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High School Seniors Get 'F' in Finance
The Associated Press ^ | April 9, 2008 | Jeannine Aversa

Posted on 04/09/2008 11:38:51 AM PDT by george76

Young people's financial know-how has gone from bad to worse.

High school seniors, on average, answered correctly only 48.3 percent of questions about personal finance and economics, according to a nationwide survey released Wednesday by the Federal Reserve.

That was even lower than the 52.4 percent in the previous survey in 2006 and marked the worst score out of the six surveys conducted so far.

With home foreclosures at record highs, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke stressed in a speech that young people must sharpen their financial knowledge so they are in a better position to make sound investment decisions throughout their lives.

"The financial preparedness of our nation's youth is essential to their well-being and of vital importance to our economic future," Bernanke said at the Fed event on financial literacy.

"In light of the problems that have arisen in the subprime mortgage market, we are reminded of how critically important it is for individuals to become financially literate at an early age so that they are better prepared to make decisions and navigate an increasingly complex financial marketplace," ...

(Excerpt) Read more at biz.yahoo.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: bernanke; highschool; public; publicschools; schools
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1 posted on 04/09/2008 11:38:52 AM PDT by george76
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To: Amelia; metmom; Grampa Dave; BIGLOOK

Maybe the high school kids could write off ( on their taxes ) the back seat as entertainment ?


2 posted on 04/09/2008 11:41:58 AM PDT by george76 (Ward Churchill : Fake Indian, Fake Scholarship, and Fake Art)
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To: george76

All they need to know they learn from ‘adults’: don’t bother acting responsibly, the government will bail you out.


3 posted on 04/09/2008 11:44:02 AM PDT by Swordfished
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To: george76
“The financial preparedness of our nation's youth is essential to their well-being and of vital importance to our economic future,” Bernanke said at the Fed event on financial literacy.

Yeah right. This will never be pushed in indoctrination centers..oops, I mean public schools. This is what the govt wants. More sheeple looking to them (govt) for “help”. Meanwhile the schools will concentrate on the really important things like diversity, global warming, etc.

4 posted on 04/09/2008 11:44:25 AM PDT by USMCGunnut (Be polite, be professional....but have a plan to kill everyone you meet.)
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To: george76

What is right and historical perspective are being replace with a sense of “fairness”.

We should take money and give to the poor because it is fair!
Oil companies make too much it is unfair!
People losing their homes is unfair government should protect them... etc etc

This is already a prevailing notion on the left but by the time my generation takes power it will be the mainstream view.


5 posted on 04/09/2008 11:44:47 AM PDT by Eyes Unclouded (We won't ever free our guns but be sure we'll let them triggers go....)
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To: Swordfished

Don’t even think that this is an accident.


6 posted on 04/09/2008 11:45:39 AM PDT by MrB (You can't reason people out of a position that they didn't use reason to get into in the first place)
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To: george76

It’s a shame we can’t get Bernanke to be economically literate about the inflationary consequences of easy credit.


7 posted on 04/09/2008 11:46:42 AM PDT by mywholebodyisaweapon
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To: george76

but they get A’s in applying condoms to a cucumber.


8 posted on 04/09/2008 11:52:03 AM PDT by Resolute Conservative
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To: Swordfished
All they need to know they learn from ‘adults’: don’t bother acting responsibly, the government will bail you out.

Sadly, that was my first thought as well.

9 posted on 04/09/2008 11:57:22 AM PDT by Puppage (You may disagree with what I have to say, but I shall defend to your death my right to say it)
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To: george76

The economy is in
A. The toilet
B. The sewer
C. The Marianas trench

The correct answer is C. Sweet, I passed econ.


10 posted on 04/09/2008 11:58:13 AM PDT by G8 Diplomat (Happy V-I Day! (Victory in Iraq))
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To: george76

I have been saying for years that the greatest tragedy of public education is the complete lack of personal finance and economics courses.

I can not help but think that their are only 2 possible reasons.

1. There is not anyone involved in education that has a clue.

2. There is a conspiracy on the part of the left to keep the masses uneducated in finance as personal wealth represents personal freedom and independence.


