Agreed there needs to be some form fiscal education in schools, although I suspect the John Majors and Ed Balls of the world would be aghast if people figured out their Enron-esque approach to money...

As for credit cards, they're only bad debt if you cannot repay in full every month - otherwise they're very good debt, especially in times of high saving rates where you can defer your accounts outgoings by a month thus attracting more interest for free. They're not for everyone, but if you're smart with them (and I learned the hard way) they're useful tools.