Jeff Davis faculty and students optimistic about financial literacy requirement

HATHAWAY, La. (KPLC) – It’s a basic skill set we all need in life: how to manage our money, from budgeting to banking.

Louisiana is now one of the states that requires students to take a financial education class in order to graduate and receive TOPS.

“It’s probably one of the classes where there’s the least resistance because they know they need it for the future,” said Jodi Deshotel, a teacher at Hathaway High School.

Deshotel has been a teacher for 22 years and has taught financial education classes for about seven years. She says that even before the course was required, students were excited to take it.

“Sometimes I have students here who are working on dual enrollment classes or things like that because this is a lab environment and I always had students who were like, ‘I wish I was in this class,’ because they hear what we’re doing while they’re doing their thing and they’re like, ‘I need to know this,’ but they didn’t actually get to take the class,” Deshotel said.

Now every student in Louisiana will have that opportunity.

“I know that even when I was in school, our generation didn’t have this subject available. So a lot of us learned the hard way. And while it’s a subject that a lot of people think should be taught at home, a lot of homes don’t have the background to teach it to their children,” Deshotel said.

HHS junior Channing Gary is currently enrolled in Deshotel’s financial literacy class.

“It’s different because in this class you don’t think like you do in other classes. You feel like you really need to learn and know what you’re going through because these are things that you’ll actually use in real life. Not just some math problems that you’ll never use,” Gary said. “I would like to learn about investing. I just want to be smart with my money. How to invest and where to invest.”

Jeff Davis Parish Career and Technical Education Supervisor Danielle Semien says parents have also responded positively to the change.

“We haven’t had any complaints,” Simien said. “I think a lot of parents are excited about the idea of ​​their kids actually acquiring this knowledge.”

Other topics that will be covered throughout the course include budgeting, insurance, and taxes.

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