February 17, 2014 at 2:57 p.m.
Kubeny wins Wisconsin Financial Literacy Award
RHS teacher committed to teaching students money management skills
Kubeny wins Wisconsin Financial Literacy Award
Governor Scott Walker's council on financial literacy selects individuals and organizations for the award each year based upon "innovative implementation, demonstrated measureable results, collaboration with partners and whether the effort was focused on needs-based groups," according to a press release from the state.
Kubeny, who has taught at the high school for 21 years, said he has long known about the award but never expected to be honored.
"It's one of those things where I knew they did this, I knew they give the award out annually, and it's one of those things you hope to maybe get acknowledged for someday, but you certainly don't expect to," Kubeny said. "It's very appreciated, is how I'd say it. It's nice to be recognized. It motivates you to want to keep doing what you're doing, knowing that someone is appreciating it."
As financial literacy becomes a more integral part of preparing students for adulthood, Kubeny said the district is considering making a financial literacy course a graduation requirement.
"At the school district right now, we're in the middle of discussing making it a potential requirement for all students. Forty-four percent of school districts in the state of Wisconsin, as of the latest survey in 2013, require a (financial literacy) course for students to graduate," Kubeny said. "Another 25 percent are in the 'seriously considering it' boat. I would put Rhinelander in that boat and that's a good thing."
Kubeny supports the graduation requirement because he believes people need to be prepared to handle financial matters from an early age.
"It's just so important that students understand that they have to start when they're young, planning for when they're old," Kubeny said.
"My big emphasis is if you start off behind, if you fall in a trap - and there are a lot of traps set out there for them with credit card traps, payday loan traps, not understanding how to finance or lease a vehicle, buying a house too soon and getting into adjustable rate mortgages - if you're ignorant and set yourself up to get behind, it's so hard to get out from underneath bad financial decisions when you're young."
Keeping kids from falling into those traps is his main goal, Kubeny said.
"There's just so many things out there that you need to know about. The course that we have at the high school, the personal money management course, there's 36 different units that we take them through," Kubeny said. "It's very comprehensive, everything from insurance to taxes to saving to investing to understanding your paycheck and Social Security, to how marriage and having children and where you live all come into play with that, doing budgets, understanding identity theft, understanding all the nuances of credit, it's all in that class."
The personal money management class is growing, Kubeny noted.
"The nice thing is that class has been growing on its own accord. There's more sections it seems every year of students electing to take it," he said.
"That's great because it's so needed. It's really an exciting time for a guy like me that just absolutely loves doing it. To me, it's so practical for the kids. They like learning about it and that makes it fun teaching them."
Marcus Nesemann may be reached at [email protected].
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