New Advanced Financial Algebra class creates an opportunity for students to expand financial literacy.
The new course is an alternative fourth-year math class with advanced algebra as a prerequisite.
“Personal finance is a small sub-branch of economics,” Scott Murri, geometry and Advanced Financial Algebra teacher, said. “[Advanced Financial Algebra] is really just diving deep into that small sub branch of economics. It’s all a personal finance perspective. It’s budgeting, banking, personal credit, employment considerations, paying for college, taxes, investments, those types of things.”
Between the two Advanced Financial Algebra teachers, Murri and Ronald Lewis, the new course has roughly 100 students, including senior Gigi Highlander. Highlander said she hopes to apply skills she learns through concepts in the course to learn how finance operates outside of the classroom.
“It applies to actual real life world concepts that we face once we leave high school,” Highlander said. “It’s a good start base. I think not many go out there knowing how finance works at all.”
This is Murri’s second year teaching at Midtown, but he has had years of experience teaching Advanced Financial Algebra at his past school, North Gwinnett High School. Murri describes the course as perfectly matching him after earning an undergraduate degree in economics and attaining a masters in math education.
“A lot of students really did think [the Advanced Financial Algebra course] was very important,” Murri said. “They were learning a lot of things that they thought were going to help them in the now. A lot of these things, like budgeting and employment considerations, paying for college, that’s all very applicable right now to a lot of these students. They were very happy to be in the course. They felt like they took a lot away from it.”
Murri said he hopes to make the class an engaging experience for students to develop skills they can continue to use to their advantage post graduation. Presenting articles to spark discussion questions, analyzing data on purchasing practices and learning about the consequences of being financially irresponsible are several ways Murri strives to create an impact on students’ financial literacy.
“I always start a concept with the ways it’s going to be important to them,” Murri said. “How are you going to use this information to make better financial decisions? That’s the hook. That’s what gets students engaged and makes sure that they understand that this is important. Apply it to their life. I tell them why they’re going to need this information and what could potentially happen if they weren’t using this information.”
Murri has also taught Advanced Financial Algebra to middle schoolers, but found high schoolers can better apply the lessons in the course outside of the classroom.
“Middle schoolers didn’t have a lot of working knowledge,” Murri said. “It also felt kind of far away from a lot of the things. It didn’t feel very applicable, like stuff they would use far in the future. I would still have some students who have a little bit of financial literacy, and so, they would appreciate it a lot. The high schoolers definitely appreciate it much more. It’s much more applicable to them. Lots of these students have a working knowledge of these concepts to some extent already, and they’re just trying to expand their knowledge on it.”
Senior Joshua Jimenez already has a job and believes taking Advanced Financial Algebra will give him and other students a better understanding on how to manage their income. Jimenez said he thinks the class will have a long-term benefit on how he makes financial decisions.
“I feel like at the end of the year, people will learn more about personal finances like managing your money better because you’re not going to just be able to spend and spend it,” Jimenez said. “I think, because of this class, we’ll be financially responsible.”
Murri hopes to have a more financially-literate graduating class every year while the course progresses.
“I’m really excited for the course to be here,” Murri said. “I’m so happy that they let me come back to teach it because I enjoy teaching it so much. I would just implore people if they see students that are in the class to talk to them about it and just see what it’s all about. It’s a brand new course, so it’s got a lot of growing to do, but that being said, I think these students are already enjoying it to some extent. I would like to think that they’re talking to their peers about the course, so they might gain some insight and maybe want to take the course themselves.”
