Peach County financial literacy courses drawing raves

FORT VALLEY -- Students and parents alike often express a desire to learn more real-world skills in school, and the Peach County school system is giving high schoolers that opportunity.

Peach County High School offers two business tracks, one of which takes students through the basics of business into financial literacy concepts and finishes with banking, investments and insurance.

“To me, it’s critical that kids understand where money comes from,” said Jason Flanders, the deputy principal at Peach County High School and director of career programs.

Such classes have the support of Georgia’s superintendent of schools, Richard Woods, who heard from students eager for financial literacy courses during a recent visit to Middle Georgia.

“In today’s society, individuals need personal finance classes more than ever,” Woods said in an email. “I am a proponent of increasing access for strong financial literacy classes so students are more prepared for life.”

The courses are taught by John Morris, the son of a businessman. He said many of the concepts taught on the financial track are inspired by conversations with managers and owners at local businesses who serve on an advisory council for the program.

“They tell us what kids are lacking, and they tell us it’s the soft skills,” he said.

Those skills are ones that aren’t outlined in the state’s standards for the business track, but Morris has added them anyway, particularly in his freshman-level course, introduction to business technology. Soft skills include things such as making eye contact, using a firm handshake and other non-verbal markers -- posture and punctuality, for example -- for interviews and work days.

Overall professional image is especially important when students go on job interviews, Morris said.

“People know whether they’re going to hire you within the first 15 seconds of an interview,” he said.

The students are picking up on the importance of those concepts and have recognized it goes beyond a first impression.

“Because without soft skills, you can be the best engineer in the world, but nobody’s going to come to you if you have a nasty attitude,” student Johnny Hernandez said.

The junior also picked up lessons from the later courses, as he pointed to the need for a savings account. Morris teaches lessons inspired by radio host and financial expert Dave Ramsey, which direct students to start with a $1,000 savings account as an “emergency fund.”

Eventually, that should increase to three to six months of savings, but the $1,000 fund allows a person to raise his or her insurance deductibles and lower premiums, along with other benefits.

“You should always have a backup savings ... because you never know when you might need it,” Hernandez said.

Morris said that he thinks tips about savings accounts and insurance policies stick with students because he can relate it to their lives. Many of them, he said, have seen their parents struggle without proper financial planning and can avoid that if they can even put away $25 per month.

“I think, from my standpoint, I think they see how it impacts their lives,” he said.

Some of the topics from the personal finance classes deal with more day-to-day issues, like how to set up a checking account. That helps students learn to track their money and see where each dollar goes.

Keneisa Ford, also a junior, said she’s learned how to write checks and do general business at a bank, among other things.

“I just feel a lot better knowing I took this class,” she said.

The students also aren’t waiting to apply what they’ve learned. Lance Tabor said the communication and personal image skills he’s picked up have made him more respectful when dealing with his friends.

“I make eye contact better,” he said. “I listen to them better ... instead of just on my phone texting while they’re talking.”

Both Morris and Flanders said the goal of the course track was to give students the chance to take classes that they feel will help them succeed. The students seemed to receive that message and expressed more confidence about life after high school.

“This class actually teaches you how to go out there and handle it on your own,” Hernandez said.

To contact writer Jeremy Timmerman, call 744-4331 or find him on Twitter @MTJTimm.

This story was originally published September 5, 2015 at 10:20 PM with the headline "Peach County financial literacy courses drawing raves ."