Introduction
Education is one of the most important key factors in life. Students have the right to a peaceful environment for education. Denying students the right to a peaceful education environment is just like denying them the right to a good life. Parents and teachers are therefore obliged to ensure that the learning environment for students is a peaceful one. Money issues have been known to be among the major barriers to education amongst students at the college level. According to Olivarria (2010), college students need a lot of guidance and counseling on issues related to money expenditure. Statistics conducted in the United States of America reveal that academic performance for students at the college level is quite demanding. There are many reasons as to why college students should not be issued with credit cards. Further research on education reveals that 50% of students in colleges are unable to exhibit desirable performance because of being issued with credit cards. The question of whether it is right or not right to issue college students with credit cards faces different reactions from both parents and teachers. Ladies and gentlemen, my purpose here is to give you some of the reasons why it is unethical to issue credit cards to college students. To begin with, the main focus will be on the negative impacts of issuing students with credit cards.
Research has revealed that issuing of students with credit cards encourages theft within the education setting (Olivarria, 2010). Theft is a vice not only to education but to the society as well. This vice is known to occur when some of the students have squandered their money and exhausted their accounts. These students will have the need to replenish their accounts so as to fulfill their selfish desires and this is what leads to theft cases being prevalent. Another cause of theft arising is that some students develop the desire to possess extremely expensive things such as motor bikes and automotives amongst other assets. Since their accounts are not able to fulfill their desires, they automatically engage in theft of their colleagues credit cards. These factors support the notion that students should not be issued with credit cards. This decision would minimize theft cases within the academic institutions’ setting.
A long lasting solution to the problem of issuing college students with credit cards would be setting up an age limit for being issued with credit cards (Burkett, 62). This can be achieved by the intervention of the federal government. Just as the age limit for alcohol consumption has been set, there should be an age limit for credit card possession. This would effectively deal with the negative impacts revealed by the issuing of credit cards to the students. Another solution would be the introduction of courses aimed at educating college students on money matters. This would act as a way of teaching them how to spend and handle money responsibly.
Imposing strict policies against theft within the academic institution would also act as a solution to controlling theft cases amongst students. This would be effective in academic institutions where the credit cards are allowed. This strategy would have a long lasting effect. Such policies would be beneficial because they would have controlled the problems associated with students and money. Academic institutions would profit from the above strategies because the level of the quality of education would be up to the required standards.
Conclusion
With all the negative impacts associated with issuing students with credit cards it would be very unfortunate to find some parents advocating for the act. It is the duty of any parent to take care of the needs of the students. In this situation, if taking care of the students would require some difficult decisions such as denying them credit cards then it should be so.
Students lives would be at jeopardy if they are not given adequate guidance and counseling in relation to money expenditure. The issuing of students with credit cards is seen to have adverse effects not only to their academic well being but also to their social welfare of students. It would be unfair to shun the problem without coming up with ways of eliminating it from the society. It is the obligation of parents to therefore avoid issuing children with credit cards. This would have a positive impact on the academic performance of the students.
Works cited
Strong, H. What Every Credit Card Holder Needs To Know: How To Protect Yourself and Your
Money, New York: Holt Paperbacks, 1999.
Olivarria, S. 10 Things College Students Need to Know About Money, New York: CreateSpace, 2010.
Burkett, L. Money Management for College Students, Michigan: Moody Publishers, 1998.
