It is well established that financial literacy education should incorporate systemic prerequisites, such as financial, economic, and societal structures, to help students develop suitable financial literacy. In relation to financial literacy teaching and learning, critical inquiry and critical thinking have also been identified as key components. However, it remains unclear how to design a teaching approach that invites students to learn about current financial prerequisites while simultaneously encouraging them to critically assess and discuss these systemic features. This study analyzes results from a financial literacy teaching intervention that combines systemic teaching with tools for critical inquiry. The results show that while students express an elaborate understanding of systemic issues, their critical perspectives and discussions remain within the bounds of the current systemic order, which raises further questions about how financial literacy should be formulated as a mandatory feature in school systems.