TL:DR Studies on financial education show it helps increase savings rates, but has virtually zero impact on whether someone will default on loans. The article suggests that financial discussions at home are important.
Really though, the article is raising discussion points and doesn’t really suggest what actions we should take (that I noticed, anyway).
Interesting question.
I guess the other variable is whether financial education about debt is simply not as comprehensive as education about savings and investment. Which might be a factor insofar as middle class knowledge needs around debt may not be as onerous (for example, needing to know how to structure a mortgage, vs needing to know how to convert a monthly predatory lending fee into a p/a percentage).