LEARNINGconnections
Personal Finance 26
Multidisciplinary 28, 30
Computer Science 32
Physical Education 34
Tip 37
Use Tech to Teach Personal Finance
We all know today’s students are tech savvy. It’s rare to find a teen who doesn’t
have a smartphone for texting, music,
video, and social media. And it’s
becoming increasingly common
for educational technology to be a
big part of students’ academic lives.
Whether they are doing a virtual
dissection in science, reading a book
on a tablet, or taking an online tour
of a history museum, many of today’s
teens are learning with the latest
technology.
Nine years ago, I turned to technology to teach a subject that often
gets overlooked—personal finance.
Although many high school students
learn to solve equations in physics and
chemistry, they rarely learn to balance
a checking account.
The statistics are alarming. Ac-
cording to the National Endowment
for Financial Education, only 15%
of teens receive formal personal
finance education prior to gradua-
tion. According to Jump$tart Coali-
tion for Financial Literacy (www.
jumpstart.org/home.html), half of all
high school seniors fail when tested
on basic personal finance skills,
and only half of U.S. states require
personal finance education in high
school, with a mere four states re-
quiring at least a semester devoted to
the subject. This means many teens
leave high school unprepared to pay
bills and avoid debt. High school is
a critical time for students to learn
financial lessons, before they are out
on their own and the consequences
of financial missteps become all too
real.
