Should We Make Our Kids Take Finance/Business Classes?

[Scott Trench]

So this is a subject that I’m very interested in and I’d love to get everyone’s opinions.

What do you think about mandating Finance class for grade school children?

I’m not talking about making them take it one year of high school, or making it a part of math class - I think a lot of people (at least on BiggerPockets) would agree that there should be some improvement in our finance/business curriculum in public schools. No, I’m talking about full-blown making it a focus of the United States (and the world’s) public schooling curriculum - given as much priority as language, math, and science throughout the entire 12 year duration of public education.

My (perhaps naive) opinion is strongly in favor. Let me know if you disagree!

Here’s my argument:

When I was growing up, I was a pretty good student. I got decent grades in Math, English, and Science, though I was certainly lacking talent in the art and music departments. But there was one subject that I didn’t master. I didn’t even get the basics down. In fact, I was never even taught it. That subject was finance.

Like it or not, in our capitalist society food, shelter, transportation, wealth, and power stem largely from one thing - money. The fact that we don’t absolutely mandate the education of all things money through the duration of our children’s schooling is totally mind boggling to me.

Sometimes people say that finance is boring, that it is a study children might not enjoy, and that they might not comprehend.  To that argument, I’d repeat what I heard growing up every time I didn’t like a subject in school, but had to do my homework anyways:

Too Bad.

A lot of kids don’t like ANY courses in school. We make them go anyways. That’s because we believe that those things are part of life. We believe that they are necessary skills for them to develop. What about money matters? How can they not be at or near the top of the list in subjects that are critical to our children’s development as human beings and as effective citizens?

Let me leave you with one final thought.  Have you ever heard someone say, “Oh he’s really good at that - he’s been doing basketball/violin/piano/coding/insertcoolskillhere since he was six”?

Yeah - he’s good because he’s been doing it since he was six.

Let’s make the world’s kids great in what really matters for them. And let’s get them started early.  Let me know your thoughts.  AND if you think some sort of change could be realistically implemented.