After the dismissal bell rings, the hallway outside Wen­lin Elementary School’s student affairs office clamors with the activity of students wheeling out and setting up racks of goods with seasoned skill. Classmates of all grades descend upon the improvised store to choose from the many items available for purchase. But New Taiwan Dollars cannot be spent here, for the cashiers accept only specially printed Wen­lin Dollars.

After the dismissal bell rings at the end of the third period, students descend on the Wenlin rewards store to spend their hard-earned Wenlin Dollars.

Revolutionary rewards system

A little over three years ago, the school’s director of student affairs, Lai How-wei, began promoting to campus leaders his idea of setting up a rewards bank, the “Bank of Wenlin,” that would issue its own “Wenlin Dollars” (WL$). He set about replacing the old incentive system that based rewards on the accumulation of honor certificates with an innovative concept that bases rewards on economic principles.

The age-worn concept of an Honor Certificate presented by a teacher, along with a photo taken to commemorate the event, had lost much of its former appeal.  Lai states, “The old rewards system pretty much just encouraged those students who were already doing well, but I wanted to find something that would also appeal to the less highly motivated ones.”

For Lai, the key to creating a rewards program that would resonate with the majority of students meant rethinking the thresholds. Anything that exhibited a positive attitude, such as being a class officer, turning in an assignment on time, or cleaning up school facilities, would be the basis for earning Wen­lin Dollars, which students could then spend on prizes of their own choosing. This was how Lai envisaged the Bank of Wenlin program.

The school’s principal, Chu Yu-huan, already intended to improve the school’s rewards program, so hearing Lai’s concept meshed perfectly with her plans.

A barcode scanner and tablet computer transform a desktop into a mobile checkout counter.

The Wenlin economy

Lai felt that students needed to be free to spend their hard-earned Wen­lin Dollars on items of their own choosing if they were to have confidence in the value of the currency.

Lai visited toymakers all over Northern Taiwan, dili­gently selecting things that might appeal to the children. Through trial and error he gradually came to understand the children’s preferences and the shelves got filled with more and more products. The opening of the rewards store in the Student Affairs hallway could finally be considered a success.

A barcode reader attached to a computer gave the students the means to rapidly scan product codes. In this way, in only 20 minutes just four store staff are able to collect money and make change for dozens of customers or even 100 or so during peak times. When looking out over the serpentine line made up of fellow classmates waiting to check out their purchases, the student clerks often teasingly complain to Mr. Lai about their high-pressure jobs; the delight and pride in their work, however, is plain to see.

Year-end promotions include fukubukuros (lucky grab bags) sold as advance purchase offers. There is a deliberate strategy behind their pricing, which started at WL$30 in the first year, going up to WL$99 in the second year and reaching WL$150 for the current school year. As summed up by Lai, “The price can’t be set too low: with the present per-capita income of our students at WL$99 per month, half of them can afford this amount, but we want the price to be more than a monthly wage so that they can feel the pain when making a purchase decision.” This is precisely the sort of struggle needed to help the kids learn how to think over a purchase.

Lai How-wei promoted the Bank of Wenlin program as a means to instill a proper work ethic and good money sense in grade-school students.

Playing at real with a virtual bank

For Lai, the ideal Bank of Wen­lin not only had to be able to print money, but should also offer savings accounts. If Wen­lin’s 1600 students, however, had judged the system in its early days solely by how money was being counted, they might not have considered the plan a resounding success.

Money counting machines have a counterfeit detection mechanism, and the weight and other characteristics of the paper used for Wen­lin Dollars differ from those of real banknotes. Thus, no commercially available machines could be found that were suitable for counting the school’s proprietary currency. Undaunted, Lai searched all over Taiwan until he finally found a vendor in Shu­lin that was willing to custom-make a counting machine for Wen­lin Dollars. However, toner particles from the laser­-printed notes would build up in the machine, causing frequent breakdowns, so that a service technician had to come almost weekly to fix it. Trial-and-error adjustments over the course of a year led to a fifth-generation iteration that could finally be called a success.

