Investing Joins 3 R’s at Unusual School In Chicago Focused On Financial Literacy
Like their peers elsewhere, the students at a one-of-a-kind public elementary school on the South Side of Chicago are dazzled by pop-culture stars — Beyonce and Common, Kanye West and Lil’ Wayne, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade.
Listen closely to the hallway chatter at Ariel Community Academy, though, and you may hear unexpected references to uncool dudes like Warren Buffett and Bill Gates. After all, these kids have their portfolios to worry about.
The Ariel school is an experiment in financial literacy with real-life oomph: Each incoming first-grade class gets $20,000 that the children ultimately get to pick stocks for and manage.
The goal is to add an I — investing — to the three R’s, according John Rogers Jr., chairman and chief executive of Ariel Capital Management, the Chicago-based money management firm that established the school in 1996.
Experts say easy credit, aggressive marketing and the dizzying array of financial products and cashless spending options have led many American consumers astray, making it more essential than ever for kids to learn about money.
Iowa State University professor Tahira Hira, a member of the newly formed President’s Advisory Council on Financial Literacy, is among those advocating that personal finance be required teaching at every elementary school.
“People who were brought up with some lesson in saving or borrowing act differently than those who weren’t,” Hira said. Opening bank accounts for children, buying them stock in a fast-food company or the company that makes their favorite toy, teaching them to spend some, save some and give some away when they receive cash as a gift — “our research shows that all those things do matter,” she said.
