When my parents handed out advice, it was usually religious or automotive, not the practical money tips that could have saved me a lot of trouble. Nobody taught me personal finance in high school, either. So like many young people today, I stumbled ignorantly into the real world.
I don’t know how many years I went without a checking account, getting wads of cash for my paychecks and handing them out for rent, utilities and groceries. I said I didn’t believe in checking accounts, but eventually I realized you can’t have a full American economic life with $20 bills.
The first time I tried to write a check, a grocery store clerk who had taken my cash many times smiled condescendingly and showed me how to scribble in the amount. I suppose being addicted to cash is better than the alternative — being loose with credit cards or obligated to payday lenders.
This is a roundabout way of getting to a controversy during the legislative session about House Bill 171, a bill setting graduation requirements. High school credit requirements need to be updated every 10 years or so, and this was the year. The bill passed easily in the House and Senate, but the final vote misses the real story.
The controversy that got a lot of legislators steamed up was how to teach financial literacy. Some legislators had stories like mine, and they agreed that kids need to know more about money. The controversy was whether it should be a required course, or whether it should be integrated into the general curriculum over 13 years.
Proponents of the required-course view introduced an amendment to HB 171 in the Senate Education Committee, and later on the Senate floor. The debates were interesting and the votes were close, but in the end a bare majority (including Sen. Siah Correa Hemphill) voted against the amendment. The integrated curriculum view is now the law.
One of the sponsors of HB 171, Rep. Andrės Romero, was an effective proponent of the integrated viewpoint. He is a social studies teacher in an Albuquerque high school and will integrate financial literacy into his class later this year. His testimony was convincing, but so was the other side.
Fred Nathan, executive director of Think New Mexico, was a proponent of a required course. In full disclosure, he suggested this column and sent me background information on the subject. He is also persuasive, and his Santa Fe think tank has persuaded the Legislature to adopt many of its proposals over the years. Unfortunately, his lobbying wasn’t enough this time.
New Mexico high schools have had an elective financial literacy course for many years, but only 11 percent of students take it. As a former high school student, I imagine this elective would be as popular as Brussels sprouts in the cafeteria. It might be good for you, but it doesn’t sound fun.
It would be like when all the boys (and one girl) in my high school shop class had to spend a week in home economics, while the girls spent a week in shop. Cooking and sewing turned out to be fun, but boys wouldn’t have gone voluntarily.
Well, it turns out that learning a little about checking accounts, mortgages and credit cards is good medicine in the long run. I know because I had to figure it all out later in the school of hard knocks. I’m still attending that school.
As usual, I’m with the losers. I think financial literacy integrated into math, social studies and other relevant courses might be good if your teacher is Rep. Romero. But I suspect it will get lost with some teachers. A dedicated, required course seems more likely to get the message across to more students.
The teachers’ unions and school administrators were in favor of the integrated curriculum because it’s easier to teach and organize. They seemed to have more influence than the business and banking groups pushing the separate class. Another argument was that if financial literacy moved from elective to requirement, it would mean fewer electives and less local control.
And that’s the next step. When Nathan failed in lobbying the Legislature, he started lobbying school boards and administrators. A school district can make financial literacy a required course even if the state doesn’t. Don’t be surprised if he shows up at Silver and Cobre board meetings. Or maybe he lobbied me into writing this column to send the message.
One of Nathan’s selling points is that when teenagers take financial literacy courses, they sometimes come home and teach their parents. My daughter missed the boat on that one, but perhaps my granddaughters can help with my continuing education about money.
