TASK 2:
Question: Students leave high school without learning how to manage their money. What are the reasons and solutions of this issue?
ANSWER:
It is increasingly common for students to leave high school without knowing how to manage their personal finances. This problem can largely be attributed to their financial dependence on their parents and schools’ excessive focus on academic subjects. However, it can be addressed through financial education at school, greater parental involvement and opportunities for teenagers to gain work experience.
There are two main reasons why many school leavers lack basic money-management skills. One is that most teenagers are financially dependent on their parents throughout their school years. Since their parents usually cover essential expenses and provide them with spending money, young people have few opportunities to earn, budget or save money independently. Consequently, they may become accustomed to spending without fully understanding the effort required to earn money or the importance of saving for future needs. Another factor is that school curricula tend to place greater emphasis on academic subjects such as mathematics and science than on practical life skills. As a result, students may excel at solving theoretical problems yet remain incapable of creating a budget, managing their expenses or making sensible financial decisions after graduation.
Several measures could be taken to address this issue. At school, basic financial literacy should be incorporated into the curriculum, with students being taught practical skills such as budgeting, saving, using bank accounts and understanding loans and interest rates. Parents also have an important role to play by giving their children a fixed allowance and encouraging them to plan their spending rather than simply providing money whenever it is requested. Finally, governments could make it easier for older teenagers to take on a limited amount of part-time work without interfering with their studies. Earning their own income would allow them to appreciate the value of money and gain first-hand experience of deciding how much to spend and how much to save. Together, these measures would better prepare young people to manage their finances independently when they enter adulthood.
In conclusion, young people’s poor money-management skills are primarily caused by their dependence on their parents and the lack of practical financial education at school. Introducing financial literacy into the curriculum, encouraging parents to involve their children in financial decisions and providing teenagers with appropriate opportunities to work could significantly improve their ability to manage money after leaving school.
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