Back to School and the Power of Parents

It’s that time of year already – back to school. With the abundance of “teachable moments” these days, will this be the year when parents step up and insist that schools include financial education as part of the school curriculum? In light of the current economic condition, can we agree that a financially educated populace would have mitigated some of the devastating results of the current recession?

It might surprise you to know that New Hampshire is the only state in New England that has a graduation requirement for Economics. And embedded in the curriculum framework for that requirement is a standard for personal finance. The details are posted on the NH Department of Education’s website under the Curriculum Frameworks for Social Studies.

And yet, exactly how this requirement is met is left to the discretion of each school district. In many cases, since Economics falls under the Social Studies discipline, this curriculum is often taught by history teachers with little training in economics. Compound this with a lack of assessment testing for social studies and we’re left with a wide disparity within the state on how our children are taught any elements of money management.

Parents hold the key to this. There is a hierarchy to education and school boards take their marching orders from the parents in their communities. If parents want a higher emphasis on personal finance in the classroom, then they need to tell their school board. The state requirements and frameworks are in place; school boards do not need to reinvent the wheel to accomplish this. Their role is to manage and allocate resources to accomplish the desires of the community.

Resources. This word is often used as the argument on why we can’t do something. However, when it comes to the topic of personal finance, the argument is weak. There are vast amounts of personal finance curriculum available to educators and school districts that are either no cost or low cost. At the Jump$tart Coalition Clearinghouse, there are well over 700 types of curriculum and teaching materials – 45% of which can be downloaded for free. We at NH Jump$tart know from direct experience that teachers want to teach this valuable life skill to their students. We train over 150 teachers each year at our annual teacher conference. If teachers want to teach personal finance and there are plenty of available teaching materials to accomplish that, then what is the problem?

The realities of today have created the perfect teaching moment to have with our kids. Show them that old-school thinking of not spending more than you make, saving for a rainy day, and pay yourself first are the best ways to get through good and bad times.

Kids are facing a more financially-complex world than we ever could have imagined. Having a strong understanding of personal finance is critical to their future. Parents: the power to make a difference is in your hands.