Florida to force students to be financially literate to graduate. No balanced checkbook no diploma.

[cinematicdiversions]

https://www.fox13news.com/news/florida-bill-would-require-students-to-take-financial-literacy-course-in-order-to-graduate


Florida bill would require students to take financial literacy course in order to graduate

A half-credit course in personal financial literacy and money management would be added as a graduation requirement.

The financial literacy course would have to include instruction on types of bank accounts and how to open and manage accounts, completing loan applications and computing federal income taxes.

"Basic principles of money management, such as spending, credit, credit scores and managing debt, including retail and credit card debt" also would be required as part of the curriculum, the proposal said.


A similar Senate bill (SB 1054) was approved unanimously Tuesday by the Rules Committee and is poised for consideration by the full Senate.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Once again, Florida is out of control, forcing students to learn how to use credit cards and apply for a mortgage. Where will the madness end.

[we can do it]

1. This actually makes sense.

[CurtEastPoint]

2. absolutely. And teach them how to cook and run a household. EVERYONE, M and F

[we can do it]

7. Yes

[oregonjen]

4. Almost 40 yrs. ago, taking a business class that taught us how to balance

our checkbooks was required to graduate.

[SergeStorms]

9. Same here.

And add almost 20 years to the timeline. It wasn't until the Reagan years, where credit was looser than a goose, when the consumer credit market started it's upward climb.

[NightWatcher]

3. Florida to force students to be able to read and write to graduate. No essay no diploma.

Sounds terrible when phrased that way, doesn't it?



I like the idea of teaching kids life skills in school.

[we can do it]

6. Me too.

[doc03]

5. Well that sounds like a good idea. nt

[Zorro]

8. Seems reasonable

We had a mandatory one semester HS Consumer Economics class sophomore year in Ohio.

It's a good thing for kids to learn.

[Baitball Blogger]

10. Oh, wow.

My hubby has already put together a course outline for college students that would teach just these things.

Was getting ready to pitch it.

As reasonable as it sounds, there is a difference between a choice and a mandate for something like this.

[cinematicdiversions]

17. This is for High School students. Nt

[dameatball]

19. Oops. I obviously failed my mandatory pre-graduation reading comprehension course...:) Thanks for

setting me straight. Rant over.

[genxlib]

18. Just to be clear.

This is for high school. Not college.

[dameatball]

20. My bad! Rant over.

[soryang]

12. Will they be taught to read gotcha insurance contracts?

Or provisions in standard banking service contracts?

I don't think anyone can read these, they are designed not to be read.

Will they be taught to how to supervise their own medical care because of the piss poor medical care in this country.

I doubt it.

[ProudMNDemocrat]

13. I thought this was the ROLE of parents?

But then, how may parents even know how to balance a checkbook, let alone manage Credit cards? Doing Taxes? There are people who know how to do that.

[Hekate]

27. Before I moved out at 19 1/2, I initiated a conversation with my father in which I asked him...

… for basic information that I had never gotten from either of my parents. We had no money.

In all honesty, all my mother knew how to do was be poor — we were well-fed and my entire wardrobe was pretty good hand-me-downs, and a place to live was never in doubt, but extras were out of the question and everything was an extra and she was the one who had to say it.

Dad was a silent man. But he brought home the paycheck. So I sat him down at the kitchen table with my pen, a stack of paper, and the Want Ads, and started asking him basic questions about rent, utilities, groceries, and so on.

That was it. Nothing about checkbooks or credit cards. Nothing about how to find a job that paid a cent more than minimum wage — he could have gotten me a job at his unionized plant, but no, that was his world. I didn’t even know how to ask the right questions of employers — or my college.

I just don’t have a lot of faith in the financial intelligence of high schoolers. Well-off or poor, they are in their parents’ bubble — until they aren’t.

[Thunderbeast]

14. Something else for the football coach to teach!

[patricia92243]

15. Mandatory - no. But it is a great course to offer to students.

[pecosbob]

16. Broken clock phenomena

[ripcord]

21. Sorry but this fails to register on my outrage meter

People with the skills listed in the OP are less likely to be taken advantage of.

