Money, It's a Gas

I originally wasn't going to publish this blog today. But, something a student teacher said at lunch made me believe maybe now is the time. She said she tries really hard as a college student to not spend money, not even on a Coke at McDonald's. She also said she heard a major economist is touring the U.S. discussing the bankruptcy we will all be in, if we don't stop spending money, including the federal government. So, here goes...

Maybe the Pink Floyd classic "Money" should be reworded for this generation from "money, it's a gas" to "money, it's for gas." It seems to be what "fuels" our economy these days, at least partially. (And if you are a conspiracy theory enthusiast, you will know that many say gas is why teenagers are facing more restrictions on getting a drivers' license! see Chrissie's last blog)

Truly, many teenagers work long hours for a little bit of gas money. Many also make their car payments and/or pay for their car insurance. More kids have cars now than ever before and car pooling is almost unheard of nowadays. Case in point, there are two more student parking lots now at MHS than there were 15 years ago.

But, how many are saving their hard earned dollars for college or other post secondary education? Maybe more importantly, how many of us have saved enough for our children's college education? We are, after all, the first example of fiscal fitness.

Americans are not savers, it's true. And, while we are the wealthiest nation on the planet, we are also fiscally undereducated and often irresponsible. Technology education has replaced business education in the past two decades. Once classes in accounting and personal finance were common, but now they are non-existent. They have gone the way of business law or street law and mock court activities, representative student council with homeroom reps, and all the other things that have traditionally instilled our brand of democracy-cum-capitalism into our progeny.

There are some common, but highly important things about money your teen should know, but how he is supposed to learn them in this age of No Child Left Behind, I don't know. Schools are so focused on passing end-of-instruction tests that there is little time left to learn how to balance a checkbook, figure amortization or interest income, fill out an IRS form, or make a budget. These are not only necessary life skills, but understanding them, especially how to balance a budget or live on the money one has, will help a teen tough it out through college 'til the end, degree in hand.

Many parents feel that if a child is working, the money should be his. True, but only to an extent. If you have not opened a savings account for your child already, go with your teen to open one now and insist that part of his money goes into savings. I always love it when Jay Merriman speaks to my advanced Latin students about investments. He passes out a sliding scale showing how much a person could have after so many years of regular deposits into a savings instrument. The kids are amazed to see just how much money they could amass, if they would only discipline themselves to save. Michelle Singletary ("The Color of Money") is a huge proponent of teaching a teen to save in our era of spend, spend, spend.

And then there is the question of a checking account and a debit card. If your teen is irresponsible, a debit card may be out of the question. That $1.50 Big Gulp bought on a whim at the convenience store that overdraws his checking account will end up costing $26.50 - an expensive lesson to learn, especially if it has to be learned over and over and over again.

And, if you land just above the OHLAP college tuition program, but just under actually being able to afford paying cash to have a child in college, then student loans will be a huge issue. Borrowing too much, paying loans back on time, and loan consolidation all require educated decisions. Who wants their child to begin life in a quagmire of debt? And that doesn't even count the number of credit card applications that arrive in the mail daily for students beginning at the end of their high school career. Tear them up!

But, in the school of hard knocks, where evidently many people get their education about finance, there are alot of costly lessons to be learned. The school of hard knocks doesn't believe in No Child Left Behind. Most lessons there are experiential, but one is purely spiritual. All of it, the debit cards, savings accounts, car payments, and college tuition loans share one common skill: self-discipline. If we really want No Child Left Behind, we will instill good discipline habits in our children on every level.

Just yesterday on NPR, an economics professor from Princeton predicted that this current American economy will take a generation to rework as America finds a new foothold in a different market. A generation. If a generation is 20 years, then that means my children will be in their 40's before American entrepreneurialism reinvents itself wholly. While we are busy teaching and reteaching math, science, English and American History over and over again so that we can pass high school tests once considered common knowledge to even the worst high school student, our creativity and business savvy slide further down the hole.

Mayor Wren Stratton called on our city businessmen/women for help by instituting the Junior Achievement Program at the 7th and 8th Grade Center and Muskogee High School. It is a component of our 21st Century After School Program, but it is contingent upon the volunteer services of local business people. This is a way to put business education back into the public schools, albeit after hours.

If we don't do something on a personal, school, and City level to help our teens understand economics, business, finance and develop the self-discipline needed to be successful, it won't just be no child left behind, but it could be all children, and the adults they will become, who will be left behind.