This is a really good article from Freakanomics on the state of financial literacy in the US.

A couple of things that stood out:

Which brings us to Question No. 3: How important is widespread financial literacy to the health of a modern society?
Well, I would say very. So would Lusardi. When you have a society with a modern and fairly complex financial system, it’s probably not a good sign that more than half of the citizenry can’t handle even the basics: how a credit card actually works (I know some teenagers, e.g., who really think it’s “free money”); the beauty of compound interest and the ugliness of paying the minimum balance on a credit card; how to save and invest even when you don’t think you can; how to learn the amount of insurance you need, etc. Lusardi wonders whether people shouldn’t be required to get a license in order to take out a mortgage. That certainly would have dampened the subprime mess a bit, yes?

Yes, it would have and yes, some sort of financial literacy license would be a great idea!

A lot of behavioral economics, including the good ideas in Nudge, is about cleverly correcting harmful human tendencies — but many of these tendencies need correction only because so many people are so undereducated in such matters.
I am all in favor of a well-rounded education, but seriously: what good is it if high-school students learn about Flaubert, biology, and trigonometry if they don’t learn how to take care of their money? One bright side to the increasingly dark economic news these days is that more and more people will learn (albeit the hard way) Rule No. 1: Do not buy what you cannot afford.

Nudge is a great book, though I'm only about half done, there are a good deal of principles and ideas I've picked up from it for use both personally and professionally. Also, my experience in the high schools is opposite from the opinion of this article, I've found Economics classes on the downturn while simply Personal Finance and such on the increase.

Read down to the end where she states the five things she would do if President, even for a day. Interesting.