Comments on: What kind of financial education are people getting in the States?

Question: What kind of financial education are people getting in the States?

Laugh_track — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 05:18:57 -0800

This question is only for people who went to public school in the United States. Did you receive any financial education there, and if so, what?

By: shinynewnick

shinynewnick — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 05:22:39 -0800

Locally respected public high school in Missouri, I had a home economics primer on checkbook balancing, and that's about all I remember. Sometimes math class would have lessons based on basic personal finances, but that wasn't really the focus. It wasn't until college out in California that I took a short personal finance class that was only a couple of nights, and it was wildly popular for that very reason - most kids didn't ever have an actual class to teach those things.

By: ian1977

ian1977 — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 05:24:46 -0800

None whatsoever.

Wait a minute...I think in my home-ec class we did have to do some grocery budget thing but it was a joke.

A 1 semester class on basic banking, credit, mortgages, retirement and so forth should be a requirement for graduation.

By: mcroft

mcroft — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 05:26:38 -0800

I my somewhat rural downstate Illinois high school during the late 90s we had a quarter long class that dealt with personal finance issues such as how to balance a checkbook, what withholdings from a paycheck would be, etc. It was extremely basic and mostly involved watching videos circa 1960.

By: wheat

wheat — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 05:28:44 -0800

Civics/Economics class (9th grade, Arkansas) focused on it quite a bit, including drilling the teacher's definition of economics ("Economics is the study of unlimited wants and needs and limited resources") into our heads (thanks, Mr. Roach). There was quite a bit of discussion about what was a legitimate need, compared to luxury/pleasure purchases. There was nothing about investments that I can recall.

Back in forth grade (Texas), I remember doing a unit on money during which we had to scan newspapers and put together a meal. We had a limited budget, but had to do a typical dinner (beverages, main course, side dishes). It was a one-shot, but it was helpful.

By: unknowncommand

unknowncommand — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 05:32:39 -0800

We went to Enterprise City for a day during the 4th and 7th grades. Basically a small "town" located in a local elementary school. We learned about starting businesses, balancing checkbooks, and loans/interest. Everyone had a job in one of the shops. There were stores selling t-shirts, doodads, popcorn, and such to individuals, and others selling signs and supplies to businesses, as well as a bank, newspaper, and radio station that actually broadcast over the PA in the town. You got paid three times a day (I was the newspaper editor both times!), and your grade was based on whether your checkbook was balanced, whether you spent all your money (you had to), and whether your business paid off its loan. Quite a complicated set-up. Somewhat fun. Went back again in the 11th grade and operated the city in your foreign language.

By: jlkr

jlkr — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 05:33:07 -0800

When I was in school, five weeks of 10th (or 11th -- at this point I don't remember) grade social studies was home management -- budgeting, balancing a checkbook, quick overview of the stock market. (small, decent-within-budget-restraints, rural school in SE MI.)

My kids have a required class in Home Management in middle school, which includes basic home repairs and basic cooking skills, in addition to money management/personal finance. (good school in SCentral MI.)

By: clarkstonian

clarkstonian — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 05:34:13 -0800

None whatsoever. This should be a requirement of every high school in the country. This was a large high school in a suburb of Pittsburgh.

By: hexatron

hexatron — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 05:39:37 -0800

In New York City public schools in the 1950's--absolutely nothing.

I didn't get a checking account until grad school, and the friendly banker had to explain it all to me. Friendly? They PAID bounced checks -- no fee, not even a phone call.

By: plinth

plinth — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 05:39:50 -0800

Pretty much none (school from 1972-1984). There may have been an isolated lesson here or there and calculus including a brief coverage of compound interest.

I seem to recall that the home economics classes in high school included typical budgeting and checkbook work.

By: rhys

rhys — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 05:40:54 -0800

High school 1988-1992. Learned how to write a check in home ec. That's it.

By: Seabird

Seabird — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 05:43:04 -0800

My ninth grade year in a small town in Kansas, I learned (it was indeed a simpler time) how to do my own income taxes, use a checkbook and do a number of other things that had no practical purpose at the time because an allowance of $1 a week just didn't go all that far. Several years later, in a high school economics course, the main thing I remember is studying Alvin Toffler's "Future Shock" from cover to cover.

