Last week, I received a press release from the Texas Mortgage Bankers Association (TMBA) about a new video they produced for high school students, youth groups and community organizations working with the under-18 crowd. The video was created by the TMBA's Home Economic Network, and it is designed to introduce tomorrow's big spenders to the notion of credit, with an emphasis on how to use it correctly and how it impacts our lives. The video comes with educational material that provide further depth to the subject.
I haven't checked to see if other regional mortgage banking associations are doing similar projects. If they are, more power to them. If not, they need to follow the lead of their Texas colleagues.
I feel that it is imperative to incorporate financial education lessons into today's schooling. I don't have children in school, so I have no idea what classroom lessons are being taught today regarding the state of the economy in general and the housing and mortgage markets in particular (I assume any classroom discussion of current events would have to touch on the subject).
But considering today's climate, these lessons would seem to be of primary importance. It is never too soon to teach young people about the positive and negative aspects of consumer credit. And considering that young people are bombarded with endless marketing promotions that encourage them to spend recklessly, it is a breath of fresh air to have a video teaching them when to hit the brakes on their spending.
However, in too many parts of the country, local educational budgets are very tight and funds are not available to secure new materials. That's why the TMBA's production is a winner – it saves the schools money today while helping to save the students money in the future.
TMBA isn't just limiting its efforts to classrooms. Indeed, it is spreading the word on its production across the Lone Star State. The video has already received approval from the Texas Public Broadcasting Association and is listed on the Texas Digital Datacasting Pilot Project, which partners with the Texas Education Agency. The association also distributed its video to all Texas state representatives, in an effort to get elected officials involved in this issue.
If you are interested in learning more about the TMBA's endeavor, visit their Web site at www.texasmba.org/HomeEcoNet/. And if you are interested in duplicating the TMBA effort in your region, I would recommend that you contact the organization to get more information. I believe that a proactive educational push today will help us stave off a repeat of today's economic problems when the current wave of schoolchildren become the potential homeowners of the future.
– Phil Hall, editor, Secondary Marketing Executive.
(Please address all comments regarding this opinion column to hallp@sme-online.com.)
