News and Insights

What Does a High School Senior Think?

July 22, 2025

In the 2024-2025 school year, KIPP New Jersey–a network of public charter schools, and one of our longtime clients–launched a unique college and career readiness course for high school seniors that combines financial literacy and responsible AI use. Designed to bridge gaps in AI literacy before students leave high school, it features fundamental AI concepts, financial basics and real-world AI applications. The class culminates with “My AI-Powered Future” projects, wherein students plot their personal goals and use AI to visualize their financial future and what steps it will take to get there. 

We always want to amplify student voices in conversations about education, and recent high school graduate Deborah Edet was ready to step up and represent. We supported her as she crafted an op-ed. District Administration, a well-regarded education outlet reaching education leaders like superintendents, principals and educators—people who can help make sure students have access to high-quality financial literacy and AI instruction—published it to share with their large network. KIPP NJ’s bold, innovative solutions routinely inspire others in the field and we continue to take pride in sharing stories about their students and educators.

Why AI and financial literacy belong in every high school

By: Deborah Edet

For more than a hundred years, students have studied the same core subjects: math, science, reading, writing, and history. There are exceptions, of course, but generally high schools stick to the same basic structure.

In the last four years alone (coincidentally, my high school career), massive shifts in technology and economic impacts from the pandemic have made a huge impact on what jobs and learning look like, suggesting we need to rethink these core subjects.

From the way students like me research to the way we simulate real-world scenarios, like job applications, AI is rewriting the rules of daily life. There has also been a long-overdue increased focus on financial literacy as an essential skill my generation needs to know as we navigate a new world, new jobs and new ways of managing a household.

Before my senior year of high school, I had never really used AI. At first, my parents thought AI was dangerous, like something out of a sci-fi movie—plus they feared for my privacy.

… Read the rest of her OpEd at District Administration.