What Schools Get Wrong About Personal Finance

Mrethi Magesh

August 8th, 2025

Despite my ongoing love for economics and being savvy with my dollars, I regretfully must say that the most monotonous hours of my life were spent in my high school personal finance course. The average public school student’s experience with personal finance consists of trying to keep your eyes open in the back of the class, cautiously avoiding paper cuts from heaves of packets, and finally completing the class at the end of the semester…just to realize that the only thing you remember is playing “Papa’s Pizzeria” on your Chromebook.

Personal finance knowledge is crucial for the future success of the next generation, and without it, we could be at risk for issues such as cyclical poverty, higher debt rates, widened gender wealth gaps, and the societal reinforcement of financial illiteracy. This quiet crisis in education is due to outdated systems ignoring modern realities. 

1.  Most High School PF Courses are Less Than a Semester Long

I took personal finance during summer school over a 5 week period. There, crucial information was crammed into a rigidly structured curriculum which provided for a disorganized and unclear understanding of key concepts. If schools gave personal finance the importance it deserves by expanding the course duration or offering fresh classes like the newly launched “AP Personal Finance”, we could live to see a day where financial literacy is viewed as a liberty instead of a liability.

2.  The Overcomplication of Simple Concepts

As a student, I can confidently say that sometimes it feels like schools make subjects hard just because they like watching the bags under our eyes grow heavier. However, this should not be the case with basic personal finance: a class that should be accessible for all. One weakness of the standard curriculum is that it is focused on theory rather than real life-application. Instead of giving us abstract terms like liquidity ratios or mortgage amortization on their own, instructors should explain these concepts in tandem with decisions students actually face. We should advocate to cut the overly technical jargon and replace it with experiential learning that actually sticks, creating an environment where students can learn advanced concepts without feeling lost.

3. Outdated Resources

According to the EDUCAUSE 2023 Student Experience Survey, 74% of students reported being more engaged when instructors used active learning strategies, compared to those who relied solely on passive lectures. Yet when we look inside many modern-day classrooms, contemporary teaching methods are still overshadowed by piles of lackluster packets and textbooks last updated in the 1990s. As the world of online banking, budgeting, and saving continues to evolve rapidly, we must also prioritize keeping the syllabus up to date. Ensuring that students stay informed about the current economic landscape through innovative tools is the only way to give future generations a fair chance at cultivating lasting wealth.

What We Can Do About It

While we continue to push for educational reform, it's important to recognize these issues and take action into our own hands. My experience with the standard personal finance curriculum left me uninspired—but it doesn’t have to be that way.

I created HER Finance to inspire young girls to take control of their financial futures early and fight back against the oppressive gender imbalances in the world of finance. Here, we put the packets aside and prioritize real-life experience through engaging case studies, immersive concept-themed games, leadership development, and a student-friendly curriculum that eliminates dry clutter. At HER Finance, we are committed to providing exciting, accessible opportunities for all through our workshops and consistently updated Google Classroom, social media platforms, and blog: keeping kids money-wise both in and out of the classroom. Through our program, we tackle the holes in our schools’ syllabi head-on and ensure that the next generation is equipped to thrive financially.

Because when we empower students with financial literacy, we don't just change bank accounts, we change lives.

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Citations

2023 Students and Technology Report: Flexibility, Choice, and Equity in the Student Experience.” Library.educause.edu, 1 Jan. 1AD