YOUNG VOICES: Personal finances is a vital course for students

Many teenagers in today's society are more then willing to ask mom and dad if they can borrow the debit card to go to the movies, go to the mall, fill up their gas tank, or whatever else they might need to spend money on to have a good time.

Whatever the expense might be, teenagers all have to admit that asking our parents to give us the cash for it is the easiest choice at that moment, but how does that prepare us for what is to come? Lake Central High School considered this and wanted to give students the upper hand when it is time for them to be on their own in the real world.

Lake Central's class of 2013 is the first class that will be required to take personal financial responsibility to graduate. I believe this is a great idea so that all teenagers learn the meaning of money, how to save it and essentially what a great deal money plays on how we will live for the rest of our lives, depending on how much money we have.

This class teaches students how to manage money, how to balance a budget, how to write a resume and many more key life skills that parents sometime neglect to teach their children before giving them that push into the real world.

Taking this class has taught me that my parents have been teaching me about what it will be like when I finally am on my own, but it has also taught me I am not nearly as prepared as I thought I would be in the fall of 2013 to go to college.

Yes, my parents have taught me the meaning of a dollar, not to take things for granted how to open up bank accounts, and other life skills little by little not to over whelm me with information, but this class has also taught me information my parents probably wouldn't have even thought about teaching me.

Personal financial responsibility is the class that every student should take during their high school career because at the end of the semester, nobody will be asking, "When in my life will I ever use this?" because no matter where your life takes you, these tools will help you succeed in life.

Caelainn Crnjak, of Dyer, is a junior at Lake Central High School. The opinion expressed in this column is the writer's and not necessarily that of The Times.