I wasn't prepared for the horrors of easy credit, catastrophic medical bills and loss of employment, followed by divorce and bankruptcy, but Toffler did prepare me to expect and actually embrace change. Today I let my computer do my taxes, balance my checkbook and pay my bills.

By: Lokheed

Lokheed — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 05:43:17 -0800

None at all, at a high school about 60 miles north of Seattle in the 80's. Nthing that this should be a required class.

By: Laugh_track

Laugh_track — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 05:44:25 -0800

From now on, when people answer, please add what years you went to school.

Myself, I fall into the "none whatsoever" camp, aside from maybe a word problem or two. I also just graduated college, without ever having taken an econ class. Yay me.

By: meta_eli

meta_eli — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 05:48:56 -0800

They taught us how to write a check and how a checkbook register works. Nothing about mortgages or diversifying assets, if that's what you're getting at.

By: misanthropicsarah

misanthropicsarah — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 05:49:04 -0800

public school, michigan, graduated high school in 1998.

no, no financial education at all.

sure, we had an "economics" class where we sold mugs and shit and had to learn how to track stocks (this consisted of setting up a free account on yahoo or something). but no real world stuff like how to balance a checkbook, not run up a credit card debt, how to make a budget, etc.

i agree with ian that A 1 semester class on basic banking, credit, mortgages, retirement and so forth should be a requirement for graduation. i'd also include learning how to read your pay stub and how to do your taxes.

this is the kind of stuff we actually need to know, and are left to muddle through on our own (often fucking it up royally the first time).

By: niles

niles — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 05:50:02 -0800

I graduated from High School last year in a medium sized suburb in Wisconsin. Part of my high school's graduation requirements is a "Principles of American Democracy" class and an economics class which are almost always taken senior year. A good number students take one or both of the AP classes (Macro and Micro economics), but the regular class is pretty exhaustive, covering supply/demand, investing, stocks (including a multi-school stock market simulation), credit, financial planning, and more.

We also watched The Hudsucker Proxy. Evidently that dance scene is symbolic of the economic system...or so said my teacher.

By: Shoggoth

Shoggoth — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 05:50:17 -0800

When I was in eighth grade in 1982 in Florida, we had some rudimentary financial education as part of a civics class. For at least part of it, a volunteer came in from the local Chamber (or maybe Rotary?). We learned how to keep a checkbook, complete the 1040 EZ tax form, and played a game where we "bought" stocks to see who got the best return over the course of several weeks.

By: grouse

grouse — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 05:52:12 -0800

Was in public school in Texas 1985-1998. No mandatory financial education (and I took none), but it was available. In home ec (which was called "teen survival" instead), and in high school there was a class called Math of Money which was seen as being the class for people who were too dumb for real math.

By: grouse

grouse — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 05:52:58 -0800

I just realized I was in private school until 1989 but I don't think that matters.

By: HotPatatta

HotPatatta — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 05:53:51 -0800

We learned how the stock market operates in 11th grade economics and we learned how to balance a checkbook.

By: pearlybob

pearlybob — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 05:54:00 -0800

Class of 89. I remember we did alot on buying and selling stock in my econ class but none of it really stuck. Nothing on personal finance.

By: NotMyselfRightNow

NotMyselfRightNow — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 05:57:37 -0800

Public school in West Hartford, Connecticut. Elementary school until 1992, middle school from 1992 to 1995, high school from 1995 to 1999.

We tracked stocks in elementary school (5th grade, I believe) for a year, combining it with lessons on capitalism and how the markets worked.

In middle school technology courses, we had budgeting and check writing and check book balancing skills. It was wrapped in a "you have to buy supplies in order to make products to sell" theme.

In high school, we had AP economics courses that covered both micro and macro issues. I didn't take home ec, but I believe it was covered there, too.

By: NotMyselfRightNow

NotMyselfRightNow — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 05:58:19 -0800

Oh, that's right - high school math courses also involved it pretty heavily.

By: gcat

gcat — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 05:58:33 -0800

graduated from a west texas high school in '92. i vaguely remember learning how to balance a checkbook. i cant recall a single thing more than that.

i remember watching CNN headline news in the morning and hearing about the nasdaq and the dow. ha.

By: sugarfish

sugarfish — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 05:59:53 -0800

None whatsoever. Graduated from high school in southeastern NM in 1998. If there was any budgetary advice in my eighth grade home-ec class, I've long since forgotten it.

