And 37 percent almost never keep track of spending. We teach kids about sex and drugs, but we don't teach them much, if anything, about money. We have a financial-literacy crisis in this country, and we need to mobilize to do something about it. The troops are beginning to muster. In Virginia, for example, the legislature grew so alarmed by the number of debt-ridden, spendthrift college students that it passed a resolution in February urging crash courses in consumer credit at freshman orientation.
Many experts believe college is too late.
While surveys show that virtually all Americans believe that basic economics should be part of the high school curriculum, only 16 states even offer such courses, and a mere 13 require economics for graduation. Others may soon follow suit, however. Mississippi recently passed a bill to require schools to teach personal finance, and similar legislation is pending in Texas. It doesn't take much to boost financial literacy. A study by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's extension service and the National Endowment for Financial Education in Englewood, Colo., last fall found that as few as 10 hours of classroom instruction prompted students to begin tracking their expenses, repaying debts, and improving their spending habits.