Teaching $ and sense
Here in Massachusetts we require students to take four years of physical education to graduate from high school. But the Commonwealth, birthplace of the mutual fund, does not require those same students to take a single course in managing their finances -- as important a life skill as any we will ever need.
OK, this is not the most exciting column I have ever written. But it is as important as any.
The Globe's recent Spotlight series on an underclass trapped in a debtors' hell was a classic piece of old-school journalism, comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable. It prompted an appropriate (and predictable) call for reforms that included rei ning in abusive debt collectors and leveling the playing field in the courts, which are often stacked against the little guy.
But the remedy needs to begin not only at the end of the line -- in the courts -- but at the beginning -- in the schools. And the earlier the better.
Thirty-eight states have personal finance guidelines for schools, up from 21 in 1998, according to the National Council on Economic Education. Seven states make personal finance a graduation requirement. (Alabama starts in the middle schools.) Nine states require testing in personal finance. Massachusetts is not among them.
Last year the state launched its first -- voluntary -- financial literacy program. School is about to begin, and education officials estimate about a quarter of the juniors and seniors will have gotten some instruction by the end of the year. It's not nearly enough.
Personal finance -- and economics, too -- needs to be an integral part of the core curriculum, just as is math and English -- and physical education. It should be included in the testing requirements for graduation.
Managing your finances -- your life -- isn't an optional skill today. We've moved into ``the ownership society," which roughly translates to: ``It's your problem, pal." Companies are not walking but running away from the historic pact they had with their employees. The closest most of today's students will come to an old-fashioned pension is to read about it in a history book.
The least we can do is give the kids the tools they need to survive. According to the Massachusetts Department of Education, the average credit card debt for college students is $2,327, with 21 percent carrying a balance of between $3,000 and $7,000. More students drop out of college due to teen-accumulated debt than for academic reasons. Those are frightening facts.
David P. Driscoll, the state's education commissioner, considers himself a fan of financial literacy in the schools, but is against any mandate. ``We don't have enough time in the school day or school year," he says.
The question is not how we can find time in the school day to teach kids to manage their finances. The question is how can we not. See the Globe Spotlight series for the alternative.
Neighborhood news: In the early '90s, Bob Sheridan and Tom Callahan were spitting at each other. Sheridan was president of the Massachusetts Bankers Association, and Callahan headed the Massachusetts Affordable Housing Alliance. The issue was the banks' lending practices, and the two had decidedly different views. ``He hated us," Callahan remembers.
Times change. The ``soft second" mortgage program was born out of those bitter days, and has helped put thousands of people in homes. And Callahan and Sheridan, now chief executive of Savings Bank Life Insurance Co. of Massachusetts, have repaired their relationship so thoroughly that Sheridan is heading the housing alliance's first capital campaign.
The goal: $3.5 million to build MAHA's first real headquarters, replacing the cramped house in Dorchester it has long called home. In the spirit of who it is, MAHA plans to move the house and give it away in a lottery.
It's a good cause, headed by two good guys. See www.mahahome.org or call 617-822-9100 for details.
Steve Bailey is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at bailey@globe.com or at 617-929-2902. 
