and how to manage their money the best. With many seniors like myself college is coming up, and I sure know I have no clue how to balance all the debt that I will be taking on. Classes like Financial Lit. helps students not only talk about student loans, but also show what to look for as far as the lowest interest rates, added fees, and term lengths.
Even after college, there are many different financial decisions that people make. One of the "decisions" is taxes. Taxes are something that everyone needs to file. A problem that we run into is that many students don't know how to file taxes, and if you ever ask any adult they will say that doing your taxes is a must. Having students learn how to file taxes in school would help lower the rate of tax fraud, and produce better financially educated students.
Another part about growing up is growing your credit score. In financial Lit. it is very important to learn about and pay attention to credit cards. They can be very useful for students when they are trying to build their credit score to get approved for loans for things like a house. But the problem is that some people believe that credit cards are free money and when they overspend on their cards.
Another thing that financial education can help students with is an investment. For many people (myself included) investing can be a little daunting. There are many different forms of investing but a lot of the main forms are stocks and 401k's. 401k's are a little easier to understand because you are just putting money away for retirement, but stocks on the other hand are a little more complex. One of the best pieces of advice from financial education about stocks is to play the long game. Too many people go in expecting to get back all the money they put in and plus some but it takes time.
There is an endless number of reasons that students need a financial education class, and I believe that it deserves to be in more schools and emphasized a lot more than it is. Students like myself aren't gonna like our parents forever and they won't always be there to do the financial lifting for us. So that's why I believe that teaching kids in school how to properly manage their money, credit scores, and investments will not only help the next generation but also the ones to come.