How to pay bills now a public school requirement in Louisiana - Polidicks

[QUOTE]When public school students return to classrooms on Monday they will face a new, mandatory topic -- financial literacy. Under a 2016 state law, students will be taught the basics of money management, depending on age and grade. Topics expected to be taught include savings, banking, mortgages, investing, earning and how to buy a house. "A lot of kids, they get out and they haven't a clue," Reynolds said. The measure, House Bill 401, won Senate approval 36-0 and passed the House 90-0. "Under the law, students will have 12 years of personal financial instruction, from the first to 12th grades, with the goal of empowering them as confident, informed future consumers," Taylor wrote. Under the bill, teachers have to incorporate financial literacy into existing classes, such as math. Reynolds said he wants to see the impact of this year's law before deciding whether a half credit in financial literacy needs to be part of the curriculum.[/QUOTE] [URL="http://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/education/article_69d01eba-58cf-11e6-9709-97a6fc743d88.html"]Source[/URL]

12 years? Is it really beneficial to start in first grade already?

First grade might be a little early but this isn't a bad idea. If anything it'll give kids some important skills that they'll need.

Probably start off with how to count money or something simplistic like that. I doubt they're filing taxes in first grade lol. But this is neat. Wish I had this growing up.

This is ridiculously important My parents didn't teach me how to do finances and I could of got settled a couple of years earlier if I had been taught how to budget well in school

[QUOTE=Pascall;50853959]Probably start off with how to count money or something simplistic like that. I doubt they're filing taxes in first grade lol. But this is neat. Wish I had this growing up.[/QUOTE] "So kids, you've got to remember to give your P45 to your new employer, for tax reasons. It's also useful if you want to claim back tax mid way through the tax year - Yes Jimmy? No, thats a P46."

I don't know how nobody is taught this in school. It's so important. All my friends just ask someone else to do their taxes or something, like an accountant.

Eh i wasnt taught anything in school and i pay all of my bills on time. Just dont spend it on stupid shit. All of my bills are sent to my email. But most people i know are scraping by because they cant control themselves so i guess this is a good thing.

Remember when Home Ec, Shop and the like were still around to teach real life skills instead of just filling out that DoE checklist quota for each student (Because its a shame such classes are slowly being phased out)? Now is more important than ever, albeit maybe starting too early.

Huh. This is already a requirement in Alabama (at least in Montgomery) and was tied into the 12th grade economics class.

More people should be taught this, It's just a useful skill.

Taxes must be difficult in America because tax in Sweden is pretty simple, at least only when you account for income from your job. Tax is pulled before you get paid, then once every year you have to look at your tax paid the last year and double-check that it's correct. It's only when you account for stuff like revenue from stocks that it can get a bit mucky.

[QUOTE=LoneWolf_Recon;50854023]Remember when Home Ec, Shop and the like were still around to teach real life skills instead of just filling out that DoE checklist quota for each student? Now is more important than ever, albeit maybe starting too early.[/QUOTE] I dunno about you but a lot of the people I went to high school with who took trade classes ended up in those trades. Even my sister took home ec and culinary classes and she's about to finish culinary school.

I just remembered I'll actually have to file my taxes this year :dead: At least it would most likely be the 1040ez, which is most likely the forum they're going to be teaching them how to file [thumb]http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ajxdS6VPWk4/Vgl-jsx-3wI/AAAAAAAAAJc/oy85YfAGp0I/s1600/cooperecon-fig03_004.jpg[/thumb]

[QUOTE=Propane Addict;50854225]I dunno about you but a lot of the people I went to high school with who took trade classes ended up in those trades. Even my sister took home ec and culinary classes and she's about to finish culinary school.[/QUOTE] Don't get me wrong, what I'm trying to say is that its a shame such classes are dwindling and aren't as commonplace.

Instead of introducing all of these "life lesson" courses, I think there should just be an overlying tone in schools encouraging students to ask questions like these. Because when I'm putting things into perspective, the problem for me at least is that I didn't [I]care[/I] about learning of those kinds of things when I was young, never even thought of them. Schools just need to encourage kids to take more interest in their future beyond "whats my career gonna be".

I just find it funny how back in senior school here in Australia, you were taught about financial maths in the General Mathematics course (which is the intermediate level course - the lower level alternative of Applied Maths was pretty much for special needs kids). However people such as myself who wanted to get into university instead studied the higher course, Advanced Mathematics - where we never touched on financial maths. Fuck load of calculus and other shit I can't remember, but nothing practical like that. We did touch on income tax in like Year 9, for literally one hour, but in hindsight as someone who has studied accounting for four years at university, the way they taught it was absolute rubbish. I can't really blame people for saying 'huh so I paid $7,000 in tax last year, why am I only getting a $500 tax return???' (I did actually see this on Facebook), because they were never taught how taxes actually work. Edit: What schools really need to do in Year 12 is instead of forcing students to do an English course where you learn things like the concept of 'belonging', there should be a course which focuses on teaching students how to be an adult: How taxes work, how to do financial maths and budgeting, how voting works, how government works, how to just be a productive member of society. People often say 'that should be the responsibility of the parents' but the parents often sure as shit don't have a clue either.

