‘Kids are terrified of debt’: State superintendent pitches new life-skills class for WA high schoolers

Washington State Superintendent Chris Reykdal is proposing a year-long class that teaches practical life skills for students after high school, such as building a resume, job applications, financial aid, debt, voting, and more.

Reykdal joined “The Gee and Ursula Show” on KIRO Newsradio to explain in depth what the new class is looking to achieve, why he views it as a strong need for students, and what pushback the new proposal may face.

“Here’s the gap that we’re trying to fill: We’ve got 85,000 kids or so who graduate every year. About 60% go to college, less than 2% go to the military, and a third of them either work or take some time off,” Reykdal said. “All of them run into a whole different world than the comfort of school immediately afterwards. They’re asked to fill out applications, agreements of debt, whether it’s a car, going to school, a home loan, or credit card debt. There are a ton of things that students are exposed to that we just think we can finally help with, because we have a system now.

“This high school and beyond plan challenges students to think about their career and post-secondary options,” he continued. “We have three E’s we talk about here all the time, which is after high school, we want you employed, enrolled, or enlisted. We have the ability and expectation to help students launch in a more formal way, pairing our half credit of civics with a half credit of financial literacy. One solid full-year course that integrates that stuff would be an enormous amount of high-touch support for kids that they’ve never had in Washington.”

Reykdal explained that the outcry from students on additional education surrounding financial literacy has been plentiful, leading to his proposal that addresses the students’ needs.

“Kids tell us consistently, ‘I’m terrified of debt. I won’t qualify for aid. My family doesn’t have the funds for $100,000 in tuition and living expenses for a four-year degree. I don’t know what to do,'” he said. “A lot of them just choose work as a default, and that isn’t necessarily what they want. They tell us they want more. We’re flipping the script so that students have high expectations of what it means to be successful in their next step. Mostly what they will face in the first five to 10 years of post-high school life.”

Reykdal addresses a common argument: that parents should teach these skills at home

KIRO Ursula Reutin thought about what sort of pushback this change would have, and mentioned one of the many things she hears when a new proposal in schooling arises is that parents should be teaching it at home. Ursula asked how Reykdal would respond to that argument.

“We get that with every subject. We want this taught at school and at home,” Reykdal said. “There’s always a need for the formal side of this. Teachers trained in this stuff that can complement what happens at home, and we all know that there are some families under such duress that it isn’t happening, or perhaps they have the wrong information; they’re teaching the opposite of maybe good practices.

“It’s complementary, but gosh, if that was the logic, then we wouldn’t teach math; that should be done at home, and we shouldn’t teach reading, that should be done at home,” he continued. “This would really help students in an unprecedented way, and this launch course is that. Registering to vote, getting access to financial aid, filling out all the forms you need for post-secondary, apprenticeship, or military, with an educator walking alongside you all year, your senior year to help you, is unprecedented and game-changing.”

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

Listen to Gee and Ursula on “The Gee and Ursula Show” weekday mornings from 9 am to 12 pm on KIRO Newsradio.