Brett Nelson’s blog titled “Financial Illiteracy is Killing Us” highlights the U.S’s growing debt crisis and his conclusion that our “rotting” education system is what has ultimately led us to this problem. While I do agree that the public’s knowledge of personal finance/debt is saddening (as witnessed by the recent mortgage collapse), I do not fully agree that the educational system is all to blame. My positions are:
- Other factors have contributed to the financial illiteracy such as the loss of structure and guidance in the household. More children than ever are living in single parent households especially ones with no fathers who traditionally were the breadwinners and handled the finances. Or single parents (mothers or fathers) who are working hard to “just get by” and may not feel they are experts on saving, debt management or credit themselves. The fact is that children today are just not seeing enough of the positive examples needed for long term success.
- Education by way of school cannot be the only solution because that does not include the large percentage of Americans that do not go to college or even finish HS. This group still needs to be informed right? They’re able to get credit, loans and bank accounts too. Plus, their chances of defaulting may be higher because of limited job opportunities and less money. I believe the government and the financial institutions should do more to educate the public by simply having more information available at little or no cost to us: internet, TV programming, etc. and by greater transparency.
- The poor economy has definitely contributed to the growing debt even by fiscally knowledgeable people. The recession and extremely high unemployment has led ordinarily responsible people to carry higher debt, make late payments or simply walk away from their responsibilities.
I also question Mr. Nelson’s reasoning that the financial education system is “rotting”. To me, this would mean that we had a strong way to teach our children about finances but it is now in decline. From what I know, The U.S has never had an across the board curriculum focusing on the subject but better late than never..
Yes, financial illiteracy is killing us but the bigger problem is the disconnect we’ve developed between personal responsibility vs social responsibility. We ended up here in part because some didn’t think about the “whole” only the “self”. So, my question is: can education cure greed or indifference??
