Educating America's high school students to revitalize the American Dream

by Cortni Merritt
University of Central Florida

Semifinalist

The recent American foreclosure crisis has not only devastated the financial industry and lives of millions, but additionally tarnished the American Dream for future generations. The next era of potential homebuyers can be expected to be increasingly wary; fearful of home purchasing due to the catastrophe witnessed in the recent real estate market. Future purchasers will likely associate the image of owning a home, a traditional staple of the American Dream, negatively in their psychological landscape. Financial institutions, banks, and mortgage lenders would do well to use the available avenue of public education and empower this disillusioned group; learning to anticipate future consumer needs and concerns, and addressing them before the age of homeownership. By investing in proactive correction of this fear, foreclosure.com, other sponsors, and financial institutions will contribute to aiding future generations in understanding the potential benefits and risks of owning a home. Although these lessons may be contemporary to the unique situation in which America finds itself today, the universality of the message is best put into words by some of history's most famous thinkers, wordsmiths, and public figures.

Albert Einstein said "The only source of knowledge is experience." (brainyquotes.com) A populace ignorant to the intricate workings of a system such as real estate cannot make quality decisions. In past generations, education of life's vital lessons came from experience and vicarious wisdom passed on by family and community members. Today, this source has been supplanted by a standardized education system which focuses differently on societal issues of success. While teenagers may still expect to receive many lessons from their intimate family environments, this education is limited by the understanding of those family members. Therefore, public education must intervene to more greatly standardize the specifics of teaching citizens in a public forum about the rapidly changing landscape of matters in the financial industry; for example, the relevance of major purchases on credit. Credit has arguably been propagated, standardized, and normalized as the primary payment method in today's society. Historically, credit was not as prevalent a payment method, but with the relatively recent explosion of credit availability, there was no proportional expansion of public education on the methodology of how credit functions. This is especially pertinent in the recent rocky history of the real estate market and the current (dis)functioning of mortgages. In order to prevent future generations from misusing and potentially losing this phenomenal buying power, education must be included during the years of mandatory public education in order that everyone is provided an educated opportunity to pursue home purchasing options (buying-new-home.com). Educating high school students toward a better financial future would strengthen the foundations of the American economic system and way of life.

"Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do," Johann Wofgang von Goethe. The challenge of educating today's youth is unlike that of any prior generation. The attention of the adolescent of today is diverted and solicited constantly, and the indoctrinations of American ideologies about consumption and instant gratification prove difficult obstacles to the instruction on proper financial behavior. The traditional vision of rags-to-riches success mingled with easily available credit has collided as one contributing factor in the downward spiral of the current real estate crisis, but if this combination is not addressed in the correct educational approach, the message will not reach the intended recipients; namely students. Teaching teenagers preventatively in responsible behaviors toward credit as part of a larger re-establishment of foundational fiscal knowledge is the only way to get the American future re-oriented toward living in fiscal and economic health.

Benjamin Franklin said "An investment in knowledge pays the best interest," and it is toward this investment that the nation must now turn. To hit a resonating wavelength with adolescents in orienting toward better financial futures, education should be modeled after the exemplary in American teaching. Studies show that although money is a good motivator, individuals work harder toward a goal if the prize is not monetary. Concurrently, high school math teachers always are looking for ways to involve their students in the material of their various courses. (edutopia.org) Therefore, it seems a natural proposition to team up leaders in the financial industry with educational leaders; providing supplemental materials and orchestrating contests to motivate student's integration of this knowledge. These supplements could include booklets of word problems about types of interest rates, fiscal differences between owning and renting, and additional details of the mortgage industry. (trulia.com) Contests could then consist of community projects sponsored by high school organizations involving workshops relaying this information in the community, or events involving foreclosed homes, such as clean-outs, marketing, or the additional ideas discussed here. For modest prizes, such as merchandise, gift certificates and shopping sprees, students would be allowed to demonstrate significant creativity of expression toward this material, while contributing positively to the community, and assisting in their own future success.

