Financial literacy a growing concern for B.C.’s students

When students graduate from high school, it used to be a solid understanding in reading, writing, and arithmetic would put them in good stead.

But a growing chorus of people say financial literacy may be the most important subject taught in high school and that B.C. students are falling woefully behind.

“Unfortunately, many people are learning about financial literacy and how to manage money through the school of hard knocks. And that’s a really tough teacher, because they’re learning by mistakes,” said Scott Hannah of the B.C. Credit Counselling Society.

According to a 2013 Ministry of Education survey of high school graduates, only 17 per cent said schools were doing enough when it came to lessons on spending and saving.

This year? The Ministry scrapped the question altogether.

“They didn’t need to,” said Hannah.

“They know the answers, very plainly. They’re not doing a good enough job, and unfortunately parents aren’t doing a good enough job teaching them good money practices. The challenge is how do we introduce these concepts?”

In a statement, Minister of Education Mike Bernier defended the government’s record in light of the satisfaction survey.

“Our staff will be working with school districts to see how we can encourage participation and improve the overall satisfaction of students, staff and parents in our education system,” he wrote.

The government will introduce financial literacy into the math curriculum next year, but Hannah argues it should be discussed within the context of many different subjects, rather than a match course that many students find imposing.

“The challenge for our schools is this is not a one-term solution, this is going to take a decade to really manifest itself and grow so we’re graduating students with those skill sets. But it’s got to start now.”

Money pressures lead to plagiarism?

B.C. students carry $29,000 in student loans on average, the third highest in Canada.

“Students who cheat are doing it out of desperation. A student who is cheating is cheating because they can’t afford to fail a class or afford another year of school,” argues Simka Marshall, Chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students-BC.

SFU Criminologist Rob Gordon agrees that financial pressures can manifest themselves in plagiarism.

“It’s certainly one of the issues. Students have to do spend more time raising money than they have in the past, and that reflects in a number of the ways – in the quality of the work, but their willingness to cut corners,” he says.

While financial pressures and the increased availability of online essay mills have seemingly made plagiarism more prevalent, Gordon says it’s hard to say whether it is actually on the rise.

“We don’t know. What we identify is probably the tip of the iceberg, but how big it is, we don’t know for sure,” he said.

“When this university began 50 years ago, I would guarantee there was cheating in the first term.”