[cinematicdiversions]

24. That is kind of the gag. People are constantly pushing outrage bait (Some very legitimate) but

this is the kind of bills that are getting passed and becoming law outside of the Twitter feed.

That said, I am sure someone will find a reason to object to this. It wouldn't be DU otherwise.

[Hekate]

22. This is a life skill. I didn't know how to use a checkbook until college. Fortunately, I was savvy...

…enough to use the check register and keep track. A friend helped me open the account because I was going to be running a local campaign HQ and taking in donations. I look back and realize he also tried to teach me how to kite checks (not in so many words, of course), but I was also savvy enough to realize what he was suggesting was A Bad Idea.

Later I got a credit card through the big department store I worked at. My main purpose in that was to establish a credit record of my own. Back then it was very difficult for women to get a major credit card in their own name, whether they were single, married, divorced, or widowed — much less a poor student — so I reasoned a good place to start would be the store where I was employed. I used cards then, and to this day, only for things I can pay for in a month.

I think my native suspicion of anything “free” or too good to be true saved me from a lot of the pitfalls of managing my own pitiful paychecks, but I know that too many other young people end up in a world of hurt — especially since the age of financial adulthood was determined to be 18 y.o.

[genxlib]

23. This is actually the one thing that Florida has done recently that I agree with

I don't see any harm in helping high school kids get life skills.

The challenge is fitting it in without cutting something else valid away. My vote would be all of the "say no to drugs" stuff but I am not an educator.

I think the OP assumes that the goal is to train good little consumers. I would hope that the goal is to train them to not fall into the trap that consumerism offers without understanding the consequences.

Of course, how the curriculum is developed means everything. If I know Florida, they will just accept donated class materials from the banking industry that sends all the wrong messages.

[Duppers]

39. I agree.

My "bookkeeping" class in h.s. taught this information.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

25. This is a first-rate idea! I am all for it.

I didn't know how to write a check or anything like that till I got married! My husband was very happy to teach me.

It took getting married to make me feel like an adult. I was 21 years old.

[cachukis]

26. As a retired Florida HS teacher

I can unequivocally attest the students, themselves, are screaming for this education. Most have parents unable to translate the basics of day to day finance. In fact, the students would benefit from classes in every day life management skills.
Many are very adroit at dealing in "emergency" living. Putting them in a prepare to stay out of emergency climate, would have enormous impact.

[CaptainTruth]

28. Will they teach how the GOP has destroyed unions & suppressed wages?

In other words, tell them exactly why the balance in their checking account is so low?

[Hekate]

29. That would be politics and US History, as you know

A narrowly-focused class on personal finance and avoiding common traps should easily pass muster, and would be very useful to any young person.

What you want would go down in flames as a Commie plot.

[forthemiddle]

30. I'm actually in favor of this

Walking into a bank for any service is intimidating for anyone the first time. Anything that helps kids manage that seems like a good idea.

[BlueIdaho]

31. Sex Ed -Yes, Financial Ed - Yes. nt.

[keithbvadu2]

32. Got my full approval..... financial literacy

[Demsrule86]

33. It doesn't make sense in today's world...no one balances checkbooks today...

I check my balances and what has gone through every day online.

[cinematicdiversions]

36. It is still good to know how to do it. It is the skill that teaches.

Much like one does math in one's head even though there are calculators.

[Crunchy Frog]

34. That doesn't actually sound like a bad idea.

I honestly wish I'd had something like that.

[marmar]

35. One of the few sensible things to come out of Florida recently.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

37. The party of small government. That worships a guy who filed bankruptcy 6 times.

[ellie]

38. This is a great idea

In my high school there was a math for daily living class. I didn't take it but I should have.

[cinematicdiversions]

40. I regret to this day not taking the typing semester.

It was for woman only if I recall. That would have been a lot more useful than another semester of a foreign language i would forget about one minute after graduation.