Smithsonian in Washington, DC courtesy of donny-wise.com

In a consumption society, the 2008 credit failure has altered the spending habits of all Americans including the death of mega consumption economy, which accounts for 70% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The collapse in property prices, job market collapse, and the collapse in the stock market were catastrophic to the finances of the consumer. The banks are being an advocate of immediate profits in lieu of the moral responsibility to the economic literacy and health of the community. Banks provided easy money, no win loan products, and services to rake in fee income. Banks are regrouping from credit losses and the tightening of existing credit in closing or reduction on credit cards, equity lines, and business credit lines and issuance of new credit to all borrowers including creditworthy business and consumers. The tide of easy money is not available in the post crisis world. The consequence of a post debt gorge is consumer whose are debt rich and savings poor. The attitude on finance is a contributing factor to the current economic mess in America.

Since the onset of 1980, American high school students were graduating to attend college with classes in Calculus, Physics, Chemistry, and Foreign Languages. The exclusion of personal finance managing, investing, and borrowing money  is a cataclysm in the current failure to teach the  most fundamental skills to be successful in an American economy. The current education system believes sex education is paramount to teach children about the impact of sex in life, but personal finance has a higher impact in consequence. Education leadership has strong passions about allowing sexual education in the classroom. Where is the passion over financial literacy in the school system? The cost of forgoing the education process in personal finance and relationship management is a consequence of creating a financial destitute and servitude society where poverty, starvation, and economic collapse are inevitable. What benefit are condoms when financial ruin is across the land?

This excerpt is from President Obama about sex-aged appropriate education including kindergarten:

Obama first noted that he had worked with Planned Parenthood to push a sex education bill when he served in the Illinois state legislature.

Then he said: “I remember Alan Keyes—I ran against Alan Keyes—but I remember him using this in his campaign against me, saying, ‘Barack Obama supports teaching sex education to kindergartners.

“And you know,” said Obama, “I didn’t know what to tell him. But it is the right thing to do, to provide age-appropriate sex education, science-based sex education in the schools.”

ABCNews.com published a story about what Obama told Planned Parenthood. It carried the headline: “Sex Ed for Kindergartners ‘Right Thing to Do,’ Says Obama.”

Where is the passion to implement curriculum in the schools for financial literacy? The age appropriate sex education is more important than to teach children to save, understand credit, and engage in business ownership fairs in school and graduate financially educated about the modern world. The upside down nature is the cause of our school system falling behind,  and the teenager is not held by something in high school that he or she needs. They do not teach money in school.

As a result, the missing financial education curriculum in education is a negative impact across many demographics. The consumer is unaware of the legal rights and protection available under the federal and state regulatory structure of the financial system. The result is the consumer who has been the dutiful steward of account management, savings, and borrowing to provide a balance to be financially secure in everyday life, but this consumer is human with life events beyond control including identity theft, divorce, and bank errors. What is a consumer to do without any advocate in a partner to inform and assist in this matter? The advocate and partner being the banking industry, and the current relationship vacuum are producing dire consequences for all consumers, communities, and the real economy.

In conclusion, the engagement is more for kindergarten to receive sex education. What about the schools taking the financial literacy crisis as seriously? The education system would be forced to approach this in a more interactive and individual basis but aggregate in meeting goals in financial literacy. That is a difficult pill for the education system to swallow. The teaching of financial literacy does begin in the household in theory, but the teacher(guardian) at home is financially challenged(many times)  to teach the young person the basics before the education system takes command of the curriculum.

Related articles