Education Secretary Wants FinLit Ed--No Press Coverage

On November 8, 2011, US Department of Education Secretary Arne Duncan highlighted the importance of personal finance education in our K-12 schools and colleges at a meeting of  President Obama's Advisory Council on Financial Capability.  At the meeting, the Secretary of Education expressed powerful opinions on the need to have personal finance taught in our classrooms.  Here are a few of the things he is reported to have said:

I think the challenge we face now is that we don't have a financially literate population.

As important as reading and math and social studies and science, I think today more than ever financial literacy has to be a part of that.

To continue to have a population that is relatively illiterate in these matters I think has real negative consequences for our democracy.

If we don't do things differently we're going to perpetuate these problems.  This is not a place where we need to get a little bit better.  We've got to get a lot better, and we've got to get better faster.

I always think you have to start young.  So if this is just one course, half a semester [or] semester senior year, [it's] definitely late in the game.

I just really encourage the council to be extraordinarily bold, and to push us very, very hard.  Again, there are some problems where I think we're pretty close to solving them, we just need to tinker, and this is not one of those.  We have to get so much better.  We have a state of crisis here.  We have and emergency, and I feel this tremendous sense of urgency.

According to the press, Secretary Duncan noted that the lack of financial literacy was related to the mortgage crisis and low savings rate.  Secretary Duncan indicated that many individuals are not capable of making long term investment and retirement plans.  He stated that given dramatic shift in our society away from employer funded defined-benefit plans to self-funded and self-directed retirement savings plans like a 401k, there was increased urgency for this type of education in the classroom.


He noted that many teachers are not prepared to teach personal finance classes and that studies show they are not comfortable teaching these personal finance concepts.  He also explained that the Department of Education has little power today to mandate personal finance education in our schools today.


These are very important and powerful statements by a leading voice in education.  So who covered this event?  The New York Times?  The Washington Post?  The Chronicle of Higher Education?


None of these organizations apparently sent a report to this event, despite a media notice of the meeting and its purpose.  See:  http://www.ed.gov/news/media-advisories/education-secretary-deputy-treasury-secretary-highlight-importance-financial-e

So who reported on this important event--which to my knowledge is the most specific and in-depth statements made by the Secretary of Education on the topic of personal finance education in our schools?  Financial Planning magazine--a publication for financial advisers.  See: http://www.financial-planning.com/news/education-secretary-duncan-financial-literacy-education-2675914-1.html

And Yahoo News is the only other organization reporting the details of this meeting, but even this report is based on the Financial Planning article.  http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/duncan-calls-personal-finance-lessons-starting-kindergarten-134427341.html


How can we solve the problem of the lack of personal finance education in our schools and colleges if the national media fails to report on these very important comments by the Secretary of Education?

American Dream Deferred

Major news outlets are creating tag lines that remind me of CNN's classic "War on Terror."  


What does it mean for a society when major media outlets are creating news tag lines to put on websites and in newspapers for collections of articles on the quiet desperation of so many Americans?  That is what has happened at two large media outlets in the last few weeks--The Wall Street Journal and CNN.


The media focus is on the economic funk we are living in.  They are highlighting how, for many Americans, hopes and dreams have been at best delayed and at worst abandoned.  They are shining a spotlight on the growing divide between the rich and the poor and the struggle for many merely to survive in this difficult economy.  They also focus on the lack of both jobs and hope.


In an earlier posting today, I reviewed the Wall Street Journal's excellent series of articles that have been appearing about the high unemployment rates for our youth, particularly young men and women under the age of 25.  This series is entitled Generation Jobless and the following is the "logo" they have created for the stories on this sad topic:

CNN Money is also running a series on their website entitled "American Dream Deferred"

The following are the headlines so far in this series:

• Class Warfare:  Who Pays Their Fare Share of Taxes?
• Poverty Pervades the Suburbs
• Middle Class Income Falls...But Not Everywhere
• Faces of Poverty
• A Rough 10 Years for the Middle Class 
• See:  http://money.cnn.com/news/economy/american-dream-deferred/?iid=EL

The latest CNN Money addition to the "American Dream Deferred" series is:  "Global Income Inequality:  Where the U.S. Ranks".  See:  http://money.cnn.com/2011/11/08/news/economy/global_income_inequality/index.htm?iid=Lead

America ranks in the bottom third in income inequality out of 90 countries and is one of the lowest in the developed world.  In fact Russia is slightly better than than U.S.


I truly hope to see fewer of these types of stories very soon.  

Gen X, Gen Y, Gen Jobless

I applaud the Wall Street Journal for running a "Generation Jobless" series of six articles over the last few days.  The articles highlight the fact that our younger citizens are bearing a much larger share of the unemployment pain caused by the Great Recession and its aftermath then any other age groups in our nation.  The six articles look at the issues facing our young citizens that: (i) do not have a high school degree; (ii) have only a high school degree (with a particular focus on young men in this category); and (iii) have a college degree.  Our young citizens have much higher rate of unemployment than older individuals with the same educational status.  The series also addresses the individual and societal pain caused by this problem.


