Why is financial education unpopular?

People make dumb financial choices often because they miss some of the most elementary notions of finance, and they even realize that. Yet, it is extremely difficult to get them to sit down and learn something about elementary finance? Why? Is it because their is a stigma? Because it is horribly boring? Because they have better things to do? Because they do not see the point of it?

Miriam Bruhn, Gabriel Lara Ibarra and David McKenzie tried to coax people into a financial education class in Mexico and found it very difficult. They tried with substantial monetary incentives and still achieved little. Even more disheartening, those they managed to get through the door retained very little: they saved more, but only for a little time, and their borrowing effort was unaffected. Sad.

I wonder whether there is comparable data for developed economies that were recently rattled by the financial crisis. People must have realized that financial education matters. Did they improve their financial literacy? Give me some hope.