Gephart 1 3-6 Project One: Writing Plan Tiffany Gephart Southern New Hampshire University Professor Robert Garman ENG 123: English Composition II 11/13/2022 Gephart 2 The persuasive argument for this essay will be people should become more educated in financial literacy. The primary audience is school administrators. The argument will consider whether financial education courses should be taught within the school systems or should be taught in a different manner (i.e., at home by the parent(s) or legal guardian). In majoring in Accounting and Finance, opportunities will arise to help in a variety of ways, including, but not limited to, hospitals, social-service agencies, education systems, government agencies, and international agencies in educating others about positive financial choices (SNHU, 2022). In order to understand the challenges of teaching financial education within the school system, one must first understand the definition of what it means to be financially literate. Financial literacy “is knowledge and skills are required to be able to make decisions effectively in a financial context, to improve financial well-being both individually and socially, and to engage in community participation” (Prihartanti, F. W., Murtini, W., & Indriayu, M., 2022). Ultimately, the goal here is to convince school administrators that teaching financial education in the classroom should be required as other basic courses are, in order to graduate high school. The first key point addresses that financial literacy is more than knowing how much you make and spend every month. It also includes “a working grasp of concepts like saving, credit, interest rates, investing and risk assessment, come to find out is generally low among American adults, especially younger adults, according to a recent report from the excellence center and the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America Institute. Two-thirds of Generation Z adults, for example, couldn't correctly answer more than half the financial questions in the center's survey, which compared financial literacy across five generations” (Carrns, 2022). The second key point addresses the issue of why teaching financial education in the classroom will not work under any circumstances. Teaching financial education will increase Gephart 3 financial knowledge; however, having that extra knowledge does not change the behavior in how people look at finances (Morrison, N. J., & Ogden, T., 2020). Even though students will learn how to make a budget, saving for emergencies, credit cards, etc., if that student is still buying that $8.00 expresso from Starbucks every day before the first class in hopes to stay awake instead of making a cappuccino at home for half of that price, what concept did the student actually learn? Nothing, because the student refused to change the behavior in how to improve their financial situation. So, why teach the class if behaviors will not change with the extra knowledge? The third key point addresses how ever-involving technology decreases our opportunity of understanding financial literacy as a whole, or at least increases the chances of impulse in order to make a quick buck. “A single tweet can influence the stock market, cryptocurrency headlines promise bags of non-fungible riches” (Faulkner, 2022), or one must buy gold and silver and anything else imaginable in order to survive this current economic state. Staying “informally literate” is difficult enough without throwing personal finances into the mix. The first resource is the article “The Need for Financial Literacy Proficiency Level for Generation Z Students at School” by Frederika Widi Prihartanti, Wiedy Murtini, and Mintasih Indriayu speaks of how in 2018 Generation Z population in Indonesia had lower average scores in the World Student Assessment Program in comparison to 20 other countries. This article aligns well with the first key point as younger generations could not answer many financial questions across a generational span. The second resource along the lines of financial literacy is “Should Financial Literacy Be Required?” by Nan J. Morrison and Timothy Ogden. The article begins with how parents are reluctant to speak and teach their children about the concepts of money and that schools should Gephart 4 step up and fill that role. Financial education in schools gives everyone an equal opportunity to learn about finances, but if the parents do not set an example of greater financial literacy; the classroom will not improve the student’s mindset of money and will only mimic the parents’ behavior which agrees with the second key point. The final resource is the article “Why Financial Literacy Counts More Than Ever” by Noelle Faulkner which begins by explaining that ever advancing technology is making financial concepts more and more difficult to understand and process. The minute a tweet or Facebook post shows anything about the stock market or cryptocurrency; the masses immediately make irrational decisions with their finances; which does align with my third key point; however, the article shifts into finances and economics and how the financial industry is against women and if children are not adequately equipped with financial knowledge to survive, the fault is placed on the mother and the child will more than likely repeat the same financial cycle as the mother. Within the key points there is more supporting evidence that makes the claim that people need to be more financially educated with the exception of the final article which is merely based on opinion on old dynamics that men are primarily dominant not only in financial matters but leadership as well. Take away the articles, there is no credible evidence in proving to school administrators that financial education needs to be taken more seriously as with each growing generation financial education is still merely taboo. Feedback is always helpful, whether it be constructive criticism, or just a simple nod of encouragement, or even deciphering alien language of what was supposed to be a professional essay, allows other people to give a different perspective that originally had never been thought of or letting the student know (gently) in hopes of realizing that Google is not an academics’ best friend in the research world. Gephart 5 References: Carrns, A. (2022, March 19). Adding Money Smarts to the Curriculum. New York Times, B6(L). https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A697355897/OVIC?u=nhc_main&sid=bookmarkOVIC&xid=fae865fc Faulkner, N. (2022, July 19). Why financial literacy counts more than ever. The Australian. Retrieved November 15, 2022, from https://www.theaustralian.com.au/life/why-financialliteracy-counts-more-than-ever/news-story/02cedc4e50312a5dbfc98fe93bb9e158 Morrison, N. J., & Ogden, T. (2020, March 9). Should Financial Literacy Be Required? New York Times Upfront, 152(10), 22. Prihartanti, F. W., Murtini, W., & Indriayu, M. (2022). The Need of Financial Literacy Proficiency Level for Genertion Z Students at School. Eduvest: Journal of Universal Studies, 2(3), 598–602. https://doi-org.ezproxy.snhu.edu/10.36418/edv.v2i3.383
