A new survey sponsored by the National Financial Educators Conference, DreamCatcher Wealth Management, and The Minerva Foundation reveals that most young adults think they would benefit from a money management course in high school.

According to the National Financial Educators Council:

"The survey asked young adults to answer the following question: 'Which of these high school-level courses would benefit your life the most?' The response categories included 'mathematics (algebra, geometry),' 'money management (personal finance)’ 'science (biology, chemistry),' and 'social studies (history, government).'Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies were selected by 17.9%, 16.5%, and 14.2% of the respondents, respectively.”

The survey is one of a series in a research project by the NFEC to understand financial attitudes and behaviors across age-groups.

Financial literacy is a big topic in K-12 education because while many agree it would be beneficial to students’ respective futures, very few states require it be taught in schools.

For that reason, many students go largely unexposed to any kind of money management instruction before pursuing higher education and taking out their first student loan.

And young adults aren’t the only people who would like to see that change.

Last month, a survey from PricewaterhouseCoopers found that while only 12 percent of educators are teaching financial literacy in their classrooms, 92 percent said they believed the subject should be taught in K-12 classrooms even though it’s not currently.

The survey revealed that because financial literacy isn’t considered a “college and career ready” standard, there’s a severe lack of appropriate curriculum, qualifications and take-home materials that prove to be significant barriers to teaching the subject in schools.

Nicole Gorman, Education World Contributor

5/4/2016