[QUOTE=HybridTheroy;50854319]Instead of introducing all of these "life lesson" courses, I think there should just be an overlying tone in schools encouraging students to ask questions like these. Because when I'm putting things into perspective, the problem for me at least is that I didn't [I]care[/I] about learning of those kinds of things when I was young, never even thought of them. Schools just need to encourage kids to take more interest in their future beyond "whats my career gonna be".[/QUOTE] And I think that can be done by full on projects that can be taught in said classes. Back in my HS economics class, we had a fairly lengthy project that involved financial budgeting, researching starting salaries for the occupation we would like to end up in, paying for necessities and the like. We were even thrown curve balls like paying off a finite amount of student debt while countering interest rates.

I wish schools taught more utilitarian stuff like this but nah, gotta know how housefly zygote DNA is affected by the genes of the parents, that's important to know and I definitely will use that info later in life.

[QUOTE=nox;50854357]I wish schools taught more utilitarian stuff like this but nah, gotta know how housefly zygote DNA is affected by the genes of the parents, that's important to know and I definitely will use that info later in life.[/QUOTE] You will, every time someone tries to sell you some bullshit dna cure you can see straight through their scam. Id prefer if they focus on stuff like how to start your own business, how to run a business, how to hire staff what are staff rights etc... thing is thats a pipe dream, so yea

Holy shit I wish we were taught this in the UK, unless we are and my school just didn't.

i took an economics class in middle school where we were taught how to manage money, do taxes, etc. some of the shit i learned in there i still use my high school also had a money skills class, tho i never took it. i think it'd be great if it was mandatory

I'm absolutely all for this, especially when it comes to mortgages. Although it actually went fairly quick and easily in the end, when I purchased my condo 7 months ago it was probably the most confusing and at times stressful shit I had gone through in a while. Luckily my mother who is a landlord and multiple property owner was in my corner showing me the ropes, someone on their own would have a nightmare with all the legal jargon and countless forms to sign and email. Things like smart credit card utilization, checkbook balancing and overall money management are key skills and I'm glad to see schools are finally taking notice. Too many people graduate high school and college with not necessarily the wrong skills, but not enough of the knowledge of these real world need-to-know things to keep yourself afloat. sort of related, half the people I work with don't even know how to use mobile banking. Granted I'm no saint, I still buy stupid shit. But I'm able to space out my money very well when I know I have things like Health Insurance, Phone Bill etc. coming down the pike. My only regret is that like others have said, I wish had this taught to me early on so I had a head start after graduating.

i think more schools need to offer a "planning for the future" class. it'd have a money skills section, like how to budget, pay taxes, etc., how to apply for college/tech school/jobs/scholarships, maybe teaching about moving out and living on your own, shit like that

^ These are all the kinds of things our parents/caretakers are supposed to teach us.

[QUOTE=nox;50854357]I wish schools taught more utilitarian stuff like this but nah, gotta know how housefly zygote DNA is affected by the genes of the parents, that's important to know and I definitely will use that info later in life.[/QUOTE] School isn't just about what's useful to you. Schools teach things that are important to know about and understand, and also teach you how to think critically. They're there to give everyone a basic understanding of how the world works so that we don't end up with a society full of idiots.

[QUOTE=Sir Whoopsalot;50853941]12 years? Is it really beneficial to start in first grade already?[/QUOTE] Not like it has to be an hour every day, they can spend a day or a week on it and it'll still be effective. It's also something they can combine with mathematics to get the kids more interested since they'll know how it affects their day to day lives. A question on the homework could be something like "If Carlos has 2 $20 bills, 4 $5's, 7 $1, 3 dimes, 5 nickels, and 13 pennies, how much money does Carlos have? Is it enough to buy a new bicycle? If not, how much more does he need?"

[QUOTE=Mango;50854608]^ These are all the kinds of things our parents/caretakers are supposed to teach us.[/QUOTE] We live in a world where people are constantly having less time for themselves Parents have to work and run errands for the house, the family and what have you [editline]9th August 2016[/editline] [QUOTE=Headhumpy;50854667]School isn't just about what's useful to you. Schools teach things that are important to know about and understand, and also teach you how to think critically. They're there to give everyone a basic understanding of how the world works so that we don't end up with a society full of idiots.[/QUOTE] Exactly People may complain all they want about "but knowing calculus isn't gonna do me any good since I wanna be a writer", but since we live in a democracy and we may be called to vote on issues, I want to know all I can to make a better decision Learning just 3 or 4 things is plain wrong because then you'll be missing out on so much stuff and you shouldn't be called to vote on it, but you are either way, so it's better to know all things you can

[QUOTE=Headhumpy;50854667]School isn't just about what's useful to you. Schools teach things that are important to know about and understand, and also teach you how to think critically. They're there to give everyone a basic understanding of how the world works so that we don't end up with a society full of idiots.[/QUOTE] I have a friend who was home schooled from 1st grade on, he's a nice guy and reasonably intelligent but you can tell he has a hard time when it comes to social interaction and problem solving. You may not always agree with whats being taught, but it'll prepare you for other things in ways you didn't expect.

[QUOTE=HybridTheroy;50854319]Instead of introducing all of these "life lesson" courses, I think there should just be an overlying tone in schools encouraging students to ask questions like these. Because when I'm putting things into perspective, the problem for me at least is that I didn't [I]care[/I] about learning of those kinds of things when I was young, never even thought of them. Schools just need to encourage kids to take more interest in their future beyond "whats my career gonna be".[/QUOTE] my highschool geo teacher would always encourage us to ask questions like that, he'd be happy sitting through the entire class answering all of our questions about taxes, careers, jobs, and life in general. was such a good guy.