Teaching dollars & cents in the classroom

CHILDREN are expected to learn the three "R's" (reading, 'riting' and 'rithmetic) before they leave grade school. But there is a growing belief in Black America that finance should be added to the three "R's." For although young people spend an estimated $89 billion a year, survey shows that when it comes to money matters, many children -- especially Black children -- haven't got a clue.

"Our children don't care about buying $150 sneakers because they don't know the value of $150," says Cassandra Mills, president of the Black Music division of Giant Records. "If they did, they might not want to spend that whole sum on shoes." Mills, who learned how to handle from the school of hard knocks, believes that Blacks need to institute family traditions that include giving money to one another. "For the most part, Black families don't sit their children down and explain what money is and how it works," she laments. "We don't educate our children early enough about money matters; but if we want economic empowerment, we need to first control the dollars."

Experts say parents are not the only source of financial guidance for children. "If they aren't getting [money messages] from home, it's from their friends," says Debra Frazier, assistant professor and banking and finance director for Johnson C. Smith University i Charlotte, N.C. "But," she adds, "nine times out of ten they aren't learning [about money] at all."

Frazier, who also instructs campus-and community-based financial and retirement planning workshops, believes the main hope for improving the financial standing of the Black community is by reaching out to the youth. "Lets' face it, it's more fun to spend money than to save it," she concedes. "But we must teach our children not only how to save money, but also how to manage it. If you teach them at an early age, it will become second nature."

Money matters may begin at home, but many schools have successfully linked with local banks to teach children the basics of budgeting and money management.

Through simulated and actual banking/school programs nationwide, including projects at the Hubert Humphrey School (P.S. 57) on Staten Island, N.Y., Dixon Elementary School in Chicago, the E. R. Carter Elementary School in Atlanta, and the community-based D. Edward Wells Youth Credit Union Program in Springfield, Mass., schoolchildren have benefitted greatly. Black children have also learned to open savings accounts, participate in investment clubs and to complete deposit and withdrawal slips. In some cases, they are even taught how to operate their own banks.

For the past decade, fourth- and fifth-graders at the Hubert Humphrey School (P.S. 57) on Staten Island, N.Y., have put their classroom math skills to work in the school's simulated banking. In a joint effort with Citibank, school principal, Lawrence Ambrosino, and his staff, duplicated an authentic banking environment which provides life-size teller windows and life-like credit card machines for the children to practice transactions. Twice a month, students cash in fake kiddie dollars, earned through good grades and good behavior, for prizes of pencils, erasers or other supplies. Students who retain the most "dollars" at the end of the school year win real $100 savings bonds.

The payoff for students at Chicago's Dixon Elementary School is a rich experience, school principal Joan Crisler says, in a real-to-life banking laboratory. Fifth- and sixth-grade students deal with real cash at the Dixon-Eagle Community Bank, the school's joint effort with Seaway National Bank. To date, the bank, which is primarily staffed by preteens, holds assets which exceed $6,500. Students open accounts with $10 and make deposits as small as a nickel. "We can't change children's values about money, but we hope that they learn some practical lessons," explains bank consultant Faye Terrell-Perkins. "Kids who put in $20 and then take it out, quickly learn that it doesn't make a lot of sense because they haven't allowed their money to work for them." She explains that interest is earned every three months.

Another school determined to teach children the benefits of saving is Atlanta's E.R. Carter Elementary School. "In some of our inner-city communities, the children live from day to day. It's hard to get someone to delay gratification who has never been gratified," says Clifton Tinsley, Carter School principal. "But that's something we're trying to get across through the banking program." The year-old financial project, operated by parents and teachers once a week, is a partnership with the school, Morehouse Medical School, and Atlanta's Southside and Trust Company banks.

Schools aren't the only ones reaching out to the youth. Grassroot organizations, such as the D. Edward Wells Youth Credit Union Program in Springfield, Mass., also familiarize Black youths with the banking process. More than 900 young people, ranging from ages 7 to 17, have worked in and contributed to the operation, which boasts assets of $35,000. Not only do youngsters, most of whom aren't old enough to drive, manage the facility year-round, they also conduct managerial workshops, coordinate their own meetings, and participate in seminars that teach the basics of investing, saving and even the fundamentals of buying a car and apartment hunting.