Plainview kids get money lessons early

It was Financial Literacy Day on Wednesday for the fifth-graders at the Plainview-Old Bethpage Middle School in Plainview. Fifth-graders? Financial literacy? Well, how should you spend your allowance anyway?

For the second year in a row, students at Plainview-Old Bethpage JFK High School spent the day teaching fifth-graders about the importance of maintaining bank accounts, the nature of credit, how advertising can be deceptive and, perhaps most important, how to save. The high school students are members of DECA, a national organization that prepares kids for business careers.

Jennifer Santorello, a high school business teacher and a DECA adviser, said the DECA students teamed up with Junior Achievement of Colorado, which provides financial literacy programs.

High school students Allie Giosa, 16, and Rebecca Breier, 17, had a class of fifth-graders during the morning. Melissa Benenson, 17, coordinated financial literacy classes at Mattlin Middle School in Plainview.

"Everyone participated," Allie said. "Everyone's hand went up." But beforehand, Rebecca said, the DECA students were a bit nervous.

"We were really scared" the youngsters would be confused, she said, "but they know the concepts." Still, the fifth-graders, she said, did not know much about interest rates or that TV ads can be deceptive.

But 10-year-old Ross Bernstein, (no relation to this writer), had it figured out. Using a debit card, he explained proudly, means having money taken directly out of your bank account. Using a credit card, he said, means borrowing the money and paying interest on what you borrow. His future? He has that all planned out, too.

"I'm going to be a professional soccer player," Ross said.