Finland’s Economic Information Office started the Me & MyCity

Readin’, writin’ and digital banking. Every year, 45,000 Finnish sixth graders run their own miniature cities that are constructed inside big open buildings. Modules built to look like banks, shops, municipal offices and grocery stores are populated by kids playing the roles of shop keepers, city workers and everyone else needed to make a city work. The idea is to teach children about economics, hands-on. Finland’s Economic Information Office started the Me & MyCity program as a pilot in 2010 with 800 students. Now Me & MyCity is integrated into the curriculum across the country, writes Timothy D. Walker in The Atlantic, and local companies, among others, help fund it. While in the U.S. local school boards decide curriculum, Finland creates national education policy that sets goals but grants leeway to experiment. Not only do kids in Me & MyCity come out with greater economic knowledge, they save more money, understand digital banking and know how to do job interviews. They also show interest in entrepreneurial pursuits, though hoodies and swagger probably don’t come until seventh grade.