Current Home Economics Classes

[cooliemae]

So the thread about the payday loans and individuals not understanding how much money they would actually be paying got me thinking about home economics in schools. Are they actually still being taught? Are they actually relevant to today's needs? Are they required?

With a child starting kindergarten this year, it really struck me that I didn't know if the school district had a home economics class and fear what might be included if they actually do have one. Hopefully, I'll find that the class is a positive one in which the students really learn the economic realities that they will face in life and how to both deal with them and understand them.

Any thoughts/experiences to share, especially those with children who might have a had a recent run in with the modern home economics class?

[james.hendrickson]

In 2016 the Council for Economic Education (CEE) did a fairly comprehensive study on this.

Here are the main findings:

1) Students who take personal finance or basic economics classes are more likely to:
- pay their bills on time
- are less likely to carry credit card balances
- less likely to be compulsive shoppers
- have better credit scores.

2) High school financial education differs a lot between states.
- Only 20 states require students to take a high school econ course.
- Only 17 states require students to take a course in personal finance. Five of these 17 require a standalone semester in personal finance.
- The 2016 study was an update to a 2014 study. The CEE found two major things that differed between the two waves of the study. First, just two additional states toughened their K-12 personal finance requirements. Second, none of the 50 states tightened up their standardized testing requirements.

So pretty much - personal finance education at the high school level works, and it varies a lot by state.

[disneysteve]

I don't know about Home Ec but our district does have a required Personal Finance class. My daughter took it a few years ago. The info was good although I didn't agree 100% with everything the teacher said. Still, it was far better than nothing and I'm sure the kids in the class got some benefit from it if they paid attention.

Our daughter never took a Home Ec class.

[Jluke]

My home economics class was centered around cooking, parenting and sewing if I can remember correctly.

Now, my economics class focused on stocks, supply/demand, marketing, etc. I don't think we covered the basic home finance stuff (loans, balancing a checking account, etc).

[bjl584]

I was required to take home economics back in 7th or 8th grade.

I don't remember much from it. I think I learned more watching the Food network.