I agree that it should be absolutely mandatory.

By: galimatias

galimatias — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 06:00:30 -0800

Public high school in Baltimore, Maryland in 1995: no financial education whatsoever. It would have been a great course, though. So many of my classmates have gone on to become huge economic failures, and maybe a little education (and some common sense) would have had a positive effect. For myself, growing up into a family of accountants and CPAs, I had a constantly updated ledger for my piggybank, so if anything, I'm a bit of a saver now . . .

By: Kosh

Kosh — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 06:00:52 -0800

Public school in Massachusetts, graduated in 1999. I don't think any sort of economics class was offered, nevermind a personal finance class.

By: Alison

Alison — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 06:05:14 -0800

I went to high school in Jonesboro Georgia and graduated in the late 1990's.

Every senior in my school had to sit through a 3-day workshop in economics class on credit reports and credit. Equifax, the local credit reporting agency sent a representative who visited each class. They explained how to get credit reports, report fraud, the importance of avoiding bankruptcy and how to keep good credit by making payments on time and budgeting. They also talked about the trap of easy credit and the consequences.

We absolutely hated the workshop and rolled our eyes and mocked the instructor when she wasn't there, but it was really valuable information and I'm really grateful to Equifax for taking the time.

Furthermore, students in the gifted class got an education on investing (long and short term). I still use what I learned about ETFs to plan my IRA.

Wow. My school rocked.

By: delmoi

delmoi — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 06:07:03 -0800

Nothing at all, although I do remember in some class once picking stocks and seeing how they did over a couple weeks, which when you think about it is a pretty stupid way to learn about investing.

I never really learned to use a checkbook, but I've also never used a checkbook at least not directly. I sometimes use 'counter checks' that the bank prints at the local branch, probably less then 10 times in my life, and I can mail payments for bills through the banks website, so I do that every month for my bills.

So I think using a checkbook is a somewhat obsolete skill.

By: donajo

donajo — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 06:08:54 -0800

In my high school in Texas(1994-1998), there was an elective called "Life Skills," that covered-among other things, how to write a check and possibly how to construct a budget. I can't be sure because no one I knew took it.

In one of my upper-level math classes (pre-calculus, I think), the teacher took about 3 weeks out of the regular curriculum to teach us how to calculate compound interest and amortization tables and drilled into our heads the importance of saving money from a young age. I wish I had paid closer attention.

In college, there was an elective called "Personal and Family Finance" that covered how to do your taxes, what to look for when buying insurance, basic investments and retirement accounts, and a lot of other helpful topics. Unlike the high school class, almost everyone I knew took this one.

By: Forktine

Forktine — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 06:11:31 -0800

No. There was an optional home-ec class that included basic checkbook-balancing and budgeting, but I took a different home-ec class (that involved cooking) instead.

Also, one of the not-so-college-track math classes was called something like "practical math" and covered some household math issues, so people who took that would have gotten the minimum of account balancing, I think.

But if you mean, by financial education, things like investments, taxes, etc, then there was nothing offered in the high school I attended.

By: tomwheeler

tomwheeler — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 06:16:03 -0800

In my school, we had a single quarter of "consumer education" which nominally explained how to balance a checkbook and compare unit prices on food. To its credit, I think it was a required class for freshmen.

By: happyturtle

happyturtle — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 06:32:09 -0800

None whatsoever. Graduated 1990.

By: jessamyn

jessamyn — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 06:32:30 -0800

Public school in MA in the 70-80s. We learned about advertising which is sort of financial and about how to do unit prices in math. I learned a little about economics from the junior high teacher that taught Russian and people suspected was a communist and that was about the only "here is how money works" education I can recall.

By: LolaGeek

LolaGeek — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 06:35:22 -0800

Highly ranked school district in southeastern PA - I remember learning to write checks as part of a bridge-building simulation in 7th grade math class (would have been 1994-95). We also did a stock market simulation in social studies that same year. Other than that, I can't recall any real-world financial type education.

By: Cassilda

Cassilda — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 06:42:29 -0800

Went to public school, downstate NY, 1996-2000.

