Americans Want Financial Literacy to be Taught in School, Study Finds

By Tyler Schmall  // SWNS

NEWS COPY w/ VIDEO & INFOGRAPHIC

How to file taxes, managing your money, and even managing your mental well-being number among the top things Americans wish they had learned in school growing up, according to new research.

The fascinating new revelation came from a survey of 2,000 Americans which found that many people thought their time in school could have been better spent learning more practical lessons.

Also numbering among the top five skills we WISH we learned in school were how to negotiate, and better understanding of how student debt and loans really work.

The new survey, conducted by OnePoll on behalf of H&R Block, asked Americans about their schooling growing up and aimed to identify some skills that get thrown by the wayside in favor of traditional school subjects.

Amazingly, the average American says they learned nearly half of their current job skills on the job as opposed to in a classroom.

Not only that, 84 percent of Americans say that there are things they learned in school that they have never had to utilize in real life at all.

In fact, the survey asked Americans which courses they’d rather take when given a practical choice and a traditional choice and here is how those results shook out.

When it comes to a class on tax preparation or a calculus class, only 13 percent of Americans said they’d rather learn calculus.

And when asked to choose between a class on how to do household repairs and an algebra class, only 17 percent picked algebra.

Incredibly, the average American estimates they’ve forgotten nearly half (40 percent) of everything they learned in school growing up and only actually use 37 percent.

“It’s clear from the results that a lot of Americans aren’t as confident as they’d like to be when it comes to many day-to-day life skills, including how to file their own taxes,” said Heather Watts, senior vice president and general manager of digital at H&R Block. “Choosing an online tax preparation service that’s intuitive and provides options for additional assistance – whether that’s a little or a lot – can help relieve some of their anxiety this tax season.”

The Pythagorean theorem, knowing that PI is 3.14, and the periodic table numbers among the top “useless” things Americans learned in school, along with the types of rocks and knowing all of the U.S. Presidents.
Nearly every American surveyed (89 percent) agrees that life would be a lot easier for them now had they learned more practical skills in high school, with the average American saying they don’t actually grasp “adult” life skills until the age of 29.

This bleeds into our adult lives in many ways, but properly doing taxes appears to be a big source of anxiety for many Americans.

Over half of Americans (55 percent) say they currently file their taxes by themselves, but the vast majority of them fear they aren’t doing them as efficiently as they could be.

“According to the survey, a lot of Americans wish they knew more about how to accurately prepare their own taxes and H&R Block can help them feel less intimidated by the process,” said Watts. “Whether someone wants to use our new Ask a Tax Pro service and have unlimited, on-demand chat sessions and screen sharing capabilities with a tax expert as they complete their own return, or if they prefer to use our Tax Pro Review service and have their completed return reviewed and filed by a tax pro, H&R Block can help them in a way they’re most comfortable.”

1. Money management and budgeting                                     57%
2. How to properly do taxes                                                      44%
3. How to manage emotional/mental wellbeing                        42%
4. Understanding credit and student loans                               39%
5. How to negotiate                                                                   39%
6. Time management                                                                35%
7. Household repairs                                                                 34%
8. How to make conversation/personal relationship skills         33%
9. Car repair and maintenance                                                  31%
10. How to find a job                                                                   30%

1. Pythagorean theorem                                                               48%
2. Knowing PI is 3.14                                                                    40%
3. Periodic table                                                                            40%
4. The types of rocks                                                                     37%
5. The difference between protons, neutrons, and electrons        37%
6. Mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell                               35%
7. Naming the presidents in order                                                 35%
8. Osmosis                                                                                    32%
9. How to make paper snowflakes                                                30%
10. Photosynthesis                                                                         30%