Woman Says We're Failing Black Children By Teaching Them Financial Literacy That Revolves Around Starting A Business — 'It's Irresponsible'
She insisted that we're doing a disservice to Black children by not giving them the right tools to secure financial freedom.
Rido | Shutterstock If there's one thing that's essential in making sure Black generational wealth can be obtained, it's making sure that financial literacy is being taught in Black communities, especially among Black youth. However, in recent times, it seems there has been a shift in conversation when it comes to financial literacy and entrepreneurship that could end up doing more harm than good to the Black children who are consuming this type of rhetoric, at least according to a content creator named Sophie Aminata.
Aminata argued that pushing the idea of owning a business as success isn't setting Black children up for a future of financial literacy.
The woman insisted that we're failing Black children by teaching them financial literacy that revolves around starting a business.
"My biggest financial hot take is that we are setting up Black children for failure by consistently teaching financial literacy curriculum that revolves around entrepreneurship," Aminata began in her TikTok video. "I have done, in my professional career, so many of these programs where you volunteer, and you go to a school, and you teach them about financial literacy, and everybody knows it's always condescending."
She explained that the goal, especially when it comes to setting up Black children for a successful financial future, is to get as many of Black children into the middle class as possible, which is not the goal of the entrepreneurship curriculum.
The woman argued that the entrepreneur-centered curriculum creates a false sense of potential success that intentionally keeps Black children from achieving financial freedom as adults.
Instead, the goal of that type of curriculum is to build a "rags to riches" story, but not all of those students have the resources to become wealthy.
"Capitalism would literally collapse without having an underclass of workers who are desperate enough to work for extremely low-wage jobs," Aminata continued. "The creators of these programs and these curriculums know that they're willing to sacrifice the majority of these students to have one or two rags to riches stories that make other young Black children feel like, 'I can do that too.'"
Racial disparity in financial literacy and education only further divides this country's wealth gap. A recent MarketWatch poll found that 65% of respondents said personal finances are their biggest source of stress.
Still, only 25 states require high school students to take a personal finance class to graduate, and schools with predominantly Black and brown students are less likely to offer those courses.
Black children should learn financial literacy related to home ownership and other feasible ventures.
"We should be teaching them about home ownership which is the main way most Black families are accumulating any kind of wealth," Aminata explained. "We should be teaching them about investing for retirement."
She encouraged financial education to revolve around joining down payment assistant programs, applying for scholarships, and the kinds of schools that can give them the best financial future in terms of jobs upon graduating or the types of jobs that are easy to transition into when you don't have a lot of savings.
Mary Taylor | Canva Pro
What we shouldn't be telling Black children to do is put all of their eggs into an entrepreneur basket because that's the best way they can make money.
The only way to have financial freedom doesn't necessarily mean having to be your own boss and start your own business because, most times, it takes years before you see a profit, if at all. There's nothing wrong with making a livable income and working for someone else until you can afford to think about starting your own business — if that's something you even want.
Considering the wealth gap in this country and the staggering number of Black families that have found themselves in financial hardships due to systemic barriers, we can't afford to teach Black children about financial literacy in an irresponsible way.
Nia Tipton is a staff writer with a bachelor’s degree in creative writing and journalism who covers news and lifestyle topics that focus on psychology, relationships, and the human experience.