Required by the high school (and, I believe, by the state Department of Education) was a 1-semester economics class. I don't remember much of it, since I was in second period, and was thus still cognitively dead. I do recall that we spent a couple days "buying" stocks and tracking them with the NY Times financial pages, to see how much fake money we had made. That was the extent of what could be considered 'real-world' knowledge, though - most of what I remember other than that seems to be poorly-explained theory and basic economic systems. I know we covered several different systems, like mercantilism, socialism, &c, but I'm pretty sure that we spent the most time by far on good ol' red-blooded American capitalism. I don't know if that was because of bias on the part of the teacher, or bias on the part of the curriculum.

I vaguely remember, in Home Ec. in eighth grade, having to do a checkbook balancing exercise, which was pretty silly. We probably also had to do some sort of grocery-budget thing, which was probably equally as silly.

I never really got a solid (or even shaky) education in 'real-world' finances. This probably goes a long way towards explaining why I'm so paranoid about retiring to a refrigerator carton and a cat-food diet.

By: willpie

willpie — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 06:42:52 -0800

Public school in central OR in the early 90s. We had to take 3 semesters of Personal Finance in high school (one semester during each of sophomore, junior, and senior years). IIRC, each class was identical to the one preceding it and consisted of learning how to balance a checkbook, fill out tax forms, and draw up a basic budget. This was concluded by a project in which we had to find a job, car and apartment in the classified ads and pretend they were ours, then account for our living expenses for a period of several months.

By: d13t_p3ps1

d13t_p3ps1 — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 06:53:38 -0800

i had a 1 semester economics class, but it wasn't required. I took it because i loved the teacher. I graduated high school in '06, just for reference.

By: PY

PY — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 06:54:04 -0800

In junior high (1989-90) one of our teachers (I think she was our English or history teacher) decided to have our class do an LA Times-sponsored activity that got us the daily business section and tracking stocks. We were partnered up into teams and my team and another team were supposed to be entered into some next phase of the competition because our picks had done well. Our teacher forgot to mail in our entry. Unfortunately, I have never voluntarily looked at stock listings again.
In high school (1993) I had an abbreviated semester of economics. Abbreviated because the teacher who taught it also taught government first semester, which he had converted into a civics team that competed nationally, so we spent 3/4 of the year on that competitive program. And, like others, I remember problems using a business or financial setting sprinkled throughout my math education over the years.

By: jadepearl

jadepearl — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 06:56:37 -0800

Middle school, had a semester of home economics which taught grocery buying, coupons and cooking with nutrition lessons. In high school, late 80's, had to have a course called, "Personal and Social Living", which should have been taught earlier but it literally covered how to do everyday things including birth control, psychology of children and rudimentary psychological theory. Learned formally how to balance a checkbook, open a savings account and everyday things however, I would have like to have learned about the stock market so I could have been successful in convincing my parents to buy MS$ way earlier.

Anyway, had a crash course in econ for school academic tournaments and man, that killed that topic for quite awhile.

I hated the class because it was an easy "A" but I look back and appreciate it a great deal since the school system failed to provide good information like this to students generally. The main complaint I had was that it was given to seniors only who survived not dropping out. It might have been more helpful if they had provided all that good info earlier especially, the sex ed.

This was all in California.

By: Pater Aletheias

Pater Aletheias — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 07:00:20 -0800

I received none at all. But my High School did offer an optional "Money Math" class that was generally used as a remedial course for freshmen who weren't ready for Algebra. So only the slowest students received any financial instruction at all.

By: iguanapolitico

iguanapolitico — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 07:04:29 -0800

In one class during my junior or senior year, we were given an investing project. We were to look up information on publicly traded companies that we were interested in (obtain their prospectuses, and all that) and then pretend to invest in them. Track our gains and losses, and all that. Build our own play portfolios. That was fun.

But that's all.

By: Brandon Blatcher

Brandon Blatcher — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 07:08:30 -0800

None whatsoever in the Baltimore County Public school system in the '80s.

By: dpx.mfx

dpx.mfx — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 07:14:50 -0800

Public school, Michigan, graduated in 1996. I had an accounting course (elective) that covered business accounting. I also had an Econ class (mandatory - but taught differently by every teacher) that covered investing and things like the consumer price index (we had to make our own). I'm certain that somewhere we had a personal finance thing too, but I don't remember it.

