Oklahoma high schools implement finance classes

Photo by: Abby Bellow

 

Oklahoma students must soon show some understanding of banking, investing, loans, taxes and identity theft in order to graduate from high school.

In accordance with legislation that was passed in 2007, starting this May Oklahoma schools are to teach students basic financial skills.

School districts can begin implementing the new course requirements for students in the 7th-9th grades, with the freedom to choose either the curriculum suggested by the state education department or their own curriculum

However, according to a NewsOK article by Paula Burkes, since passing the new law the state government has not provided funding or financial teachers to instruct the students on the new requirements.

“Consequently, many school districts statewide are squeezing the curriculum into government, history or other classes,” Burkes said. “Some rural schools in northwestern Oklahoma are just now getting started with the help of the Cherokee Nation Foundation.”

Clint LaRue, director for financial services at Oklahoma Christian University, said the many concepts  dealing with taxes and investing could be difficult for students in high school and below to adequately grasp.

“For students this young, you would have to have real-life examples that apply to them,” LaRue said. “It could be simple, just make it relevant to them. Talk to students about different investing options once they are 18 years old.

You could explain to them what could happen to their money if they started investing now and see how much they have after 30 years.”

Although the concepts could be challenging for students, Missionary in Residence Kent Hartman, who teaches the Personal and Family Finance course at Oklahoma Christian, said learning a few basics could help prepare high school students for college.

“I think 9th-12th grades would be the ideal age to start teaching about finances,” Hartman said. “Students should understand the very basics. For example, if you take money in, you should probably not spend any more money than you are taking in. You should put some money away to let it grow.”

If he had a chance to teach the courses, Hartman said he would do it differently than the current assigned curriculum.

“I would teach the stdents the importance of organizing our finances so we can take care of our families,” Hartman said. “If the teachers could help the students learn how to budget their money, not to go into excessive debt and keep their debt levels down, then that would be a good skill for them to have for the rest of their lives.”

Sophomore Mahya Inoue said high school students could benefit from the new financial curriculum.

“It would be very helpful for high school students to take the class, because a lot of people have debts when they get into college,” Inoue said. “It would help these students if they knew something about their personal finances.”

According to Hartman, learning starts from the home, and parents should be teaching their children the concepts of savings instead of spending more than they earn.

“The ideal plan is God wants people to teach their children how to live,” Hartman said. “In an ideal world, Christian parents would teach their children how to use their money the right way. We don’t live in an ideal world and a lot of parents don’t know how to handle money wisely, so how can they pass it on to their children?”

If students in high school or college are not taught how to properly handle their finances, according to Hartman, they could face a financial ruin that could be a very painful firsthand  experience for them.

“The unfortunate thing is that a lot of people will be taught about money the hard way,” Hartman said. “They will learn because they will take out these loans even though they cannot pay it. They will either have their possessions taken away from them, or they will be in lots of trouble. So you learn one way or the other. The best way to learn is someone teaching you and you are practicing that.”

While some parents are practicing healthy and stable financial lives for their children to imitate, LaRue said the parents who are not  could be sending their children on a path to debt.

“We see some students whose parents have planned financially, and we see lots of students who have taken after wise spending habits of their parents and they are in healthy situations financially,” LaRue said. “But many times, parents with bad spending or budgeting habits have kids who will most likely develop the same bad habits.”

Parents and teachers should be aware of the responsibility they have to guide their children and  students, according to Inoue.

“Children are watching how their own parents handle their own finances,” Inoue said. “If parents want their children to have a basic understanding of how to handle money in a healthy way, parents need to set good examples for their children.”

Oklahoma Christian is making an effort to provide the necessary tools to help students plan and manage their own student loans while they are in school

“We offer SALT, which has tools for managing your money, investing and banking and keeping track of student loans,” LaRue said. “We want students to be able to be very aware of what they are borrowing.”

Mary Hunt, the national bestselling author of “Debt Proof Living,” will be coming to Oklahoma Christian in October 2014 to talk about her experience with living in debt, and the importance of getting out of debt.