If you ask a roomful of educators, they'll all insist that personal finance education is vital for the recession-era generation. If you ask a roomful of superintendents, however, they'll likely grouse that their districts don't have the time, training, resources, curriculum, testing, and/or support for
financial literacy classes. Even as
this week's news has highlighted the emerging
economic standards for K-12 students, many teachers feel ill-supported to incorporate the ideas of budgeting and investing into their lessons.
Fortunately, the
Council For Economic Education (CEE) has prepared an array of carefully conceived resources to blend financial literacy into state curricula. We've long
been advocates for folding the ideas of stocks, inflation, trade and consumerism into any existing class.
The United States Of Financial & Economic Literacy from
Plusign on
Vimeo.
On March 1, 2013, we had the opportunity to attend the
Annual Conference of the New York State Council for the Social Studies. We heard from
Rick Fenner, a professor at
Utica College and Director of the
Mohawk Valley Center For Economic Education. Fenner introduced us to economic topics from U.S. history as well as the terrific site,
EconEdLink. Developed by the
CEE,
EconEdLink presents free videos, links, data, and home extensions on a range of topics from advertising to entrepreneurship. It also allows for
free personal accounts to save customized lessons and notes.
The motion infographic (above), entitled "
The United States Of Financial And Economic Literacy," was prepared by the
CEE and designed by
Plusign to broadcast startling statistics about today's monetary awareness. Meant as a companion to the "
Survey Of The States" interactive website, the
clip illustrates the urgent need for more financial literacy in our schools.
For an important reflection on the history of "money" education, we recommend "
Why Financial Literacy Fails," by J.D. Roth in
Time magazine. For other
guidelines about layering economics into your lessons, check out the
Jump$tart Coalition For Personal Financial Literacy.