By: gimonca

gimonca — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 07:23:42 -0800

I remember in 7th Grade (North Carolina) in the mid 1970s that we did a project where we simulated filing taxes for the year, with a 1040 form and everything. That was great, but it was in an "advanced" class, and an exception to the usual terrible state of education there. Other than that--none in Maryland/Texas/NC in the late 60s through the 70s.

By: aught

aught — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 07:24:12 -0800

In sixth grade we had a model community in which people got to choose various roles (mayor, newspaper editor, banker, doctors, etc.) and there was an invented currency and some sporadic non-realistic commerce. (I was the newspaper editor; ah, the smell of mimeo fluid!) Nothing of practical use, however, particularly not in any classes I took in jr high or high school. I wonder if the assumption (generally mistaken, I would think) was that if you could do trig and calculus you could balance a checkbook and pay bills? For what it's worth, we didn't have driver's ed, sex ed, or swimming instruction either. If you care about demographics this was a public school in upstate NY's Hudson Valley and I was born in the early 60s.

By: CrazyJoel

CrazyJoel — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 07:25:05 -0800

I did Junior Acheivement for 3 years during high school. It was not part of public school but it happened in the school after school. Not sure if that counts.

In JA, you start a company, sell stock, create and sell a product. Then at the end, divest the shares back to the stockholders.

You get to go on job interviews and win awards for like "Best Chief Financial Officer".

By: whoaali

whoaali — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 07:25:24 -0800

I remember in one of my upper level math classes we did a day on APR% etc and how they are calculated, however I think it was more our teacher trying to be creative and incorporate something real world into what we were already doing in math class rather than any sort of purposeful attempt to teach us about credit cards. 96-99 in CO.

However, in law school I did learn all about mortgages and buying a house in first year property! Of course it's kind of sad that I had to go through that many years of higher education to learn anything about what will be most people's largest purchase/investment in their life.

By: hydropsyche

hydropsyche — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 07:28:24 -0800

Charlotte-Mecklenbug, NC schools--I graduated in 1995. Everybody had to take a semester class in Applied Economics based on the Junior Achievement curriculum (this New York Times article talks about it). The curriculum seemed good, and when we just worked in the workbook or had businesspeople come talk it was interesting enough, but the class was located in the vocational department and my teacher was a former sewing teacher and ardent Reaganite. Despite her strong vocal support of supply-side economics (which she frequently called "applied-side economics") she appeared to know almost nothing about economics. My friends and I all had it last period and we went to Dairy Queen a lot.

By: The Light Fantastic

The Light Fantastic — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 07:30:26 -0800

SE Michigan (shoutout to the Michiganders!) - graduated in 1984. I recall a section on balancing a checkbook in 9th grade civics - but that's about it.

By: frobozz

frobozz — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 07:35:46 -0800

Rural Tennessee, graduated in 1997 - in economics class we were supposed to learn how to calculate APR, but I remember being very hazy on what APR actually was even after the class was over. In fact in high school I was kind of upset that we didn't learn 'real world' financial stuff; I thought that that at least would have been something useful.

By: Koko

Koko — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 07:37:42 -0800

No -- we learned how to write checks and balance a checkbook, and spent at least half a year pretending we were communists and learning about Soviet economy (from I think the same commie teacher jessamyn mentions above), which was actually kind of interesting and fun (if you're a pinko), but not terribly practical. I would have loved to learn how the stock market works, and inflation and interest rates and all that, because I'm still confused by it.

By: Koko

Koko — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 07:38:27 -0800

(Massachusetts, 1970s-1980s)

By: kelseyq

kelseyq — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 07:44:35 -0800

In fifth grade (in 1999) in SF we had a project where for 10 weeks we got "paid" fake money each week based on academic performance & behavior and had to use the money to pay rent & bills on our desks & stuff. We had to fill out actual tax forms, which was rather ambitious for 10 year olds. This was part of a broader unit on adolescence & our changing bodies and all that. Pretty depressing stuff if you ask me.

By: jedicus

jedicus — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 07:54:26 -0800

Arkansas, graduated in 1999. Nothing beyond a checkbook balancing exercise in home ec.

By: camcgee

camcgee — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 08:14:27 -0800

Public high school in TN, 1990-93. I took an economics course though I don't recall whether it was required or not. Pretty much the only thing I recall from the class was TINSTAAFL.

