♪♪♪ Narr: At San Marcos High School in San Diego County, you may hear students talking about things you don't typically hear high schoolers talk about.

Josie: In San Francisco, sale tax is like 8%.

And here its only like 6% I believe.

Kareem: Like, I dont really need the brand-new game straight when it comes out.

I dont need a brand-new shirt if mine is still like, okay.

Zach: Its really good to know about like, where your moneys coming from and like what to do with it and how to spend it.

Narr: These students are enrolled in financial literacy, an elective available to juniors and seniors that has become one of the most popular classes at the school.

Students learn how to budget for an apartment, what food really costs, and how to prioritize their wants versus needs.

Josie: It's just like, you learn so many life skills, like balancing a checkbook, learning to do your taxes, like what credit cards right for you.

Tara: This is an example of one of the life budget projects that the students are working on right now.

So, they actually have to get a job, um, that they can get at the age of 18.

Narr: Students in this class are encouraged to get a job.

It makes the lesson in taxes a little more real.

They also learn how to budget for college, what a car, including gas and insurance, will cost them, and more.

You could say every day in this class is a lesson in real life.

Tara: Paying bills and managing your money and learning about credit and paying your taxes are not fun things to do for most people.

Um, but I do try to make it engaging and realistic and relevant.

What we're going to be doing is brand name, um, versus store brand taste testing.

Narr: This is Tara Razis second year teaching financial literacy, a class you might agree is surprisingly entertaining.

On this day a lesson in comparison shopping.

How you often can't tell the difference between generic brands and the more costly name brands.

Tara: I picked up 16 different products from some that you eat to condiments to, um, paper products.

And so they're going to have to see if they can tell the difference between the brand name and the store brand.

Narr: Razi says the name brand items cost almost twice what the generic brands did.

She also considers this a lesson in financial overconfidence.

Kareem: Im pretty confident, cuz for me personally, I do kind of get sometimes store brands, sometimes, um, like fa-- more famous brands.

Zach: Some of ‘em, its... its kind of easy to, um, distinguish but I feel like on the majority of them, um, they... they taste similar.

So...

I think-- Im pretty confident for what I did, but you know, you never know.

Tara: Number one, Kellogg's cornflakes.

Raise your hand if you think it's A... Raise your hand if you think its B...

The answer is A. Kareem: What, really?

Narr: Our confident interviewees got a bit of a reality check, but with it came a valuable lesson.

Kareem: You dont always have to get a name brand just cuz of its name that a store brand quality or another quality could be exactly the same and taste as good, but also be a little bit cheaper.

Tara: Raise your hand if you think its A.

Raise your hand if you think its B.

It was A. Zach: What?!

Andrew: These kids are screaming for real world, real life learning that's going to set them up for their future and that will help them navigate the adult world.

Narrator: Superintendent Andy Johnsen says there's huge demand for this class at both of the district's high schools.

In fact, they often have a wait list.

He says in recent years, students have made it clear they want more classes that teach skills they can use.

Andrew: They continually tell us, I want to know how to do my taxes.

I want to know how... how the credit card debt works.

I want to know, how do I understand whats on my paycheck and all those... all those withdrawals and those other things that are deducted from my paycheck, what is all that?

Josie: I'm a senior.

I'm about to go to college and live on my own.

Like, I'm not going to have my parents there to support me.

And it's like, I would have never known how to file taxes.

Narrator: At a time in life when most kids are thinking about what they want today, this class has them thinking about what they'll need for retirement.

Zach: I don't want to, like, retire and then I run out of money and then I need to start working again.

So, I feel like that was, like, my main take away from this.

Narrator: From creating a business and pitching it ‘Shark Tank style, to following the stock market, Tara Razi says her goal is for these students to leave with something they can use.

Tara: These life lessons are things that theyre gonna need and... and are they gonna remember every little thing I teach ‘em?

No, absolutely not.

Um, I want them to go be good people out in society and make wise decisions, and I guess thats... thats my goal when they leave my classroom.

Narrator: And if they happen to do well in the stock market or retire in comfort someday, there's little doubt that the lessons they learned in this classroom may have made a difference.

Narrator: Research shows students who have access to high-quality financial education have better outcomes as adults, resulting in less debt and a higher quality of life.

22 statesnow have laws requiring a financial literary course for high school graduation.

Right now, less than 30% of high schools across the Golden State offer those classes, but the California Department of Education partnered with a non-profit to provide teacher stipends and professional development to help educators teach financial literacy in high schools across the state.