The Neccessity of a Financial Education by Julia

The Neccessity of a Financial Education by Julia - August 2015 Scholarship Essay

Julia Gorman

Varsity Tutors Scholarship

If I could add a subject to the American high school curriculum it would be based around basic financial training. This would include learning and practicing various financial practices that will be required of students later in life so they are prepared for such realistic situations.

This subject would include a variety of different lessons covering various different categories, all focused on the goal of being a financially successful adult. The lessons taught in this class would include learning about the purpose of a mortgage, the kind of money that goes into paying for a mortgage, how to refinance a mortgage and so on. Other classes would include how to balance a checkbook and how to fill out necessary banking forms for items like student loans. There would definitely be a lesson on loans in general and how they work, and the benefits and pitfalls of acquiring them. Another class may include how different insurance policies work, what kinds of insurance one should have based on their living situation including information on deductibles and other included vocabulary. My final suggestion for a lesson would be on different ways to invest your money, how interest accumulation works and a detailed explanation on how the stock market proceeds.

I think that this subject should be included in the American high school curriculum because the processes mentioned above are concepts that I am dealing with now as an early adult that I never learned about in school. Therefore I am forced to either figure them out on my own and possibly use my money or time incorrectly or rely on my parents to explain such complicated concepts to me in their free time. And the policies and financials that they are dealing with may not even apply to me at my current life stage. I am sure that if these are problems that I am struggling with as a college student, then there are other young adults out there struggling with the same issues. I feel as though with all the financial trouble our country has been faced with it is important that the upcoming generation be properly educated on how to finance their futures and deal with such issues in an effort to prevent them from reoccurring.