Every three years, the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA)—an initiative of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)—surveys 15-year-olds around the world. Since 2012, this survey has measured, among other things, their financial literacy with an eye on one simple question: How well-prepared are young people for the new economic environments that are becoming more global and more complex?
The answer received every three years is troubling. Many teenagers are not prepared. As for U.S. students, they do about average compared to other young people around the world. But average isn’t good enough.