• Lincoln High School (Wisconsin Rapids, WI) offers blended personal finance course (Wisconsin Rapids Tribune):

Lincoln High School in Wisconsin Rapids offers students a chance to take a blended course — a hybrid personal finance class with 32 students enrolled — but the district plans to bring more options in the future.

• Seniors at Grantsburg High School (Grantsburg, WI) simulated what life after high school would look like (Burnett County Sentinel):

The seniors at Grantsburg High School got a taste of the real world last week when they took part in the Mad City Money financial simulation.  “It gives the kids check-writing practice, balancing a checkbook, working with credit and debit cards — those kinds of things,” Jay Gilhoi, a personal finance teacher at the high school, said in explaining the simulation.

• Students, teachers and parents all agree but schools don’t seem to be listening.  Sound familar?  This data came from England (The Guardian):

Support for financial education in schools is overwhelming. Pfeg’s research found that 94% of teachers, 90% of young people and 79% of parents agree that financial education should be taught in schools; but less than a third of primary schools offer it. This is partly because schools lack the know-how and resources to put together their own programme, and partly because they are under pressure to deliver on core elements of the curriculum.

• What happens when high schools don’t teach personal finance?  College students don’t feel prepared for adulthood (Boise State Arbiter)

When The Arbiter asked 50 undergraduate students if they felt they were able to take on all the responsibilities of being an adult, 39 said they did not feel fully prepared. Knowing how to perform the basic duties of being an adult such as managing finances, insurance plans and student loans is crucial knowledge to have when heading into adulthood.

About the Author

Tim Ranzetta

Tim's saving habits started at seven when a neighbor with a broken hip gave him a dog walking job. Her recovery, which took almost a year, resulted in Tim getting to know the bank tellers quite well (and accumulating a savings account balance of over $300!). His recent entrepreneurial adventures have included driving a shredding truck, analyzing executive compensation packages for Fortune 500 companies and helping families make better college financing decisions. After volunteering in 2010 to create and teach a personal finance program at Eastside College Prep in East Palo Alto, Tim saw firsthand the impact of an engaging and activity-based curriculum, which inspired him to start a new non-profit, Next Gen Personal Finance.