Should high schools students be required to take a personal finance class?

Personal Finance should be taught to every child starting from the 3rd grade on unto the 12th grade.  It should be a mandatory course in order to graduate.  Mangaging personal finances doesn't always mean getting good jobs.  It means making better decisions on money transactions.  Learning about credit card debt and finance charges and what they really mean and how much you wind up paying for something in the end.  Learning the value of a dollar is a lesson to be learned and not so much to be taught.  No matter what kind of a job anyone has learning to save money and curve desires could go a long, long, way.

it would be great to have them introduce to what is the value of money before they bump into it in the nearly future.

Credit cards for bad credit

I think it would be a smart idea for students to learn. I wish my high school taught me about personal finance to be honest.

I think that it is needed as a non-optional class more than ever these days.  I know that a lot of schools provide sporadic coverage of personal finance, but I think schools should be developing structured curriculum in this area.  Heck, most people think that financial planning just means debt cosolidation when you can't keep up the payments any more! What possible disadvantage can there be with your suggestion, and to think of the benefits it seems beyond obvious that this needs support and funding NOW.  Maybe in 20 years we'll have a society whose average citizen is capable of beating back the banks with their sly and sneaky ways!

Students would surely benefit from at least basic personal finance education in high school. I have read about surveys of adults in the U.S. that show the level of understanding of personal finance principles is extremely low. We would all benefit if more people made smarter financial decisions and managed their savings, assets, and liabilities better. The U.S. savings rate has been declining for two decades now. This is one area, for example, that might be improved through education if people understand the consequences of their low rate of saving.

There should also be a mandatory course in economics in high school (especially macro economics). The general understanding of economic principles is also very low in the U.S. Although there are different schools of economic thought, economists generally agree on a great many things (much more than they disagree about). We need economic literacy to make smart economic decisions as individuals and as a society in general. The world's economy depends to a large degree on individuals making smart economic and financial decisions, allocating their capital efficiently, and so on.

A friend of mine 15 year old child earned $73 dollars babysitting tow days ago. I told my friend to take her to the bank and add make her open an account with $50 and she can add $50 herself. She told me bto let her just keep the money and enjoy it because she was too tired to take her.

This is the on going mind set of most people.  Children should be learning financial management the first time they ask for money and this is way before High School.  Yes, High School should have mandatory personal financial classes, but this is a lesson like most other lesson that should start at home.

With what is happening now, it sure would be a great asset now and all through their lives. You have to make money in order to buy food and pay rent so everyone needs to understand what comes in and what must go out each montih.I don't envy the kids of today, I feel they are missing some great lessons in life when the parents spoil their children by paying for everything in their lives. They don't help at home, but are given big allowances to spend where ever they want. Their phone bills are paid, their clothes, hair,nails, cars, gas,concerts and the list is a mile long. You ask one to clean the toilet, that's child abuse.That's going  to  freak them out when the parents are long gone and they wonder who and what they are.It's a shame.

Yes I think they should have a class that teaches them how to manage their money then maybe they can get better jobs.