By: sperose

sperose — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 08:28:11 -0800

Public high school in Maryland (about 30 minutes north of DC in 2002): we had a very brief discussion about how to balance checkbooks, but that was in this class called 'consumer math' which as I remember, was the remedial math class for those who couldn't pass pre-calc as seniors and needed a 4th year of math (I took pre-calc for one semester and promptly failed out and into consumer math, so there may have been more covered in the first semester that I don't know about.)

And while the name suggests that there would be more of the sort done, all I can remember aside from the checkbook thing is how they calculate the first 3 digits of your driver's license number. (Some algorithm using your last name and dob, I believe.)

OH YEAH. Now I remember something else. In elementary school (same general area, 1990s-ish), we all had bank accounts through the local bank. We were able to make deposits (as little as .05) and withdrawals (up to $5) during school hours, using specific students (5th graders being supervised by teachers). These accounts were in our own names and we had to keep track of what was in them using these little booklets. But there wasn't much other than that, and that seems to be pretty much the same kind of checkbook register thing that mostly everyone else has done too. Mine just got more complicated because my dad thought it would be a good idea to teach me about stocks and dividends (and therefore used some of my money to do such a thing).

By: dirtdirt

dirtdirt — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 08:29:09 -0800

None whatsoever in regular school. Central Massachusetts, 'mid to late 80s. But, in 5th grade, I somehow got invited to a 'gifted and talented' afterschool 10 session program run by a principal (not 'our' principal - 'a' principal) about the stock market. The first thing he did the first session of the program, he handed each kid $100 in cash. This got our attention. But then he took the money back, and talked about the stock market or something for 45 minutes, and then we all left. I couldn't understand WHAT the hell that guy was gumming about. I never went back. Boy was that boring.

Gifted and talented my broke, portfolio-less ass.

By: faineant

faineant — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 08:37:53 -0800

Graduated HS in 1980. In 1976 I had home economics, which included basic household budgeting, keeping a checkbook and that sort of thing. In 1978, I had a semester of 'Recordkeeping' which was (very) basic business math, learning how to track and record payables and receivables, compute interest, figure payroll and taxes, track inventory, etc. Colorado schools.

By: rmd1023

rmd1023 — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 08:38:44 -0800

i went to public school up to the end of 7th grade, and iirc in 6th or 7th grade we spent some of our current events/social studies class learning a bit about the stock market and how to read the stock pages. that was about it, tho.

By: penduluum

penduluum — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 08:42:06 -0800

Public (but International Baccalaureate) high school in Florida, '95-'99. No financial/economic education available, under either IB or traditional cirricula. I assume there were home ec classes, because there were home ec classrooms, but I think they mostly amounted to cooking classes. Frankly I can't even really recall a statistics unit in our math classes.

Although we did have a unit in 6th grade where we pretended to buy stocks and then tracked how they did. I think the winners got a pizza party.

By: LionIndex

LionIndex — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 08:45:58 -0800

I went to high school in a suburb to the east of San Diego from '89 to '93. I had a full semester of "economics" my senior year, along with some other minor stuff at the end of freshman year on how to write a check and fill out a job application.

High school Econ was mostly macro stuff on how economics works in general, but we went into the stock market, filled out a 1040EZ stock form for ourselves, and had a mock stock market where we invested fake money in a number of stocks and there was a prize for whoever made the most money at the end of the semester (all the nerds went heavy on IBM and got fucked). We learned about bond ratings, different types of bank accounts and a bunch of other stuff.

By: Sassyfras

Sassyfras — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 08:49:32 -0800

Northeast Pennsylvania high school - I took an accounting class my senior year of HS - but it was an optional class.

By: jamaro

jamaro — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 08:57:03 -0800

I took a mandatory "Health & Science" class in 7th or 8th grade ('75 or '76) which spent one week trying to teach how to set a household budget. It was pretty lame and had little to do with the reality of establishing and sticking to a budget. This was in California public schools, graduated HS in '80.

By: fuzzbean

fuzzbean — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 09:04:12 -0800

Baton Rouge, Louisiana; public, magnet high school; 1997 - 2001. Everyone was required to take a semester of civics and a semester of economics as their social studies sophomore year. The economics course included some information on budgeting for a household, balancing a checkbook, how compound interest works, how credit cards and minimum payments work, etc. It was actually a pretty solid class although the teacher wasn't great stuff.

