Personal Finance by Patrick

Personal Finance by Patrick - August 2015 Scholarship Essay

If I could add a subject to the American high school curriculum, I would choose personal finance. Everybody will have to deal with money at some point in life, and knowing how to deal with money can have a major impact on one’s life. Students in high school get their first jobs, and start to get involved with earning money. The problem is that many of these students don’t know anything about managing money. This would be a good time to learn because many of them are still dependent on their parents. If they learn about saving and investing at a young age, the money that comes in their future will be more abundant. Many of these students go on to college without learning anything about money and it affects them more because they have more responsibility. Many of them go on to graduate college with no knowledge in personal finance and it affects them even more because they have a lot of responsibility, especially if they have student loans to pay. Some students don’t choose to go to college and they have to start dealing with adult responsibilities right away.

The reason I would choose to add personal finance as a subject to the American high school curriculum is because everyone needs it, and it can help not only the students, but their families as well. If everyone were more financially responsible, there would be fewer problems in the area of money. A class on personal finance could challenge the students to get summer jobs and apply the knowledge. This would be a good way to give teens a head start in financial responsibility, which has the possibility to lead to financial independence. Since the average American high school student is living with their parents or is part of a household, they will be able to bring these skills home to share. They will have the ability to give some financial advise to their family. Adding personal finance to the American high school curriculum change bring some positive changes to the world, and this is why it should be included.