This may sound ridiculous to some. Maybe, as adults, we assume too much (or too little) about teens. The irony is this: we send our 18-year-old kids out into the world ready to recite Shakespeare (a highly marketable skill), at the drop of a hat, calculate the trajectory of a projectile in physics class (the egg drop at Lagoon), and identify the difference between a heart and a kidney in a dissected frog.

However, most of these kids wouldn’t be able to explain the difference between a fixed-rate mortgage and car payment. And that is literally the biggest Shakespeare tragedy. This is one of the biggest financial decisions they will be making in their lives.

Recently I had the opportunity to test this in real life. I was invited to speak to a group of junior and senior high school kids. I came armed with a PowerPoint presentation full of fun, colorful, cartoonish slides in hopes of keeping them partially engaged. I had expected a polite nod or two from the quiet studious ones, perhaps more blank stares from the majority, maybe a few kids nodding off and the rest intent on staring at TikTok videos on their phones. Instead, the response I got was completely unexpected.

Before I even clicked onto the first of my witty and engaging slide show masterpiece, I asked the kids a question. “How many of you think you’ll own a home someday?” Every single hand in the room went up. This filled me with hope for our future. This was exciting.

As a side note, when I am speaking of something that I am passionate about, whether I have an audience or not, I start to become quite animated. I wasn’t ever aware I was doing this until my husband took a video of it one day and showed me. He informed me that my voice changes, I start standing on my toes (perhaps trying to appear taller than my 5’1) and I move around a ton while using my hands. Now if that sounds somewhat like an unskilled dance, that is exactly what it is. Yet, despite knowing how ridiculous this looks, I continue to do it. It cannot be helped. Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

This was so encouraging that the youth, at least in our little corner of the world, still value homeownership. I asked a follow-up question. “How many of you know what a mortgage is?” A couple of hands went down, but most still stayed up.

“How many of you know what a down payment is?” Fewer hands, but still more than half.

“How many of you know what the current interest rate is and what that means to a mortgage?” Only the few adults in the room raised their hands.

These were bright, thoughtful students. Many were already planning for college, careers, and their futures. But when it came to the single largest financial decision most people will ever make, our public school system turned out to be woefully negligent.

“That’s okay you guys. I didn’t expect that you would know. We are going to walk through this together. Ask any questions along the way and let’s dive in.”

We began by talking about credit and the importance of establishing it and always paying it off on time. I explained how paying bills on time, managing debt, and using credit responsibly can dramatically impact the interest rate someone qualifies for.

The entire group was earnestly engaged in the conversation. And it was a conversation. I wasn’t lecturing. I hadn’t even clicked on the PowerPoint yet. I didn’t need to entertain these kids. They were there for it. One student leaned forward and asked a question that surprised me. “So, if someone ruins their credit, it could make buying a house way harder later?”

“That’s right, my friend.” I went on to tell a couple of real-life scenarios about people who had done just that and what it had cost them long-term. I continued to explain that a mortgage is essentially a long-term loan used to purchase a home, typically paid over the course of 30 years. This turned out to be a real conversation starter.

One kid blurted out, “30 years? Holy crap!” You could see the mental math happening across the room. We talked about down payments, types of loans, housing prices, and timelines. I encouraged these kids to start investing in homeownership sooner rather than later as home prices tend to go up every year. We talked about equity and how you can use that to build wealth. Before any of us knew it, the house-shaped cookies were gone, and two hours had sped by.

“Our time is up. Any last second questions before we wrap it up for the night?” I asked.

One kid raised his hand. “Just one. Why don’t they teach this in school?”

And that, my friend, is the million-dollar question. We teach kids how to graph parabolas. We teach them the periodic table. We teach them about ancient civilizations and literary symbolism. All these have value. However, the day after graduation, few of these students will ever be asked to identify an iambic pentameter ever again.

Meanwhile, many of them will sign leases, open credit cards, take out car loans, and eventually apply for mortgages, often without the faintest understanding of how … at least this small group of kids will know. Perhaps we should teach homeownership before Algebra II.

Jen Fischer is an associate broker and Realtor. She can be reached at 801-645-2134 or jen@jen-fischer.com.