The National Education Association was one of many sponsors that supported the original National Thrift Week (1916-1966).
David Blankenhorn stated in his article, American Apostle of Thrift:
…the leaders of the National Thrift Movement of the 1920s believed that their movement was vital to the broad goals of moral reform, character education, and civic progress.
They formed a national Thrift Education Committee to promote the teaching of thrift in the public schools. A number of states eventually adopted thrift curricula and many individual schools and school districts joined in as well. In at least 500 cities and towns across the country, thrift leaders worked with educators and local banks to sponsor more than 7,000 school-based savings banks, complete with student tellers and cashiers. They organized hundreds of annual Thrift Parades and thrift essay contests for elementary and high school students.
They conceived of thrift in broad, progressive terms. They wanted parents to teach thrift to children as a part of character education.
David Lapp, in an article for Education Week, proposes a good argument towards instilling the virtue of thrift in students once again.
If you are a subscriber of Education Week, click here to read Lapp’s article. If you are not subscriber, Atomic Learning offers a well written summary of Lapp’s commentary as well as their own comments.
Posted by Templeton Editor 
David Blankenhorn, the principal editor of both 
