Record: Tricia Wright, “Comparing the Financial Literacy of Public School, Christian School, and Homeschooled Students” in Journal of Research on Christian Education 25, no. 1 (2016): 56-75. [Abstract]
Summary: Wright is the founder of Elite Educational Services, Inc. and completed this study while in the Ed.D. program at Bob Jones University. In this article she explores the personal finance literacy and behavior of Christian college students who attended public schools, Christian schools, and home schools.
Wright starts with a discussion of financial literacy. In recent years, a number of self-proclaimed financial advisors have appeared in popular culture. In evangelical Christian circles, Dave Ramsey and Larry Burkett are two influential teachers of financial literacy. While society requires increasingly sophisticated financial knowledge, previous studies have found that many young people are unprepared to make smart financial decisions. Other studies have also found that males tend to be more financially literate than females and that people become more financially literate as they age. People from lower income families or families with limited education are at a disadvantage when it comes to having strong financial literacy. The gender gap may exist because the previous studies found that students in predominantly male, quantitative subjects like mathematics, economics, or sciences had stronger financial literacy.
The sample for this study comes from the senior class of a private Christian liberal arts university. The university’s total enrollment in 2012 was 2,976 undergraduate students. 51.6% of the student body attended Christian schools, 34.4% were homeschooled, and 12.6% attended public schools. Of the 621 seniors who were invited to participate in the study, 122 responded and were included in the analysis. 63.9% of the respondents were female, and most of the respondents were between 21 and 23 years old. 50.0% of the sample attended a Christian school, 41.8% were homeschooled, and 4.9% graduated from a public school. Section I of the questionnaire that they responded to included 31 questions from the Jump$tart Coalition to determine their personal financial literacy. Section II included 32 questions about demographics, personal finance behavior, and personal finance education.
The respondents scored an average of 68.32% on the financial literacy test. This is slightly higher than the average of 62.2% that a similar study found using the same questionnaire. The scores ranged from 25.81% to 93.55%. A score of 70% is considered proficient. Using the results of her questionnaire, Wright first concludes that there is a statistically significant association between personal finance literacy and behavior. Second, Wright did not find a statistically significant difference in personal finance literacy among college students based on the type of school that they attended. The average financial literacy score for each of the three forms of schooling were within a range of 1.5%.
Wright concludes with a plea for Christian higher education to take financial literacy seriously. According to Wright, the seniors at this Christian university do not have an appropriate level of knowledge and understanding of money management concepts. According to policymakers, the financial crisis of 2008 was largely brought on widespread personal finance illiteracy, so implementing an improved financial education is important for avoiding future financial crises.
Appraisal: This article says more about society’s general lack of financial knowledge than it does about homeschooling specifically. However, it is interesting that there was no difference between the three types of schools in terms of financial literacy. While many homeschoolers choose to live thriftily since homeschooling often involves the loss of an income, this did not come through in the results. Nevertheless, it is necessary to remember that her sample comes from a private Christian college where 85% attended either a Christian school or a homeschool. In terms of backgrounds, students from all three types of schools likely had a similar religious upbringing. If they were compared to students from a secular university, homeschoolers may have appeared very differently.
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