Fearing for Financial Literacy

Financial literacy is heading to (or is already in) school here in Canada. In Saskatchewan, for example, the government just recently introduced a financial literacy course, for all students entering Grade 10 (Financial Literacy 10), as a requirement for graduation. As another example, over in Ontario, starting this fall, there is a new financial literacy graduation requirement, which is baked into the Grade 10 mathematics course that all students must take. Similar situations, as you might expect, are found in other Canadian provinces.

Reasons for including financial literacy, as stated on the Government of Saskatchewan and Ontario websites, are gallant. The Government of Saskatchewan notes that making financial decisions requires knowledge, skills and confidence, and the new financial literacy curriculum will help students, which, in turn, helps the economy of Saskatchewan in the long run. The Government of Ontario makes note of the ever-increasing complexity associated with making informed decisions regarding financial and economic matters. Couched within the over-arching goals of public education here in Canada, having financial literacy heading to school and to math class makes a lot of sense.

Decades and decades ago, back when I was engaging with school mathematics as a student, my encounters with financial literacy included a few assignments where I made a (definitely) hypothetical decision to buy or lease a car, completed some simple interest calculations, and kept cutting down compounding periods to establish that the compound interest formula converges to e. Come to think of it, maybe a little budgeting exercise, as well. That’s it, and that wasn’t the best preparation for the financial world ahead of me and my classmates. Choosing my first ever credit card, for example, had very little to do with what I learned in math class or the differences in interest rates being offered by different companies. In fact, if I’m recalling things correctly, my decision was based on getting a free frisbee, being offered by one credit card company, as opposed to a free t-shirt, being offered by a rival company. On the one hand, then, I am glad that financial literacy is further permeating schools, in general, and school mathematics, in certain instances.

On the other hand, I fear for financial literacy as it heads to school and to math class. My fear stems from past topics that were to be integrated into school and math class, and were considered an unmitigated success before the horse was even out of the barn. I remember when everybody and their dog was going to get into coding. President Obama’s “Computer Science for All” initiative was to offer each and every student computer science and math classes, hands-on, to boot, which would help students develop crucial skills to thrive in the new economy. President Obama even became the first President (of the USA) to write a line of code during the “Hour of Code”. The hoopla didn’t go unnoticed. Computer science and coding was having a moment, for sure, and it impacted those invested in the teaching and learning of mathematics, and, yes, those North of the Border.

Conversations on coding and math class boiled down to a simple, appealing narrative. If a student could write code for something, for example, long division, it meant they had a solid, that is, procedural and conceptual, understanding of said topic – in this instance, long division. No more worrying about whether traditional or alternative forms of assessment and evaluation were truly capturing students’ understanding of topics covered in math class. If they could code it, then, according to the narrative, they understood it. Like I said, very appealing, but coding, math class, and the narrative around it all sort of just disappeared. Sure, computer science and coding found its way into schools, but the computer-science-for-all conversation did not come to fruition as it was earlier touted. More recently, coding conversations have morphed into how coding will be done by Artificial Intelligence (AI), but that narrative, too, has sort of died down recently. Coding, then, at least for me, is a cautionary tale for financial literacy. There are other reasons that I fear for financial literacy.

I fear for financial literacy because I think it means different things to different people. Not helping, the smooth interchangeability of financial literacy with financial education and financial knowledge, which means you have different terms being used to mean the same thing. The real kicker, however, is when the term financial numeracy gets added to the mix. Numeracy, which some loosely define as the numerical counterpart of literacy, means that, for some, the terms financial literacy and financial numeracy will, as well, be used interchangeably. A long running joke amongst those in the mathematics education community, that is, there are, approximately, as many definitions of numeracy as there are those that have defined it, will make the Rorschach test that is financial literacy even more interesting for those that choose to follow the teaching and learning of the subject professionally or otherwise.

Even for those with a solid grasp of differences between financial literacy and financial numeracy, the terms are hard to pin down and even harder to parse. Getting back to an earlier example, consider that compound interest convergence lesson that I once encountered as a math student. Being able to calculate simple and compound interest aligns with financial numeracy, that is, the role of mathematics in the teaching and learning of financial education. Having a conceptual (and procedural) understanding of the “power” of compound interest and compounding periods aligns with financial literacy, that is, possessing the knowledge and capacity to make learned choices with money. With respect to Euler’s Number, I can see it aligning with financial education, financial knowledge, financial literacy, financial numeracy, and even just the good old teaching and learning of mathematics.

Trying to get some semblance of the situation, I see, at the moment, financial literacy and financial numeracy as key areas of a financial education, which may or may not take place in a mathematics classroom. I suspect that a financial education rooted in math class will lean more towards financial numeracy and rooted outside of math class will lean more toward financial literacy. Either way, as I have mentioned, while I am pleased as punch that financial education is heading to school here in Canada, I have one ask.

I ask that financial education is rooted in financial reality. As I read through the financial literacy curricula for the province of Saskatchewan, however, I see all the usual suspects. It’s true, it is important to talk about budgeting, spending and saving, and cheques. At the same time, however, we live in a world of cryptocurrency; being on the precipice of one of the largest transfers of wealth to ever occur; scams and fraud; sports betting commercials ad nauseum; being asked to tip in more and more places and at higher and higher rates; risk tolerance; student loans; predatory lending; and, much, much more. The days of teaching how to count change back, yes, are over (especially the penny part). We live in a world where television commercials for credit cards have wealthy celebrities telling us to spend our way to savings, and, should you wish to use cash, where it can cost $4 just to take $20 out of your very own bank account. As such, I don’t care what you call it, financial whatever, just get it in the schools and leverage the teaching and learning of mathematics, however necessary, to get it done right. Me, I’m off to go check my credit card balance.