As we wrapped up another tax season, many of us probably asked the same question we ask ourselves every year: “Why didn’t I learn this in school?”
School is meant to prepare students to succeed and meet their potential both personally and professionally, and yet personal financial education, a life skill which will help young people make responsible decisions in adulthood, is not prioritized in our schools.
Currently in Colorado, the academic standards for personal finance are integrated into grade K-12 Social Studies content areas, but there are no statewide requirements for schools to offer a personal finance class. Only about 25% of school districts include personal finance in their approved graduation qualifications.
Meanwhile, Colorado is ranked the fourth highest in the nation for credit card debt and was given a “C” in financial education by Champlain College’s Center for Financial Literacy, which graded all 50 states on their efforts to produce financially literate high school graduates.
Personal finance and fundamental economics are essential skills that every student will use throughout their life. We, as Coloradans, must challenge ourselves and our children by increasing awareness and education around economics and financial literacy, knowledge that is key to being successful members of society.
To do so, we must start at the grassroots level and seek pathways to encourage and offer more personal finance courses and electives, including integrating these topics into other subjects.
When every student is offered the opportunity to learn how to plan for and manage personal finances, we are leveling the playing field, closing the wealth gap, and setting every young person up for a lifetime of financial empowerment. As it stands currently, we aren’t giving most of them a chance to develop life skills that will make them better employees, employers, entrepreneurs, wise citizens: the ability to live fruitful professional, personal, and civic lives.
Parents, businesspeople and lawmakers of Colorado need to be leaders and start this conversation in their communities and with their school districts by emphasizing the importance of financial literacy starting at a young age. We must equip our teachers with the necessary skills and resources to help engage the next generation to be college and career-ready, a generation that will contribute to positive changes in the communities in which they live and work, which will benefit the economy of Colorado.
Colorado is blessed with many capable organizations that support teachers and students with resources, training, and continuing education opportunities.
We all want our children to thrive and be self-sufficient, but we are not giving them an opportunity to develop these life skills if we don’t offer them the classes and support this need.
— Dave Young is Colorado State Treasurer and a longtime Greeley resident. Debbie Pierce is CEO and President of Economic Literacy Colorado.