Young people with only a high school degree or that have dropped out of high school are the most likely in our society to be jobless right now.  But even recent college graduates struggle finding jobs when compared with folks who graduated before the Great Recession began.


The first article focuses on the job prospects for young men with just a high school degree.  Young men with just a high school degree have a much more difficult time finding jobs when compared to young women.  Many of the well paying construction jobs that many of these young men had are gone and may never come back.  Many are forced to move home with their parents. The harm being done to the self esteem of these individuals and to our society longer term is troubling.  To paraphrase James Carville "it's the jobs stupid."   We need to figure out a way to have these young citizens be productive members of society. Some items noted in this article:

• The unemployment rate for males between 25 and 34 years old with high-school diplomas is 14.4% (up 6.1% over the last four years)
• The unemployment rate for males between 20 and 24 years old with high-school diplomas is 22.4% (up 10.4% over the last four years)
• The share of men age 25-34 that are living with their parents increased over the past four years from 14.2% to 18.6%
• See:  "Generation Jobless: Young Men Suffer Worst in Weak Job Market" http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204505304577000380740614776.html

As a society we need to make sure that we do not have a lost generation--we need to find ways to employ and engage these young citizens in productive activities.  There is a direct link between social unrest and large youth unemployment rates.  Look at the Arab Spring countries, the London riots, Greek protests, the Spanish protest movements and our own Occupy Wall Street movement that recently went violent in Oakland California.  It is not surprising that the youth unemployment rate prior to the Arab Spring was 25% in Egypt and 30% in Tunisia.  It was 20% in the United Kingdom when London was in flames and is currently 42% in Spain and 33% in Greece.  

At nearly 17% in the U.S., the youth unemployment rate is disturbingly high and getting close to the levels seen in some of these other nations.  To avoid social unrest in our nation, we need to address the youth unemployment problem.  It is wrong that the youth of our country is being asked to bear the major brunt of the recent recession.  To have such a large number of our young citizens without a job is a tragedy not only for them but also for our nation.


The second Generation Jobless article in yesterday's WSJ notes that the Great Recession is creating a group of young people with and without college degrees that are becoming Gen Jobless:

• The unemployment rate for our 16-24 year old citizens is 16.7%--this is nearly twice the rate experienced by workers 25 and older 
• The unemployment rate for young adults has so far exceeded 16% for 32 months.  This is much worse than the severe recession in the early 1980s.  In that recession the youth unemployment rate was above 16% for only 23 months.
• The unemployment rate for young men age 16-24 is 18%, compared to 15.3% for young women.  Sectors with high female employment rates like health care and education have done better than male dominated sectors like construction
• The unemployment rate for college graduates age 24 and younger is 7.7%, compared to a 4.2% unemployment rate for college graduates over the age of 25
• The article notes that based on studies from the early 1980s recession, you can expect today's young college graduates that enter into the job market in the Great Recession and it aftermath to earn 9% less than those who graduated in better times

The following is a chart that was presented in this Generation Jobless article:

See:  "Generation Jobless:  For Those Under 24, a Portrait in Crisis"  http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203733504577022110945459408.html

See:  "Generation Jobless:  'Disconnected Youth' Among Jobless" http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3781799095701715763#editor/target=post;postID=36526661508135986

The last three Generation Jobless articles in the WSJ focus on recently graduated college students looking for a job and on students trying to get a low cost college education.  One article focuses on the fact that college graduates are happily taking jobs that the shunned in the past.  Another article asks if an Ivy League degree is worth the extra cost and notes how more students are going to community college first and commuting to save money.  And the last article focuses on a new trend--college students trying to save money by getting a bachelors degree in three years.  The concept of a "value" college degree seems to be more appealing to parents and students.

• Young people with newly minted college degrees are actively seeking traveling salesman jobs with a small salary and no benefits that are paid based on commissions--jobs that they would have avoided prior to the Great Recession
• More students are going to lower cost colleges and are commuting than in the past.  The article notes that a recent study released by Sallie Mae indicates that 22% of college students from families with annual household incomes of more than $100,000 attended public community colleges in 2010-2011 up from 12% the previous year
• The Sallie Mae study also indicates that high income families cut their college spending by 18% and all families (regardless of income) spent 9% less in 2010-2011 from the previous academic year.
• See: "How America Pays for College 2011, Sallie Mae's National Study of College Students and Parents"   https://www1.salliemae.com/NR/rdonlyres/BAF36839-4913-456E-8883-ACD006B950A5/14952/HowAmericaPaysforCollege_2011.pdf
• See: "Generation Jobless: From Ivied Halls to Traveling Salesman" http://online.wsj.com/artic/SB10001424052970203733504577024090027351410.html?KEYWORDS=generation+jobless 
• See:  "Generation Jobless:  Is an Ivy League Diploma Worth It" http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203733504577023892064201700.html?KEYWORDS=generation+jobless
• See:  "Generation Jobless:  Students Speed Through College to Save Money" http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203733504577024590650096440.html?KEYWORDS=generation+jobless