MyCE: how Vanguard demonstrates the importance of financial literacy to students
My Classroom Economy (MyCE) is a free financial education program that was created and developed by Vanguard crew volunteers. Since its introduction in 2011, more than one million students in grades K–12 have had the opportunity to learn the importance of being financially responsible.
MyCE enables any educator to teach children financial responsibility through fun, experiential learning. It’s a simple classroom economic system based on the idea that students need to earn school “dollars” to rent their own desks. To earn dollars, the students would need to take on classroom jobs, earn bonuses (and avoid fines), save their earnings, and balance their accounts. The top savers can place bids in classroom auctions or opt for other rewards. For upper grade levels, the program offers more sophisticated scenarios. Students can add insurance to their desks or “invest” their savings and watch their stock and bond holdings rise or fall (they also pay taxes).
By bringing real-world scenarios into the classroom, students see the impact of their decisions to save, spend, and budget. Ultimately, the program’s lessons are just as important as those in English, math, social studies, or science. MyCE enables student with the knowledge and tools that can help them navigate through all of life’s financial stages.
Here’s what our crew had to say about the program:
