One of the most important things a young American needs to know is how to protect themselves from financial disaster,  yet a class on financial responsibility is not required in most,  if not all, of America's classrooms. I want to make sure that every high school student has the opportunity to learn how to be a financially responsible citizen. Help me tell the Department of Education that they should work with state commissioners of education to develop personal finance education standards for high schools. Help me also tell the Department of Education and states to offer a personal finance course in high schools.

My name is Tanvee Patankar and I am a 15 year old high school freshman. I want to be able to use science and entrepreneurial tactics to solve global issues. To do this, I know I need understanding of business, science, math, as well as finance. In high school, we can take US History, Calculus, World Literature, and Government to satisfy the graduation requirements, but what we don't have to take is a personal finance course that will help us prepare for adult life.  To me this is a gap in our educational system that urgently needs to be filled. 

One day, I noticed  my mom doing the bills. I decided to look over her shoulder, out of curiosity. I was blown away, I had no idea such things could be so complicated, numbers and interest rates, percentages and charges, credit cards and loans. It was as if it were in a foreign language. It all seemed so complicated. And, just like that, it hit me. I have no idea how to do bills. I had no idea how to manage loans, choose the right insurance or what a mortgage was. That got me thinking, if I don’t know how to do all this stuff, chances are neither does anyone else my age. But isn’t it incredibly important to learn how to handle personal finances?  

After talking to my mother and doing a bit of research I realized just how life changing it could be if teens could learn how to handle their personal finances in school. The average credit score for ages 18-24 is from 630-643, which is the lowest credit score out of all the age brackets. Something clearly needs to be done about this, and the easiest way would be to each high school students how to handle bills, loans, insurance, etc. properly. If teens don’t learn how to handle personal finances, they can easily end up with huge financial problems early on just because they didn’t know what they were doing.  

PBS states that the purpose of school is to "prepare children for citizenship, cultivate a skilled workforce, and to help them compete in a global marketplace." In short, school is supposed to prepare its students for the "real world". Taxes, bills, insurance, and loans are a very real part of that world. Spending some time learning this in school leaves us in control of our financial future. Recently countries like the UK and Australia have resolved or are seriously considering to teach their young adults how to be responsible financial citizens and I think the US should do the same.  

Help me ensure that America’s future generations are as prepared as possible when they enter the real world. Personally, I think that financial education should eventually become mandatory in high schools. To do this, I want to ask the Department of Education to develop personal finance standards. I also want a course on personal finance be offered in high schools.  

If you are interested please watch my TEDxYouth talk above

Show your support by tweeting about this issue using the hashtag #pfinanceED

You can also tweet at me @TanveePatankar