In 7th grade, our district has a three-week unit on financial literacy. This was supposed to teach us about budgeting, saving, credit cards vs. debit cards, and more. However, most of our class learned nothing about financial literacy because of the curriculum made by boomers.
What we did had little correlation to what we learned. We started out the unit by learning about taxes and the different types of them. We spent multiple days calculating income tax on people's income, even when the hourly rate was far below minimum wage, proving how out of date this curriculum is. Once, we were asked to calculate the Net Monthly Income (NMI) of a student named Jamal. He works at the recreation center 15 hours a week after school. He is a high school student who goes to school 8 hours a day with homework and works 3 extra hours every weekday. His hourly wage is $8.75/hour. He makes $431.37 after taxes and working 62 hours. This is the type of task we had to do, something that related to what we were taught but did not actually help us apply our knowledge.
The curriculum literally taught us the same things over and over. When my history teacher was absent, we had a sub who taught us about credit and debit cards. The twist was that we had already spent two days prior on this, completed an EdPuzzle, and just knew what they were. It is not that hard to understand: a debit card takes money straight out of your checking account, and a credit card has a limit with money spent borrowed from the bank, which you pay off later. They should have taught us more complex topics, like how to build a credit score, not just what it is. All we were taught was that it determines how trustworthy you are and that not paying bills on time can hurt it. Most people do not know how to build a credit score. My classmates had no idea about three of the five factors that influence it. We were taught the major ones: payment history and somewhat about debt-to-income ratio. But the average age of your accounts, credit mix, and hard inquiries matter too. Those three factors can be the difference between being denied or approved for a loan.
I also was not taught what to invest or save in. Some topics were mentioned, but we didn't know who they were for. Topics like real estate were completely omitted from the curriculum. I knew more about money coming in than money going out. Saving and investing should have lasted at least one week. General information about how to file taxes should have been taught. This unit could have been useful, but instead it was just a class I wanted to sleep through. At first, I was happy we would finally learn something to benefit our adult lives. As soon as I saw what this actually was, I viewed it the same as any other normal class: just something to sit through to fill up my day. I thought the unit would be like learning to code a website, but it was actually sponsored by a company.
We had "Finance Park" workbooks to do our work in. They were useless. All we did was complete tasks that made no sense. For example, we were asked to calculate the budget of someone. There was no context, like at all. There was a note that their parents pay for the phone bill. I just talked to my friends instead of wasting my time. Even my teacher told us to "figure it out." This proves even grown adults could not figure out what to do, not because of incompetence, but because of boomers in charge of creating things they will never use.
At the end of the unit, we had a field trip at the local high school to practice making a budget and spending properly. I was excited, not for the trip, but because I did not have to go to any of my classes. We started by riding a bus for 30 minutes while I was playing Christmas music. People sang along and got into the holiday spirit. I talked to a friend on the bus. They said "no phones allowed," which actually meant "we do not care if you use your phone, just do not bother me." This was the best part. After the ride, I was hungry and asked for a snack from the worker who restocked the vending machine. "Come on! It is only $1.29. Just give it to me and no one will know!" Unfortunately, I was denied. We stood in a single-file line while adults told us to be quiet. I was then forced to climb four flights of stairs to reach the section of the school converted into a mini shopping mall. Along the way, I saw architecture students, mechanic students, and other programs at the school.
After climbing the stairs, I asked for the Wi-Fi password because there was a network for parent volunteers shown at the entrance. Denied. Again. We watched a presentation about what would happen. They also told us about the programs at the high school. That was cool. After being separated from my friends, my fellow groupmates and I got tablets to do the simulation. If we were doing this simulation online in a web browser, why spend 30 minutes on a bus just to use a tablet when we all had $830 phones? The tablets were practically growing mold. I would have rather used the school Chromebooks than that piece of equipment. The tablets were first used to determine your future income and credit score, as well as student loans and kids. I had two kids and a wife. I am a judge.
After using the tablets, we started a research phase. We spent three minutes at ten stations learning about different things to spend our money on, like health insurance. Each station had a group leader with a map. Each station interaction was basically "Hi, nice to meet you," and then over. I had the latest lunch. It was miserable. I had none of my friends and only twenty minutes to eat. Since I did not have my own schedule, I got lost from the group and missed two sessions. We got to use the tablets again for a budget. We had no idea how much things actually cost. The research phase was about learning what things were, but they forgot to teach us actual costs. There was a suggested range for what we should have budgeted, but what did things really cost?
Why are these boomers in charge of our schools? Let us use our phones at lunch! Let us have no homework at home. School is already an eight-hour job. Why do we need an extra two hours at home? We have lives and we are not 24/7/365 working machines. It was a bust. By the end, I was grateful to be home.