Language
Before and After
What is your purpose as an organization?
(organization name removed)
Before:
Our purpose as a business is to revolutionize education. To date, that's been providing financial intelligence education to a generation that does not get introduced to money knowledge before being thrown into real world problems. Our purpose is to give youth the edge necessary to lead healthy, successful lives by empowering them with an education through experience with the undercurrent of our society: money.
After:
Our purpose as a business is to revolutionize education; to disrupt a failing education system that leaves most youth unprepared for the realities of the financial world, and unable to take ownership over their future. We will empower them with the experience needed to better their lives. XYZ provides financial intelligence education to a generation is not introduced to money knowledge or experience before being thrown into the real world, and the education they do receive doesn't afford them the tools to be financially independent. XYZ will disrupt the current system of education by empowering youth with the skill-set necessary to be financially intelligent, and will play an active role as they take ownership over their financial future. We accomplish this mission through dynamic games, authentic stories, and engagement activities with the undercurrent of our society: money.
Currently, the education system teaches students basic comprehension. At XYZ, our goal is to equip students with the power to apply those concepts to real world situations. We are solving the problem of inadequate education in the realm of financial intelligence. We refrain from the term 'financial literacy,' as money has an emotional and behavioral component that is often irrational. ‘Literacy’ doesn’t go far enough. We educate students to avoid money pitfalls that are so common with being a young adult. Understanding the positives and negatives of credit, debt, home ownership, and investing in education are some of the lessons we facilitate to foster a shift in money mindsets and attitudes. When students leave the XYZ program, they will not just be financially literate, but will be financially intelligent.
XYZ utilizes the framework of Bloom’s Taxonomy to help conceptualize the higher learning, which is the desired outcome. The framework, in the model of a pyramid, has the ability to recall basic facts and remembrance as the bottom level. The pyramid builds upward to understanding, application, analysis, evaluation and creation. NM, the proprietary, dynamic game we built, is the foundational experience of XYZ and the foundational experience which starts with application of the knowledge they have already gathered in life. and ends with analysis and evaluation. Ultimately, through continued engagement, we hope to inspire an ability to use the powers of analysis and application to creation.
What is the problem you are trying to solve?
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Before:
Schools are not teaching fundamental life skills to students, and if they are, they are missing the interactive, experiential part of learning that is so critical to topics that involve emotions, behavior, and other illogical processes. Money being our focus, we look at the debt numbers, the climate of personal successes and happiness, and see symptoms of an education system that fails to educate students on the principals of wealth, money and the emotional-psychological components of such.
After:
Our education system fails to educate students on the principles of wealth, money and the emotional-psychological components that are embedded in financial decision making. Most schools fail to teach fundamental life skills to their students, and those that do are missing the interactive, experiential component of learning that is so critical to developing long term behavior change. Additionally, knowledge, or what we will refer to as financial literacy, doesn’t go far enough to prepare our youth for the decision making skill set that runs parallel with success.
While students may have basic memorization of some facts regarding finance, they are ill-equipped with the skills to apply that knowledge, analyze and evaluate their circumstances, and create a better future for themselves. The comment we hear most often from people who we tell about the XYZ mission is “I wish someone had taught me that when I was a kid.” The lack of application is clearly exemplified by the percentage of students who graduate in debt, the average amount of credit card debt, the failure to properly prepare for retirement, and the very real symptoms of the incongruousness between the education that youth recieve and the demands of the real world. Since decision making is centered around emotional experiences surrounding money, knowledge is only part of the overall ability that someone has to have successful financial decisions making skill; we identify this as 'financial intelligence'.