All public high schools in New York City today offer some form of financial literacy instruction.
Rarely does a professor feel certain that every student will apply the information they are teaching. Jerome Morgan does.
“I was someone who also had a hard time understanding how money works,” he said.
Like all other public high schools in the city, Science Skills High School in Downtown Brooklyn teaches its students economic education. The curriculum, which included significant topics like inflation and the importance of saving money, was moderated by CBS New York’s Doug Williams.
Finally, students participated in an engaging exercise. Individuals chose a career and a place to live, and they were given prompts that simulated a range of expenses and choices over the course of a fortnight. The goal was to have leftover money at the end. It might as well be called “adulthood.”
According to student Anthony Brown, “a lot of things just kept happening one after the other.”
The exercise may make any adult watching cringe because the situations weren’t far-fetched: fender benders, medical expenses, having children. One student had $200 left for the month and received a prompt that his mother needed $100 for medication, and it was up to him to decide what to prioritize.
“Making a lot of compromises was the biggest sacrifice, according to the author. And making decisions like the last second when it comes to your health and your side kids,” said student Arielle Dorisme.
Arielle is in 12th grade but is already applying what she’s learning in the real world. She works for UBS Bank and her wages are deposited into her own checking account. She recently collaborated with her parents to handle some of the costs of an international school trip.
“The very final payment, I did it myself. So I was very, very glad it was my personal salary, my own money,” she said.
“That’s why they love it. One of my pupils once said they thought this was something they could really use outside,” Morgan said.
Chancellor of New York City Schools, David Banks, claimed that too many parents and former pupils had said, “I have this great certification, but I have no idea how the world works.” He claimed that graduating students don’t know how to open their own checking accounts, how to start their own Wall Street accounts, or how Wall Street works is “unacceptable.”
Morgan signed up for the program after receiving an email from the Department of Education about it, and he is now certified to teach each session. Credit cards and all other forms of insurance are eventual examples.
Since 2013, Doug Williams has covered and established himself in the Tri-State Area.