Teach students capitalism

©Beaver County Times Allegheny Times 2007, 08 August 2007, page A6

All students have the ability to learn. However, not all students want to learn.

Not pointed out in Monday's "Ambridge adds financial literacy to curriculum" article was that many youngsters in fourth through 10th grades cannot relate to the importance of saving and planning.

Many students (families) don't have enough money to pay for the basic necessities of life.

Saving money is not an option when living from paycheck to paycheck. Balancing a checkbook is not a pleasant thought when you don't have enough money to buy food, clothing or to pay for other daily necessities.

Students in public schools really need to learn about capitalism.
Capital is money.
Money is capital.
Like it or not, we live in a society based on money.

How do you make the money needed to buy food, clothing and pay for the necessities of life?

According to the Census Bureau, a person's level of education is considered to be a predictor of earnings. On average, the more education, the greater the potential earnings. This is true for blacks, Hispanics, whites, Croatians, Greeks, Italians, Jews, Serbians, etc.

As a high school accounting and business teacher, I always taught my students, "The more education you have, the more money you make, the less work you do. If you want to be successful, earn a bachelor of art/science degree or better."

Before teaching students how to save money and balance a checkbook, we need to teach students at a very early age how to get the right education needed for that good-paying job so they can make money that they will need in this economy based on money.

If a student can see the light at the end of the tunnel, that student will then be more interested in learning how to save money and how to balance a checkbook.

Nikola "Nick" Drobac
Aliquippa

http://www.timesonline.com/site/index.cfm?newsid=18672929&BRD=2305&PAG=461&dept_id=478569&rfi=8

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Ambridge adds financial literacy to curriculum
Larissa Theodore - Times Staff, 05 August 2007, page A1

AMBRIDGE - If nothing is done to prevent it, Bill Long believes Generation Y is bound to make unwise financial decisions.

Because while teens and tweens are learning to read and write in school, many aren't learning the value of money or the consequence of overspending, he said. They also tend to pick up spending habits from their parents, who don't always lend the best example.

"You don't know what you don't know," said Long, program manager at the Moon Township-based office of Operation Hope. "But you can take charge of your life by taking charge of your finances."

This is why the national non-profit group Operation Hope, headquartered in Los Angeles, has been spreading its message of financial literacy to school children for 15 years, and this fall, the program is coming to Beaver County.

Founded by John Bryant, Operation Hope's economic counseling program, "Banking On Our Future," aims to bring economic self-sufficiency to America's underserved communities. Financial illiteracy has become a huge problem in America, where consumer debt - which includes credit cards and car loans - had reached $2.17 trillion in April 2006, according the Federal Reserve.

This fall in the Ambridge Area School District, fourth- through sixth-graders in 11 classrooms at Highland Elementary will learn financial basics so that they can properly manage the money they earn.

"Everybody has a stake in their own financial future," Long said. "We want to impact kids behaviors in terms of money."

Holly Heinrich, program coordinator, said she remembers having to take a wood shop class in school where she made bookends and a clock, a skill she never found a use for.

"But nobody ever showed me how to balance my checkbook," Heinrich said.

Long said the program, which has been set up in 18 major cities, including Pittsburgh, will put nine volunteers from the Ambridge business community into the classroom and teach youth the basics of checking and saving accounts, the importance credit and investment can have on daily life.

"Earning money is not easy," Long said. "Holding onto some of it is crucial."

And knowing the basics of finance is empowerment, especially in today's culture of immediate gratification, of "buy now and pay later," and of bankruptcy and living paycheck to paycheck.

Long said "Banking on Our Future" helps youngsters in fourth through 12th grades understand the importance of saving and planning, which could have a direct impact on their commitment to the future. He said they tell students, "You can have some of your wants, but you can't have them all."

In the long run, Long said, they hope lessons will also percolate into the home, and youngsters can teach their parents how to balance their checkbooks or dispel a prevalent myth that banks are evil.

While Operation Hope plans to begin its financial literacy education in Ambridge, the group hopes to expand into New Brighton, Rochester, Aliquippa, Midland and possibly Monaca.

Larissa Theodore can be reached online at ltheodore@timesonline.com.

©Beaver County Times Allegheny Times 2007

http://www.timesonline.com/site/index.cfm?newsid=18666993&BRD=2305&PAG=461&dept_id=478569&rfi=8

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