KEEP THE CHANGE: At least one financial savant isn't too thrilled with the U.K.'s latest National Curriculum draft which includes mandatory personal finance lessons. The Economist's Buttonwood columnist aka Philip Coggan points out there is little evidence that such programs improve the financial decision-making process. "Surveys by the Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy, a campaign group, found that American students who had taken courses in personal finance or money management were no more financially literate than those who had not," he writes. And it's not simply a matter of age or target audience. In another study of free online classes for those struggling with credit card debt, less than 1% logged into the website and less than a tenth of 1% completed the course. Does this mean personal finance should be excluded from schools? "Not necessarily," says Coggan. It could be that current curriculum is simply ineffective. We tend to agree -- subpar math and English curriculum materials have been tolerated for a decade but no one (to our knowledge) is lobbying for their removal from Common Core!
