Giving Compass' Take:

•  Teaching financial literacy to young students can help them foster better business and financial habits. 

• How can donors spread financial literacy? How does giving play into financial literacy?

• Read about the partnerships that are assisting schools to advance financial education.

In 2016, a report by Bank of America demonstrated an alarming statistic: Only 16% of millennials age 18-26 were optimistic about their financial futures. In the same year, Fortune published an article stating two in three Americans can't pass a basic financial literacy test.

A year later, Vince Shorb, one of the country’s leading advocates for promoting financial literacy and a thought leader in teaching and scaling financial education programming, asked 1,100 young adults age 18-24 what high-school-level course would benefit their life the most. Over 50% responded “money management.”

As of 2018, only 17 states require high school students to take a course in personal finance. Out of the 17 states providing personal finance courses, only five of them received an A when graded on the state's effectiveness at producing financially literate high school graduates. What’s worse, studies have repeatedly shown students without a financial education are more likely to have low credit scores and other financial problems.

It seems we are missing extremely valuable opportunities to teach the skills that will help create financially responsible citizens. Not only are we missing the mark in our current curriculums, but we are also waiting too late.

Numerous studies on child cognitive development have highlighted the benefits of early exposure to language, role-playing, and even mathematics. Over the first few years of life, the brain grows rapidly, allowing children to learn quickly — even more so than adults. Unfortunately, as we age, underutilized synaptic connections are deleted in a process called synaptic pruning, and we’ve missed our chance to lay a firm foundation to complex concepts.

Learning about business allows children to develop responsibility, exercise creativity and develop social skills, and teaching financial literacy reinforces the STEM skills they are already learning in elementary school and sometimes even earlier.

Read the full article about teaching financial literacy by Danielle Orange-Scott at Education Dive.