Staff Op-Ed: Is “Financial Literacy” the Wrong Lesson?

Students today hear a lot about financial literacy. We’re told that if we learn to budget, save money, understand credit, and plan for the future, we can build a stable life. Schools, banks, and social media repeat the same message: knowledge about money leads to success.

But what if that idea is only part of the truth?

Traditionally, literacy means the ability to read, write, and understand information. It measures comprehension—not outcomes. Someone who can read is considered literate even if they never become a famous author. Literacy is about understanding, not wealth or status.

The phrase financial literacy, however, stretches that meaning. It doesn’t just ask whether someone understands money. It can also imply that financial struggle happens because a person did not learn enough or make the right choices. This shift draws attention away from larger economic realities like low wages, rising housing costs, student debt, expensive healthcare, and limited job opportunities for young people entering the workforce.

Researchers have questioned this assumption. Economist Annamaria Lusardi, a leading scholar in financial education, argues that while financial knowledge is important, education alone cannot overcome structural economic barriers that shape people’s financial outcomes. In other words, understanding money helps—but it is not the only factor that determines stability or success.

This stretching of a word’s meaning is sometimes called concept creep, when a term expands so widely that it begins to explain problems it was never meant to solve. When literacy starts being used to explain poverty or financial hardship, the conversation risks turning a complex social issue into a simple personal failure.

To be clear, financial education does matter. Knowing how interest works, how to avoid predatory loans, how credit scores function, and how to save consistently can protect people from serious financial mistakes. Thank you Myrna and Iesha for teaching these skills at Forsyth that are valuable, practical, and necessary for adulthood.

But education alone cannot fix an economy where rent rises faster than paychecks or where full-time work does not always guarantee stability. Knowledge helps people navigate the system—it does not control the system.

Students deserve more than lessons on how to survive financially. They deserve real opportunity, fair wages, affordable education, and access to resources that make long-term stability possible. Without those conditions, financial literacy risks becoming advice for managing scarcity rather than a pathway to genuine security.

Financial literacy is important—but it is only one tool, not the entire solution. Because the real goal isn’t just to read the rules of the economy. It’s to live in one where everyone has a fair chance to succeed.