I also got some personal financial education via Girl Scouts (this would have been roughly 1988 - 1996). They have a few badges that deal with personal finance and home economics, geared to be age-appropriate. I remember going on one field-trip type workshop where we learned how mass production works by making pens; I'm pretty sure this was sponsored by Junior Achievement or something like that. I think Junior Achievement was also involved in creating the curriculum for the public school class mentioned above.

By: brujita

brujita — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 09:06:57 -0800

I had a semester of economics in LA senior year, but all I remember is having a sub tell us to pick ten stocks and follow them for a week...nothing about budgeting or balancing a checkbook.

By: DiscourseMarker

DiscourseMarker — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 09:14:05 -0800

I went to high school in NY and SC, 1986-1990. I have vague recollections of a semester long economics course in my SC high school, but I think we only covered things like supply & demand and the stock market, not any kind of life skills issues. Mostly what I remember is the teacher's accent.

By: reenum

reenum — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 09:15:53 -0800

We didn't have any that was required. I went to school in the Kansas City metro area. There was a class called consumer math, but it was generally thought to be a blowoff class that seniors took as a substitute for a more challenging class.

By: mynameisluka

mynameisluka — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 09:19:42 -0800

Public school, San Diego, 1985-1998. We did a "mini city" type thing where we learned how to write checks and balance an account book in about fourth grade...and there the education ended. I did go to a flaky arts high school and spent my junior year abroad, so maybe I just missed out on something?

By: desuetude

desuetude — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 09:28:57 -0800

Absolutely none in elementary, middle, or high school, including in home ec. Baltimore area, graduated from high school in 1991.

By: Polychrome

Polychrome — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 09:29:10 -0800

In fourth and fifth grade we were taught how to balance/use a checkbook. We earned money for completing assignments and had to pay bills by writing checks to the instructor. At the end of the year there was an auction where we could bid on candy, etc. with the money we'd managed to save. (This was not part of our regular class, though, but a gifted & talented program. The regular classes did not do this, afaik.)

I was also forced to take an elective called "Personal Learning Skills" in tenth grade. This class was not at all a requirement, but one section was offered a semester and the only people who signed up for it intentionally were people who needed to take a class but wanted to get through it with a minimal amount of effort/work. The aim of the class was to teach us skills that we would need in the "real world." A unit on banking was included--we learned about bank accounts, differences between them, and how to balance a checkbook (so the same things I'd learned in fourth grade). No other types of investments were discussed (other than savings accounts/cds) and nothing about retirement funds were discussed.

By: Polychrome

Polychrome — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 09:30:06 -0800

That was in 1992-93 and 1998, btw.

By: sapphirebbw

sapphirebbw — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 09:30:55 -0800

Graduated in 1985 from a rural middle tennessee school. I don't remember anything taught about finances prior to high school level.

Home Ec included handling home budgeting and how to write personal contracts. I think the teacher did actually talk with us frankly about not getting in over our heads when it came to debt and tried to impart some real world knowledge to us.

General Business included basic things like check writing and registery upkeep and basic business accounting as far as keeping up with income and expenditures.

I don't know in what class it was, but I vaguely recall being taught about the stock market and how to read the Wall Street Journal. Unfortunalely, we didn't get to set up dummy accounts or anything like that. Practical instruction on how to actually do it would have been great.

All seniors were required to take half a year of Economics. It was the only Economics class offered and you couldn't take it until you were a Senior so too bad if you liked it and wanted more. The major thing I remember about that class was that we were taught about different kinds of economies throughout the ages and at the end were split up into groups and given a scenario of being part of 500 people stranded on an island. We had to come up with everything for them.....money, government, how to feed and cloth them, etc. It was quite interesting.

The school offered at least one accounting class, but I didn't take it.

I definitely agree that a class in basic personal finances should be mandatory.

By: Ugh

Ugh — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 09:44:09 -0800

I did not receive any financial education, however, the same junior high I went to is now offering a class called "Economics of Life." The students have "jobs", receive "paychecks", and are required to balance their budget while paying for rent, utilities, groceries, car payments, etc. They also get to buy more extravagant items like a new washer and dryer set if they have the money left over. Their grades at the end of the semester are based upon how well they managed their checkbook, if they had overdrafts, etc. Fun stuff.

