I think schools should have a class about life.
Not only finance stuff, but tax returns, resumes, cooking, change tire, and change oil (=P). basically life skills needed after graduation. I didn't learn how to a resume until college ICS101.
I have heard arguments against this type of class that say it's the parents job to teach these things. But not everyone has a parent who is smart enough, or has the time. But then I say, so learning geometry is so much more needed right.
Personal XP, I have good parents that have the time. But I learned how to do car stuff on my own. My father is more of a pay mechanic type of guy and not a DIY. Taxes also learned on my own from H and R Block online.
1 financial thing I did learn from my dad was when I wanted to be a bartender. He forbid that. He used to be one in the 70s. Had a Porscha at 19 and always $2K in cash in his pocket. He said I would make good money and always have a wad of cash in my wallet. But then I would probably drop out of college like he did and then as I get older, realize it's to late to get out of the bar industry. He was lucky, he went from restaurant industry to white collar in his 30's. But already, he basically missed the first 7 years of my life due to being a restaurant manager.
My Middle School in the 70s had something called Life Skills classes. There were about 6-8 courses you could choose from. You'd register for 8 of them in a school year -- two per quarter. The first part of the class was choosing your own activities from a box of laminated sheets. Each activity related to a career in that course.
If I can recall, I took courses in:
Personal Services
Business Skills
Building Services
Music Skills
Arts and Crafts Skills
There were more, but I can't remember the names.
So, for example, in Arts & Crafts, I learned to make leather items like belts, key rings, and wrist bands, all customized for the person with their name and design. I learned screen printing and how to make posters with a printing press. In Music, I learned to play the Ukulele and several other small instruments plus how to read and write music scores. In Business, we learned to use several office machines -- IBM Selectric typewriters, mechanical and electric adding machines, cash registers, etc., as well as how to do basic accounting and balancing accounts. We even practiced selling things and making change.
Overall, you could get 3-10 activities finished in the time allowed, sometimes more. There was a kiln in the arts & crafts area which took longer, since you had to prep the clay, mold your items, then fire them overnight. Then you could decorate then and apply glaze.
At the end of each Life/Career class, before moving on to the next type of skills, you sat down for 2-3 days in a skills library and research the various jobs and careers available for the activities you practiced. You found how much education was needed, how many years of experience needed to be come proficient or expert, and what the current income was that you could expect based on years of experience, training or formal education.
Those are all important factors when deciding on what you want to be when you finish school.