11 posted on 04/09/2008 12:01:06 PM PDT by Boiler Plate ("Why be difficult, when with just a little more work, you can be impossible" Mom)
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To: george76

In a free market economy, young people should be taught how to invest and manage their money. I’ve always believed the poorest students might show more interest in their studies if their studies taught them how to become wealthy. :-)


12 posted on 04/09/2008 12:07:49 PM PDT by Tired of Taxes (Dad, I will always think of you.)
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To: george76

As a former teacher (most recently in ‘04-’05) it’s clear to me that there are three huge reasons for this, all of which are related, in order of importance:

1. Breakdown of traditional family
2. Kids follow the examples of their parents’ generation
3. No Child Left Behind is destroying mathematics education

Many of you may disagree with the third point; as a conservative in public education, I must warn all of you that each year the tests become easier and less relevant to real life while the amount of time teachers are required to spend “teaching to the test” increases. Pretty soon, students will go to school for seven hours a day, five days a week, to prepare them for one three-day multiple choice test. That’s SAD.


13 posted on 04/09/2008 12:07:56 PM PDT by AuH2O-1980 ("A strong body makes the mind strong. As to the species of exercises, I advise the gun." -Jefferson)
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To: Tired of Taxes
That's a good idea! I graduated from h.s. in 1963 and I don't remember any teaching of finances at all. Maybe things have changed since then, but from what I hear, they're not teaching it now either.

Carolyn

14 posted on 04/09/2008 12:09:56 PM PDT by CDHart ("It's too late to work within the system and too early to shoot the b@#$%^&s."--Claire Wolfe)
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To: Boiler Plate

I’ve been saying the same for years, and everyone around me laughs at the idea. (Go figure.) I wish I were taught more about personal finance and investments in school. I’d say your number 2 reason is the real reason.


15 posted on 04/09/2008 12:10:43 PM PDT by Tired of Taxes (Dad, I will always think of you.)
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To: Resolute Conservative
"but they get A’s in applying condoms to a cucumber"

Image and video hosting by TinyPic
Hey, that don't work. I put a condom in a cucumber every time I had sex and my girl still got pregnant.

16 posted on 04/09/2008 12:13:21 PM PDT by Old Seadog (Inside every old person is a young person saying "WTF happened?".)
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To: george76

No wonder the Democrat party operatives think they can convince these “new to the process” voters to go their way.

It also explains why so many young people think Obama is great.


17 posted on 04/09/2008 12:19:59 PM PDT by Recovering_Democrat ((I am SO glad to no longer be associated with the party of Dependence on Government!))
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To: CDHart

I graduated in ‘82. They weren’t requiring it then, either. Classes probably do have lessons in personal finance, but not one whole course covering real estate, banking, everything.


18 posted on 04/09/2008 12:22:28 PM PDT by Tired of Taxes (Dad, I will always think of you.)
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To: george76; All

Makes me glad that my parents sacrificed as much as they did for me to attend a parochial school...


19 posted on 04/09/2008 12:59:33 PM PDT by stefanbatory
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To: george76
I wonder if they teach 'Enron-WorldCon' finance & accounting concepts (approved by the late Arthur Anderson Accounting firm) known to the old Enron 'Smartest Guys In The Room' as 'Mark-to-Market' where debts are easily transformed into assets with the stroke of a pen...

When the Fed tells me there's no inflation yet gas is almost $4/gallon...and the Whole Foods Market is becoming known as the 'Whole Paycheck Market'...I begin to wonder if the reason there's "no inflation" is because the plummeting home prices are balancing out the humongous increases in energy & food & other consumables...

The other possibility is that these students aren't given enough time to answer ALL the questions (that's how it was for me back in the ought-60s) so they're just GUESSING at the more troublesome questions. If those finance questions happened to be True-False, then they're actually doing just as would be expected coming in at around 50%...

20 posted on 04/09/2008 1:17:06 PM PDT by O Neill (Aye, Katie Scarlett, the ONLY thing that lasts is the land...)
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