Kids and Money: Is It All Just Common Sense?
Among the arguments against teaching kids about money in school are that A) such instruction is more properly the role of parents at home and, B) the lessons pretty much boil down to common sense. So why waste class time?
Oh, really? Martin Lewis, a financial education advocate in the U.K., would like to have a word with you.
· If teaching kids about personal finance is best done at home, he says, why do so many parents struggle with their mortgage, college loans and credits card debts? Can they really teach their kids to do better?
· If teaching kids about money is just common sense, he says, why is it that a loyal, long-paying car insurance customer can often get a better rate by switching carriers? Answer: That's how insurance companies get new clients; they have little incentive to give existing customers a better rate unless they ask. So it's not about common sense, Lewis argues. It's about knowledge, which can be taught.
Lewis is passionate about the destructive nature of debt and why kids must learn to avoid the debt trap before finishing high school. He's worth five minutes of your time in this video:
The U.K., like Australia, is on its way to teaching and testing money matters in their school system. Some 120 members of parliament -- nearly one-in-five (crossing party lines) -- just pledged to support a national personal finance curriculum and Lewis believes it may be in place as early as next year.
The fight for financial education in the U.K is much like that in the States. Plenty of people think teaching kids about money in school is a waste of time, including the influential U.K. group Campaign for Real Education, which believes class time is better focused on the Three Rs. They evidently haven't been introduced yet to my notion of The Fourth R: Reality.
The difference is that in these countries they are charging ahead anyway. In the States we're studying studies.
Photo courtesy Flickr user aigle_dore
More on MoneyWatch:
· Should We Be More Like the Folks Down Under?
· 6 Steps to Help Kids Learn Money
· Five Things You Should Never Pay Your Kids To Do
· Wanted: Financial Education National Ad Campaign
Daniel J. Kadlec is an author and journalist whose work appears regularly in Time and Money magazines. He is the former editor of Time’s Generations section, which was written and edited for boomers. Kadlec came to Time from USA Today, where he was the creator and author of the daily column Street Talk, which anchored the newspaper's business coverage. He has co-written three books, including, most recently, With Purpose: Going from Success to Significance in Work and Life. He has won a New York Press Club award and a National Headliner Award for columns on the economy and investing.
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