Requirement for financial literacy in TX

Texas has joined a handful of states that require financial literacy be taught to students. (Click here for an article.) This is great news: if we want our schools to prepare students for life outside school walls, financial literacy is one of the core life skills that needs to be conveyed.

Laura Levine (head of the JumpStart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy, a great group) had a sharp quote:

Laura Levine, executive director of the Washington D.C.-based Jump$tart
Coalition for Personal Finance Literacy, applauded Texas' new requirement —
shared by fewer than a dozen other states.

She called financial education the sex education of the 21st century,
saying that adults want kids to have the facts on the subject, but don't want to
be the ones to teach it.

"Everyone said: 'This is a good idea. It's something kids need to be
taught, but I don't want to be the one to do it. I'm not an expert,' " she
said.

She's right that personal financial education is critical - few people disagree with that - but that it oftentimes doesn't happen in the home due to a lack of comfort or knowledge on the part of parents. To their credit (no pun intended), JumpStart also realized that applies to teachers, which is why their state coalitions focus so strongly on teacher training in this area.