MO KNOWS
DIAGNOSED WITH IGNORANCE
A required course that teaches teenagers valuable financial skills would help CCHS students enter adulthood feeling confident and ready to support themselves monetarily.
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ith Clarke Central High School classes as advanced as Advanced Placement Calculus and as niche as mythology, BY MOLLY HARWELL it is surprising that Viewpoints Editor the Clarke County School District has devalued financial education courses that should be essential to a teenager’s learning experience. According to a study by Statista.com, 68% of nationally surveyed adults between the ages of 1829 are “somewhat” to “not very” financially literate. Public high schools are not preparing their students for the real world, especially in a financial sense. “A 2016 survey indicated that only 31% of young Americans (ages 18 to 26) agreed that their high school education did a good job of teaching them healthy financial habits,” an article by Champlain College Online stated. High school seniors are often thrown into athe financially-driven world with little to no education on how to complete crucial financial tasks such as balancing a checkbook, filing taxes and establishing a high credit score. Education is crucial when it comes to money. If students are educated on saving from a young age, they will be more fit to support themselves as they encounter financial issues. “A survey of 15-year-olds in the United States found that 18 percent of respondents did not learn fundamental financial skills that are often applied in everyday situations, such as building a simple budget, comparison shopping and understanding an invoice,” a survey published by Youth.gov, a website dedicated to supporting and well-being of youth, stated. Though administrators at CCHS have made some efforts to help students become financially independent through the economics courses offered, CCHS Assistant Principal Dr. Summer Smith recognizes that a lack of practical education remains. “If you're asking about the real world, I don't know that a lot of our students are prepared because a lot of (financial skills) we don't teach -- it's all academic, right?” Smith said. For example, On Level and Advanced Macroeconomics classes at CCHS touch on a variety of personal finance topics, such as personal budgets, online banking and how to write a check, but this
is the only class that offers this information and it is The Wisconsin State Assembly Education Comonly available to non-Advanced non-AP seniors.Placement seniors. mittee is currently working to pass a bill for the While this is an important start, there needs to 2022-23 school year that would institute a policy in be more emphasis on the importance of financial in high high schools schools where where students students would would have have to to comliteracy starting in ninth grade and for everyone at com-plete plete a financial a financial literacy literacy creditcredit in order in order to receive to the school. receive their diplomas, their diplomas, according according to a Feb.to1aWisconsin Feb. 1 Another reason that financial education is crucial Public Wisconsin Radio Public article. Radio article. at CCHS today is because of the High school seniors are often thrown high poverty rate in Athens. With a poverty rate of 32.4%, Athens-Clarke into a very financially-driven world County is one of the poorest with little to no education on how to counties in Georgia, according to an complete crucial financial tasks. article by the Grady News Source of the University of Georgia. In low-income households, individuals may not At CCHS, administrators should implement this have a wide range of accurate financial resources to legislature to further develop students’ financial learn from, thus making financial education more education. With this change, CCHS students would important in schools. have to have a financial education credit to prove “With such illiteracy, youth in low-income that they have a well-rounded, general knowledge households can fall victim later as adults to scams, of how to budget and spend wisely. high-interest rate loans and increasing debt,” an Being financially literate is a vital part of post-secarticle by Youth.gov stated. ondary life, which can help students get jobs, gain One way to resolve this issue would be to skills in saving and march into the real world implement a required course on financial literacy financially competent. separate from Macroeconomics before graduation.
Mental illnesses are often stigmatized and misunderstood as a result of ignorant phrases that trivialize the experiences that those with mental illnesses may endure.
“I
am so OCD!” “That literally gave me PTSD.” “We all have a little ADHD!” These phrases have permeated contemporary BY ANTONIO STARKS society for quite Viewpoints Staffer some time. This thoughtless behavior downplays mental illness and creates a misinformed understanding of its realities within society. While ignorance of the intricacies and nuances of mental health isn’t a new problem, a recent development has been the trend of neurotypical people exaggerating their behaviors and self-diagnosing for attention. Mental illnesses encompass a wide range of conditions that affect mood, thinking and behavior, according to Mayo Clinic. These are serious, diagnosed aspects of someone’s health, not to be conflated with daily changes in mood. The trivialization of mental illnesses and the normalization of this behavior is harmful to people who suffer from mental disorders, as well as the people who make these “jokes”. “Writing off group-based disparagement humor
as ‘just jokes’ may serve to legitimize hierarchy-enhancing beliefs and assumptions that otherwise might have been considered socially unacceptable,” a 2020 article published in the International Journal of Humor Research stated.
humor and normalizes the stigmatization of mental issues. If one should come across someone who engages in this behavior, educating them on why making those kinds of jokes are wrong is a valid option. A simple explanation of how those statements can be harmful to people with mental health issues would benefit everyone involved. This isn’t the responsibility of those with mental health issues, but of neurotypical people to teach each others how to respect those with mental disorders. Tackling ignorance with indifference will simply allow uneducated ideas to swell and multiply across friend groups, close-knit communities and schools. While it may just be all fun and jokes for some, trivializing mental illnesses can have upsetting effects on others emotionally, physically and mentally. One should educate themselves and others on the topic of mental illness and how to tell the difference between an adjective to describe one’s personality and a serious condition. O
While it may just be all jokes and fun for some, trivializing mental illnesses can have upsetting effects on others emotionally, physically and mentally. According to a 2020 survey published on Statista, 30% of adults between the ages of 18-25 have some form of mental disorders such as depression, anxiety or ADHD. Along with this, nearly 50% of teens are diagnosed with a mental disorder, as reported by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). The number of people in high school who have mental health conditions makes it even more important for high school students to make the effort to understand those who have mental illnesses. Misunderstanding of mental illness can quickly become common as it’s cloaked in the veil of
Left: EVERYONE, INTERRUPTED: A situation occurs in which a person misconstrues what ADHD is, and another person corrects him. Mental illnesses and disorders have been stigmatized by society due to widespread misunderstandings of neurodivergent individuals. “While it may just be all fun and jokes for some, trivializing mental illnesses can have upsetting effects on others emotionally, physically and mentally” Starks wrote. Illustration by Antonio Starks
Above: TAXES TROUBLE: A graduating high school student stares up at mounds of financial obligation, not knowing what to do or where to start. Graduating seniors often leave high school with little understanding of how to support themselves financially, so a required course that taught the importance of financial literacy would help students move into the real world safely and securely. “In low-income households, individuals may not have a wide range of accurate financial resources to learn from, thus making financial education more important in schools,” Harwell wrote. Illustration by Eleanor Robinson
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Viewpoints
Viewpoints
March/April 2022
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