Thanks to Jessica Ellwood of Southold Jr./Sr. High School (NY) for reaching out via LinkedIn to share Nikolas's term paper on the financial literacy crisis. 

Students get it when it comes to the importance, impact and urgency of this course. We have seen it in hearings across the country, where students eloquently and passionately make the case for ALL students to benefit from a personal finance course. And now. you can read it in Nikolas' heavily researched and passionately crafted call to action. 

In the paper, Nikolas traces the history of financial education in schools which has waxed and waned in importance over the years. He highlights examples of states that have adopted standards of what should be taught in the class. He delves into the research to find positive impacts of financial education and closes with possible solutions to this crisis. 

His conclusion is a clarion call to educational leaders to adapt to meet the modern needs of students: 

"Financial literacy has become a skill that everyone needs to know in order to truly succeed in the United States. High school must adapt to teach students the ever growing complexity of financial literacy. On the other hand, some people believe financial literacy is not required because technology has evolved to do what we used to do by hand. It is because technology has evolved that the need for financial literacy is more prominent than ever because in today's society, financial literacy is becoming too complicated for the average person to understand. We need to start mandating every student to not only survive in the world of financial literacy, but to thrive in it. If we don’t start teaching students these important skills, the United States will suffer greatly as a whole."

Thank you to Jessica and Nikolas! 

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