Please help, ASAP

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Brianna Burton

Ms. Maxwell

English Composition II

7th October 2026

The Importance of Financial Literacy in High Schools

Thesis Statement: High schools should be required to teach financial literacy because it helps

students learn how to budget, manage credit, save money, and make responsible financial

decisions before entering adulthood.

I. Introduction

A. Explain what financial literacy means and why managing money is an important adult

skill. B. Explain that students may graduate without learning how to budget, save, use

credit, or plan for bills.

C. The Associated Press reports that personal finance classes can teach earning income,

budgeting, saving, investing, credit, and financial risk (More States).

D. Thesis: High schools should be required to teach financial literacy because it helps

students learn how to budget, manage credit, save money, and make responsible financial

decisions before entering adulthood.

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II. Body Paragraph 1: Learning How to Budget

A. Explain why students need to understand budgeting before graduating.

1. A personal finance class can connect math skills to real-life money choices, including planning

purchases and saving for goals (More States).

2. In a classroom described by the Associated Press, students listed short-term purchases such as

shoes, phones, headphones, clothes, and food as goals requiring a savings plan (More States).

3. The Associated Press reports that students in a financial applications math course connect

money topics with skills such as percentages and exponential equations (More States).

B. Explain that budgeting practice can help students compare needs and wants, plan

spending, and balance income with expenses.

III. Body Paragraph 2: Understanding Credit and Debt

A. Explain why students need to understand credit cards, loans, interest, and late payments.

1. Urban, Schmeiser, Collins, and Brown studied credit-report outcomes for young adults ages

18–21 in states with financial education requirements (Urban).

2. Their study found that financial education requirements were associated with fewer defaults

among young adults (Urban).

3. The researchers also found an association between financial education requirements and

higher credit scores, although results varied by state (Urban).

B. Explain that learning about borrowing and interest before adulthood can help students better

understand the possible costs and risks of debt.

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IV. Body Paragraph 3: Learning to Save Money

A. Explain why saving for emergencies and future goals is an important life skill.

1. The Associated Press describes a student listing goals such as buying a car, owning a

home, starting a business, and saving for retirement (More States).

2. In the same report, a teacher guides students through calculating how much money

would be needed for an emergency fund covering three months of expenses (More States).

3. The Council for Economic Education’s recommended personal finance topics, as reported by

the Associated Press, include saving and investing as well as budgeting (More States).

B. Explain that students can practice setting short-term and long-term goals and include

savings in a monthly budget.

V. Body Paragraph 4: Preparing Students for Adult Responsibilities

A. Explain why financial literacy is useful when students begin paying bills, renting

housing, working, or attending college.

1. Blume reports that financial literacy instruction can cover reading a pay stub, balancing a

checking account, using credit cards wisely, saving, and avoiding scams (Blume).

2. The Associated Press describes lessons in which students apply school math to real-life

decisions such as future student loans, rent payments, and income needs (More States).

3. Urban’s study found no evidence that state requirements for personal finance coursework

reduced high school graduation rates overall or by race, gender, or family income (Urban).

B. Explain that practical lessons can help students connect classroom learning with decisions they

will face after graduation.

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VI. Body Paragraph 5: Making Financial Education Available to All Students

A. Explain why financial literacy should be a graduation requirement instead of depending

only on what students learn at home.

1. The Associated Press reported that, by February 2024, 30 states had adopted laws or

policies requiring personal finance education before graduation (More States).

2. The Associated Press reported that, in schools with predominantly Black and Hispanic student

populations and no state requirement, only 7% of students had guaranteed access to at least a

semester-long personal finance course, compared with 14.2% in schools with less than

one-quarter of students identifying as Black or Hispanic (More States).

3. Blume reports that California proponents supported a one-semester course to prepare

students to manage money, while critics raised concerns about adding another graduation

requirement (Blume).

B. Explain that schools can plan the requirement carefully and provide teacher training.

Urban and her coauthors identify well-funded teacher preparation as potentially

important for implementing financial education successfully.

VII. Rebuttal Paragraph: Addressing the Opposing View

A. Some critics argue that adding a required financial literacy course could take time away

from English, science, math, history, or other graduation requirements (Blume).

B. Respond with Urban’s finding that financial education requirements did not reduce

graduation rates overall or across groups studied (Urban).

C. Explain that schools may integrate financial topics into existing courses or offer a separate

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course, depending on their resources and graduation requirements.

VIII. Conclusion

A. Restate the thesis in different words.

B. Summarize how financial literacy can help students budget, understand credit, save, and

prepare for adult expenses.

C. Emphasize that a graduation requirement could give more students access to practical financial

education.

D. End by explaining that learning money skills before adulthood can help students make

informed financial decisions.

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Works Cited

Blume, Howard. “Momentum Is Building to Require California High Schoolers to Learn How to Manage Money.” Los Angeles Times, 13 Mar. 2024, https://www.latimes.com/search?q=Blume%2C+Howard.+%E2%80%9CMomentum+Is+Buildi ng+to+Require+California+High+Schoolers+to+Learn+How+to+Manage+Money.%E2%80%9 D+Los+Angeles+Times%2C+13+Mar.+2024%2C+

“More States Are Teaching Financial Literacy. It Could Pay Off for Students Struggling with Math.” Associated Press, 27 Feb. 2024, apnews.com/article/financial-literacy-class-school-math-6070a4ab237414bc7fde8bcc41f4302c. Rojas, Alejandra. “New High School Graduation Requirement: Financial Literacy.” Forbes, 14 Apr. 2026, www.forbes.com/sites/alejandrarojas/2026/04/14/new-high-school-graduation-requirement-financial -literacy/.

Ziv, Shahar. “Should High Schools Teach Financial Literacy? More States Say Yes.” Forbes, 6 Oct. 2022, www.forbes.com/sites/shaharziv/2022/10/06/should-high-schools-teach-financial-literacy-more-st ates-say-yes/.

Urban, Carly, Maximilian Schmeiser, J. Michael Collins, and Alexandra Brown. “The Effects of High School Personal Financial Education Policies on Financial Behavior.” Economics of Education Review, vol. 78, 2020, article 101786. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econedurev.2018.03.006.

Urban, Carly. “Does State-Mandated Financial Education Reduce High School Graduation Rates?” Economics of Education Review, vol. 95, 2023, article 102427. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econedurev.2023.102427.

Olesen, Nancy. Personal Finance for Teens: A Foundation for a Lifetime of Financial Literacy. B.E. Publishing, 2017, www.bepublishing.com/personal-finance-for-teens.html.