American students learn business skills in school. They read books about business and talk about business problems. Some students learn business skills by operating their own companies. Here is a story about some American students whose business is a bank.
In December 1987, the Twiglet Bank opened at an Elementary School in Miami, Florida. It is a real bank that accepts money for savings and makes loans, and it is operated entirely by ten, eleven and twelve-year-old students at the school. The bank is opened on the school campus for one hour two days a week. Students can put their money into the bank and withdraw it as they wish. Officials from a local bank help the students start the bank. They trained twenty-three of them to do all the different kinds of bank jobs, from counting money to guarding the bank. The students need money to start the bank. They raised more than $ 2000 by selling 50--dollar shares in the bank to parents, teachers, the local bank workers, and customers. Organizing and operating the bank has taught the children a lot about the banking business. They have learned about raising and investing money and how to use computers and other Banking equipment. They have also learned how to ask for a job and to be responsible for their job.