For more than a hundred years, students have studied the same core subjects: math, science, reading, writing, and history. There are exceptions, of course, but generally high schools stick to the same basic structure.
In the last four years alone (coincidentally, my high school career), massive shifts in technology and economic impacts from the pandemic have made a huge impact on what jobs and learning look like, suggesting we need to rethink these core subjects.
From the way students like me research to the way we simulate real-world scenarios, like job applications, AI is rewriting the rules of daily life. There has also been a long-overdue increased focus on financial literacy as an essential skill my generation needs to know as we navigate a new world, new jobs and new ways of managing a household.
Before my senior year of high school, I had never really used AI. At first, my parents thought AI was dangerous, like something out of a sci-fi movie—plus they feared for my privacy.
And honestly? I didn’t have a good reason to disagree. My plan, at least for a while, was to avoid AI.
Similarly, home finances and budgeting were never topics of conversation at my house. It wasn’t that it was taboo, but invisible.
I always had what I needed, but the “how” and “why” behind it were never explained. Bills were paid, groceries were bought, but there was no discussion of budgets, saving, investing or even the simple mechanics of how our finances worked.
It felt like a grown-up mystery, something I wasn’t supposed to understand until I became an adult myself. My financial literacy course in high school helped me uncover that mystery.
Financial literacy became a graduation requirement in New Jersey in 2014. At my school, the course comes with a new twist: we pair it with instruction on AI.
We learned how to budget and track expenses, so we could better understand where our money goes, covering topics like savings accounts, credit cards, retirement planning and investing.
At first, I didn’t see how AI and financial literacy could be connected. But as we used AI to brainstorm short-term and long-term financial goals, like starting a business, buying a home and achieving financial stability, I started to see its value.
For example, AI was able to understand my specific financial circumstances to help me create a personalized budget for my first year of college.
My parents’ concerns lingered in my mind, but as I got more comfortable, their warnings faded and were replaced with real knowledge of AI’s limitations and how to avoid bias. AI may not be aware of the latest information, and is a tool that is still learning and developing.
We were taught the importance of fact-checking and consulting multiple credible sources to get the right information, and that citing sources appropriately is critical, as submitting AI-generated work as your own work is dishonest and plagiarism.
Schools have the opportunity and responsibility to ensure every student is introduced to tools like AI and concepts like financial literacy that will shape their future, not just depend on family members to teach them. AI instruction and financial literacy are no longer luxuries or electives. They are necessities.
AI is not here to replace real human interactions and the social and emotional benefits that come with them, but it can support our learning in powerful ways. In a world where banking and investing now live in apps, understanding basic financial concepts is critical to make sure we are using the technology, not the other way around.
With proper support and an emphasis on building critical thinking skills to know how to ask the right questions, students can learn to use AI and financial literacy skills in ways that change their lives.
So much has changed in the last four years. When I started high school, I didn’t even know what AI was, and “financial” and “literacy” were two terms I had never heard of together. Now, I can’t imagine if I had graduated without the skills I gained in these courses as I prepare for a career in nursing and running my future household.
It’s time we make AI and financial literacy as central to education as math and reading. The future is already here; my generation needs to be ready for it.
