Coming from one of the so-called third world nation, having financial literacy taught at school is a wishful thinking. However, I remain hopeful that curriculum at school will greatly adapt overtime as more leaders exposed to globalization and different approaches to education. Why do I think financial literacy is important?
Money is survival. The money I am referring to is not only in the conservative sense but also in broader sense-- exchange from A to B. Knowing how to manage this valuable means of exchange will greatly help your survival long term. School so far, rarely teach us practical skill that we can use in our daily life. Every knowledge that we receive is a mere theories, not that I say they are not useful, only many educators are not encouraging us to try and learn the practical ways from the knowledge.
We got out from school without even remembering what was taught. Then, as we enter the adulthood we are struggling to recall some of the important things that we learn from our childhood to teenage days. Often, we have to re-learn some of the skills, including how to manage money.
Managing money goes beyond number. It includes how to make the right decision, knowing how to take risk and also how to control our emotions. If financial literacy is taught at early age, it would be much easier for many of us to stop being broke. Remember broke does not equal as poor.
Broke is a situation where someone lives from paycheck to paycheck. Meanwhile poor is lacking money that is considered comfortable by society. Poor is subjective depending on the particular society. Whereas broke, it's not subjective, it even correlates with "poorness" because eventually we don't have any means to live comfortably.
Back when I was student, I was not taught the importance of managing money. I spent pretty much 4 years struggling how to weigh risks and stick to the budget. I finally learned that if I taught about money and budgeting earlier, that would really help me save from brokeness during my adulthood.
I also just finished a conversation with 15 years old who told me it would beneficial to have financial literacy taught at school. For her, it was because knowing how to manage money would help her to allocate her monthly allowance better.
But again, financial literacy goes beyond budgeting. Children should be taught about investments and the importance of saving. Everything can start with teaching the basic idea of what money is apart from its conservative meaning.
