Inadequate Education
Olabisi Giwa, Walter Payton College Prep, Junior, Spring 2026
The world's constantly evolving. There are many new moving parts, new investments, and items that catch your eye. With the rise of online shopping, there are also many new ways to make these investments and to buy these items. The companies in charge of selling these items use marketing tactics that appeal to people of all ages. Those people spend their hard-earned money on them over and over again, some until there's nothing left.
Financial literacy is the ability to understand and effectively use various financial skills, including personal financial management, budgeting, and investing. It is usually taught early in high school to make sure students understand how to navigate the world financially. Michael Baldwin, a financial literacy teacher at Walter Payton, states that “the modules (lessons) talk about college loans and budgeting. They are good as a starting point, but there’s not as much you can do until you actually start. It should be done as a senior when it's real, and you're taking out loans and budgeting for college so you can remember and utilize as you go.” Statistics show “high performers in financial literacy are 72% more likely than low performers to save money, and 50% more likely to compare prices in different shops before buying something” (De Noia, 2025).
A lot of financial literacy lessons focus on things like college loans and long-term saving. While those are important, they don’t always feel relevant to students right now. Vivian Rosario Griffith says, “I do not utilize any of the information I was taught, and in fact I do not even recall most of the information. It was largely related to things that were not relevant to me at the time or now, I believe, and I feel that it was inadequate.” On a smaller scale, things like online shopping and impulse buying can add up fast and drain money without people even realizing it. “Americans spent $1.337 trillion online in 2024; in-store sales total $5.927 trillion” CapitalOne, 2026). This is an astounding amount of money spent by the clients of only one bank. It is important for people to learn how to manage their money early on so they can avoid overspending and financial mistakes.
Michael Baldwin, Teacher
Vivian Rosario Griffith, Intern
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