Financial Fitness

South Carolina is proposing that all public school students take a fitness course in personal finance. A great idea! Since public schools are teaching so little these days and the colleges have become training schools, it seems a natural that the public school should teach at least one practical skill – beyond reading poorly, writing poorly, and with little ability at math. At least, our youngsters will begin to understand finance charges, interest rates, and payment costs.

Personally, in high school, I took a business math course, and it was among those courses I still remember many years later. It took me years to educate my college educated daughter about the huge cost difference of just one-half a percentage point meant on a house loan. Kids are not born with this knowledge!

In years of teaching math, it is rare that students...

Know how to compute interest, or even understand interest.
Know how to compute a mortgage payment, have even a clue how much a small change in interest may cost.
Know what a future value is.

A financial fitness course covers these topics, and they are most important in life.

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