As stated earlier, students are increasingly concerned about the applications of their education (Minden). They will ask time and time again why the things that they are being taught are important. In the abstract for On the Money: Math Activities to Build Financial Literacy, Grades 6-8 it says, "To succeed in college, career, and life, students need to become financially literate," "The fourteen chapters in "On the Money" provide lessons and activities on such financial topics as jobs and net pay, sales discounts, credit card management, car insurance, and paying for college. The related mathematical skills include determining percentages, analyzing and representing data, evaluating probabilities, creating function, and more," (Bay-Williams). Without the skills learned in the classrooms of middle school and high school mathematics, students are in for a rude awakening.
In an experiment conducted by Michelle Meadows and Sami Mejri at Tiffin University, it was discovered the level of financial literacy students felt like they had prior to participating in a financial project, as well as the background that they had that did help them complete their project. Below are some graphs created from this project:
Graph one shows the responses to the question, "Prior to completing the financial project, I had not given much thought to saving for a down payment on a home using math equations," (Meadows and Mejri 405). This graph is the perfect demonstration for how much secondary mathematics applies to finance but is not thought about. It is important that teachers help their students to be aware and proactive in their education and encourage them to use their mathematical knowledge for more than just the assignments placed before them. There are mathematical equations and skills that students can use to take charge of their own finance, they just need to be made aware of how.
The second graph shows the responses to the question, "Prior to completing the finance project, my mathematical knowledge on how to perform calculations related to loan repayments was limited," (Meadows and Mejri 403). Now the results of this graph were much more right side heavy and left side light than the graphs of most other questions. The knowledge is there, it just needs to be guided. The greatest answer is "somewhat disagree", when asked, students explained that they only somewhat disagreed because much of the mathematics used for this financial project was review, it had just never been used or presented in that way to them (Meadows and Mejri 403, 406-407).
Tahira K. Hira wrote an article on the past, present and future of personal finance. In her section titled "Overall Goal for Financial Education" on page 12 she says, "The overall goal for financial education is to ensure that everyone is equipped with appropriate information, knowledge, and skills to make good financial decisions," (Hira 12). Later in her essay she lists the skills and concepts that one should understand in order to find comprehensive financial literacy. These skills and concepts were presented by the U.S. President's Advisory Council on Financial Literacy established in 2008 (Hira 13). Amongst these concepts and skills were, 1. "The process of identifying various financial risks, including development of a risk management strategy to decide which risks they should take on and which should be transferred," and 2. "The various components of retirement planning, and how to develop an appropriate plan for a secure retirement," (Hira 14-15). Both of these concepts/skills require algebraic computation similar to what has been discussed in regards to budgeting earlier.
Let us not leave our students in the dark about the mathematical skills they possess and how they can benefit their financial future. Of course they can always check out books such as You Can do the Math: Overcome Your Math Phobia and Make Better Financial Decisions by Ronald L. Lipsman. While books like this are helpful, students have the background in mathematics and despite many of their thoughts while sitting in the classroom, the things they are learning have infinitely useful applications to life. If they are taught this and know how to apply the things they are learning then they will be able to keep the math lessons they are taught with them forever. "The key is to integrate financial topics into mathematics instruction, using everyday topics such as spending, saving, and earning to bring math concepts to life," then students' math skills will become lifelong and applicable (Bay-Williams).