By: Calloused_Foot

Calloused_Foot — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 09:56:33 -0800

None whatsoever, NYC 1980s.

By: TedW

TedW — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 10:04:16 -0800

Augusta, GA, graduated 1981-none. There might have been a little bit about checkbook balancing and budgeting in home ec, but I didn't take it. There was a little bit about interest in math classes, but very little and even less real-life application.

By: yazi

yazi — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 10:12:20 -0800

Public Jr. Hi and Sr Hi. 1960s. Just outside the St. Louis city line in University City, considered by many (and me) to have supplied superlative teachers in 1960s. We had personal finance approach in Jr. Hi. math class (ninth grade I think). Mr. Lyons instructed about principal and interest, mortgage, yields on interest, etc. (He was also physically threatened by a hoodlum who walked into the classroom armed with what seemed like a pointed garden trowel: Mr. Lyons kept a calm demeanor during the whole incident.)

In same school system, in Hi Sch. I don't recall any exercises about finances or accounting.

By: PatoPata

PatoPata — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 10:12:39 -0800

1975-79, big respected high school near Chicago. I have dim memories of some sort of "family life" course that was mostly sex ed but that may have included the image of a check and how to fill it out. Otherwise, nada.

By: scody

scody — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 10:16:06 -0800

Public school in northern Colorado (Littleton and Fort Collins), graduated in 1987. I received absolutely zero financial education (though I wonder if this may have been because I was on the honors track so early -- that is, maybe there was a sort of basic "here's how to balance your checkbook and understand interest" course at some point, but they assumed that the kids in honors classes didn't need it?). I did take a semester of home ec at one point (8th grade, I think) and it definitely didn't come up there.

By: yohko

yohko — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 10:16:12 -0800

My high school required a semester long class called personal finance, but I sucessfully tested out of it. I spent about an hour studying for the test, so I couldn't tell you what was in the book. I also had a class in economics -- not home ec, economics as in supply and demand. We saw a lot of the videos with Richard Gil that I saw again in college.

By: parmanparman

parmanparman — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 10:25:36 -0800

I learned what laissez faire means, but that was about it. It wasn't in the context of econ, though,

By: droplet

droplet — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 13:25:21 -0800

Graduated from a Milwaukee suburb HS in 1987. I learned how to write a check and balance my checkbook in 7th grade home ec class, which would've been in 1982. Learned just enough about what stocks were in a uni econ class my freshman year. I was not given a comprehensive financial education as far as I remember, and my family was far too poor to even have a checking or savings account, much less any investments, so I didn't learn it from home either.

I thoroughly agree that all students need such an education.

By: epersonae

epersonae — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 15:13:03 -0800

Pasadena, CA, graduated 1992. I have a few vague recollections: a 5th grade project that involved looking up apartment rental rates in the newspaper; interest-related exercises in a (junior high?) math class; and some sort of "life skills" class in high school, which I'd actually entirely forgotten until now. We may have learned how to balance a checkbook. Plus I took a one-semester econ course that was focused on big-picture theoretical stuff, not personal finance.

By: plinth

plinth — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 16:48:54 -0800

And for what it's worth, when I was a technology/engineering teacher in Western Massachusetts, I did an obligatory long unit on bridge building. The unit including building a budget, keeping books, writing checks, etc. The unit was built in such a way that each team had an accountant, but every member was exposed to each other's jobs.

For a teaching moment, I would silently accept checks that were incorrectly written such that I could modify the amount on the check, usually in a way that forced them to go over budget and required at least an internal audit (external audits cost money). I warned them ahead of time that I would do this, but I always nailed at least one. There's nothing like a (controlled) disaster to help remember a lesson or two.

By: sandyvoice

sandyvoice — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 09:54:45 -0800

None at all, and it would have been very helpful!
And none in college, either, where it would have been even more helpful.

By: jdroth

jdroth — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 13:28:35 -0800

Graduated from Canby, OR high school in 1987. We were required to take one semester of personal finance during our senior year. The class was worthless. ("How to write a check!")

By: sciurus

sciurus — Mon, 05 May 2008 08:46:05 -0800

Nothing practical. Connersville, IN HS, Class of '99.