Minnesota's new graduation requirements: Learn how to manage money and participate in democracy
Minnesota lawmakers think too many high school students are earning their diplomas without a clue of how to manage their money or participate in democracy. So now those subject areas will be a requirement for graduation. Students who enter high school in the 2024-25 school year or later must now complete a personal finance course and a class on government and citizenship before graduating. Students who enter high school in the 2024-25 school year or later must now complete a personal finance course and a class on government and citizenship before graduating.
Government and citizenship
Students will have to take the government and citizenship class in grade 11 or 12. Legislators said the government and citizenship class is urgently needed, as did people who testified, who said the requirement could help better inform the electorate and mend societal divisions.
Personal finance
The personal finance class requirement garnered bipartisan support in the DFL-controlled Legislature. Legislators said it would help students make better decisions about borrowing, saving money and balancing a budget.
Ethnic studies, Holocaust education
High schools must offer an ethnic studies course starting in the 2026-27 school year. Elementary and middle schools have to begin providing ethnic studies instruction to students the following year. School districts also must offer education on the Holocaust and other genocides as part of middle school and high school social studies curriculum by the 2026-27 school year.
That curriculum also must "examine the history of the genocide of Indigenous Peoples and Indigenous removal from Minnesota, including the genocide, dispossession, and forced removal of the Dakota, Ojibwe, and Ho-Chunk," the law says.
https://www.startribune.com/goal-for-new-minnesota-high-school-graduates-better-citizens-who-dont-fritter-away-their-money/600284203/
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Good on Minnesota!
