In every high school, there should be a class dedicated to teaching how taxes work, how to get insurance, how to rent or pay mortgage, and how to not get into financial trouble with banks.
Interestingly, we had one in my high school way back in 19-80-something. It was called Personal Finance. I don’t recall whether it was a graduation requirement, but I seem to recall that it was only available to the upperclass.
We learned – in as much as 9 or 18 weeks would allow – a bit about taxes, checking accounts, income, household expenses, budgets, and savings.
We also explored some of the basic financial aspects of small businesses. Even having gone as far as creating, planning, and forecasting performance for our mock business.
I would speculate (admittedly rather wildly) that such courses are no longer offered because they do nothing to ensure kids get passing grades on – and the school additional funding from – next April’s NAEP testing.
the rest of me 