Monday, April 4, 2016

Learning Dollars and Sense

by Randy Roth, president of Faith Network

For the third year in a row, PwC consultants are engaging third- thru fifth-graders in dollars-and-cents matters. This year, three elementary schools in West Oakland-- Martin Luther King, Jr. (MLK), Hoover, and Prescott-- have welcomed PwC’s Earn Your Future financial literacy curriculum. Lessons include identity theft, creditworthiness, saving & investing, income, and careers.

Instead of lecturing, the PwC Earn Your Future team involves students in roleplay, which uses critical thinking skills in practical real-life applications. For example in one lesson, each student in the class plays the role of borrower or lender. Student A lends his favorite CD to Student B who promises to “return it tomorrow.” When Student A next asks Student B for his CD, Student B responds, “Sorry, I lost it.” A PwC volunteer prompts the entire class, “Will Student A ever lend again to Student B? Is he creditworthy?” Unanimously, everyone shouts, “No!”

Then students are invited to play it forward: When the time comes to borrow money to buy a computer, a car or a house, will you be creditworthy?
The impact is twofold. Not only do the students learn important life skills, but they also get to rub shoulders with amazing role models.


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