As Anton Chekhov stated, "Knowledge is of no value unless you put it into practice." The practicing of innovative ideas is the path to the future. In today's world, there exists more information and knowledge-sharing technology than ever before, and in order to make the best use of it, educators must coalesce with and access students' preferred methods of reception. It's an obstacle to make mortgage information interesting and relevant to a teenager, but educators have an expanse of communication options available that could be utilized innovatively and effectively. Therefore, I propose four methods as suggestions for engaging teenagers with the instruction of fiscal lessons in fun, original platforms.

First, I propose production of brief videos for websites, blogs, and social network sites covering topics of fiscal responsibility. These might consist of interviews with top financial advisors, and ideally entertainment celebrities, providing tips toward credit management, real estate specific vocabulary lessons, or promotion of resources for first-time buyers. What I think students would connect with most is independent footage, clips from shows like MTV's "Cribs" or celebrity biography programs, with descriptions and explanations of how public figures avoid losing their homes by purchasing and maintaining them on a cash basis. With portrayals of the positive effects of avoiding loans, the long-term benefits of cash vs. credit spending is made clear. Using examples of prominent figures would show teenagers that the successful in society, people they may idolize, have to make the same careful decisions with investments anyone should.

Second, I suggest an education platform of a national high school lecture tour of financial specialist guest speakers. These sessions could be copied to DVD or streamed online for effective viewing as classroom material, and give teenagers the opportunity to ask specific questions on their interests directly to an expert. The chosen speaker should be someone engaging who could communicate to adolescents at a level they can appreciate, creating popularity for and understanding of fiscal responsibility. Auditions should be held to select the prime candidate, perhaps consulting with established experts such as Suze Orman, Warren Buffet, or renown high school speakers. (premierespeakers.com)

The third educational method I propose is the professional creation of a screenplay to be donated to high school thespian departments for production. It should be a comedy sketch portrayal of home purchasing and the home buying process, realities and complications of real estate, challenges of the costs of maintaining a home once purchased, and examples of the important reasons of homeownership education. I suggest avoiding a plot about foreclosure and loss, as that may be sentimentally tragic due to personal experiences that many high school students may have had, and instead inject humor into the confusing process for the young soon-to-be first time buyers. The production of the show by the students themselves would allow students to become exposed through a comfortable, convenient medium in a familiar educational environment while incorporating individuality of expression.

My final proposed idea is the formulation of a card game similar to poker analogizing home purchasing. Although the design should be finalized by consulting with game-creation professionals, my foundational idea is to have certain cards (evens, odds, or face-cards) representing differing interest rates, and the four standard suits representing various mortgage lengths. Students would then be challenged to put together the best hand to realize the best mortgage payoff possible based on the draw. This could be used as a team building exercise, an exam, a thought-puzzle, or a playable game depending on the student's situation. This particular method has expansive benefits to a greater population, as it would not be limited by age, educational status, or literacy level. After mastery of the game, students could easily use it as a tool for education in their community using an enjoyable social atmosphere.

To conclude, "A man's errors are his portals of discovery," are the words of James Joyce. Society has an opportunity to absorb the lessons of the recent pandemonium in American finance, and institute financial, credit, and mortgage education to a teenage crowd to a wider degree. One aspect of the American legacy is the ability to continually improve for future generations; as those past have done for us today. Education can only improve the wounding impact this foreclosure crisis has had on America's emotional psyche. The connotations of the word "home" are evolving. Endearment and stability are at risk of being eroded by the pejorative, sympathetic image presented to the public now; a person losing everything. This unglamorous portrayal is threatening to become the norm image conjoined with "homeownership;" there is the edge of the slippery slope of counter-reactions in future generations' ideology concerning an historically typical cornerstone of the American way of life. Each generation through today has been afforded the chance to attain personal success and pride as owner of house and homestead, and we owe it to future generations to inherit that legacy. They must be relayed the wisdom of what we learned from our mistakes; the lessons we have taken from this crisis. To use a concluding quote of social ecologist Peter Drucker, "Knowledge has to be improved, challenged, and increased constantly, or it vanishes."