Gianna Trala ‘23
Clare Collins ‘23
The recent GameStop scandal, which flooded social media outlets and news sources with information about the economy, left students very confused. However, these headlines left many people, specifically students, confused. What are hedge funds? What is a short? What even is the stock market?
The GameStop crisis is just one reason that EA should have units in financial literacy beginning in Lower School to ensure that students are educated in making responsible, smart monetary decisions and are informed about global and national economic events. Schools tend to skip over basic, yet crucial life skills, such as paying taxes and managing money properly. As stated in an article by New York Times explaining the recent increase in education regarding financial management, “High school students in 21 states must now take a personal finance course in order to graduate.”
Although more and more states are beginning to require a course about finances, EA has yet to join the movement. By introducing a financial literacy course to the EA curriculum, students would be more knowledgeable about the economy and would understand how the decisions they make in their teen years can greatly affect their life later on.
Financial literacy is critical for students, simply due to the fact that beginning in college, students will live on their own and must begin making many important financial decisions. Dr. Adam Lavallee, AP Economics teacher, claims that these decisions may come far sooner than college graduation. He notes, “The decisions that you make when you’re 15, 16, 17, 18 impact you throughout your entire life. I tell a lot of students that if they start investing and saving properly, then, by the time they are in their 30s and 40s, they don’t have to do ‘catch-up saving’ because they’ve been saving all along.”
EA students agree upon the confusing nature of the economy and the stock market, and various students concur that this is a topic they would like to learn more about. Jimmy Bruder ‘21 comments, “Financial literacy is an extremely important topic for people to know in order to have a productive future. To know how the stock market works, how to budget, and how to pay taxes is really important for any person to know, and to be able to learn them at a young age is an opportunity that can set many people up for success early in their careers.” Tracy Rosenberg ‘21 took the summer financial literacy class and says “It was really helpful. I liked that we learned a lot of real world stuff that was posed in a relatable way.”
Although the benefits of the class are overwhelmingly agreed upon, the actual class itself should be incorporated into current courses, as the odds of students signing up for an entire class on financial literacy are not favorable. Lavallee admits, “I think getting students interested is the number one piece and is probably why I would advocate for it to be integrated into courses that already exist.”
Students agree, due to the fact that EA’s credit requirements and additional academic interests create incredibly busy schedules so the idea of taking a new course on finances might not pose much interest. Kevin Landaiche ‘23 remarks, “I think it should be implemented into other classes.” More specifically, Louis Beardell ‘23 suggests, “It seems like it should be a unit in a life skills class.” With incorporation into existing courses, students and teachers believe financial literacy can become a requirement for students while also keeping in mind their workload.
This plethora of opinions from the Episcopal student body and teachers reveals that financial literacy is an incredibly crucial skill to have and hone, and the sooner one starts learning about it, the better. EA should begin to implement basic topics regarding personal finance beginning in Lower School and gradually increase the difficulty by Upper School, so that after graduation, students have a sound understanding of how to manage their money and maybe this will mean we will be able to send our own kids to EA.