When a child makes a deposit in the Bank of Wenlin, the teller first checks the amount by counting the bills, then inputs the account number and the amount to be deposited in the computer, updates the student saver’s passbook, and finally stamps the deposit slip with the teller’s own designated chop. This group of young bankers, using their early morning self-study hour and noon recess, process the transactions as efficiently as any adult banking professional.

Just like in the real world, students who want to work in the rewards store or the Bank of Wen­lin face a rigorous recruitment process that includes a detailed application listing their reasons for wanting to join the staff, previous experience as a class officer, and participation in campus clubs. Shortlisted candidates undergo an interview and a simulated work-setting test. The test assesses situational adaptability, but it is the interview that most students say is the hardest.

After passing the interview stage, student workers must still complete a one-month probationary period before being formally hired. Currently under the Bank of Wenlin program the bank and the store have ten employees each. According to Lai, due to the intense competition for the posts, students chosen for a staff position are all highly motivated, and as a result turnover is extremely low.

In an economy based on Wenlin Dollars, education in financial matters comes to life through proprietary banknotes, passbook accounts and student tellers.

Challenges of the financial game

As soon as the program started, voices were raised in opposition across campus. With no precedent to refer to, off-campus stakeholders were likely to have many concerns about the consumerist attitudes implicated in the program. In an early explanatory meeting, parents and teachers passionately urged Lai How-wei to halt the program. 

Relating the difficulties of getting the ball rolling, Lai states, “In the beginning, just explaining the program to an interested teacher could last a couple hours.” But by constantly talking it up he was eventually able to get ten classes to join in the Bank of Wen­lin’s first year of operation. Now, 80% of classes in the school actively participate in the rewards program.

Over the years, Lai has discovered that a child’s capacity to think of others often exceeds our expectations. Many will keep close track of friends’ birthdays in their group and use Wen­lin Dollars to buy them gifts. One of the boys even purchased a Hello Kitty pencil holder for his mother. On seeing such positive acts of caring in their children, parents set aside their worries.

Through countless instances of having to think over a purchase, Lin hopes the children will develop good money sense and the ability to distinguish want from need. Because they earn Wen­lin Dollars through their own hard work, they are also careful how they spend them. “I’ll often see students pick up items off the store racks and then put them back. There may be no instrument to measure this, but I’m certain that gears are spinning in their heads.” That process is called weighing the pros and cons, an important and necessary ability that takes nurturing.

In an economy based on Wenlin Dollars, education in financial matters comes to life through proprietary banknotes, passbook accounts and student tellers.

The last piece of the puzzle

Once money matters become a part of life, instilling a financial education becomes so much easier. Recently, Lai initiated a time deposit savings plan with one-, three-, six- and 12-month periods, each with a different interest rate. As soon as the plan was implemented a fourth-grader hurried over to ask Lai what would be the most effective way to deposit her money. Far too many people don’t start managing their money until they earn their first paycheck. The Bank of Wen­lin’s osmotic learning process plants the seeds of financial management in the minds of students, who in the future will have access to many more strategies for managing their money.

In March of 2017 Lai How-wei launched a charity campaign. Tai­­tung County’s ­Hongye Elementary School, which had been severely impacted by Typhoon Ne­par­tak, was selected as a recipient so that students might understand the plight of those in their same age group who could not attend school because of a natural disaster. A WL$99 charity stationery pack was created for children to buy and donate by their own choice. Initially the plan called for 100 packs, but the students’ enthusiastic response resulted in a final donation of more than 800. Principal Chu and Teacher Lai then personally delivered the charity packages to students at four elementary schools in Tai­tung’s Yan­ping Township. This charitable experience demonstrated that the children not only had acquired the skills to help themselves, but also exhibited a willingness to help others. For Lai How-wei, this represents the culmination of the ideals behind the Bank of Wenlin.

Wenlin Elementary’s plan for setting up a bank, founded in enthusiastic and idealistic educational motives, has brought money management into the every­day lives of grade schoolers. Lai quips that Taiwan is on the road to producing a generation of financial wizards.     

The Bank of Wenlin, suitably outfitted with equipment like bill wrapping and bill counting machines, occupies a corner of the student affairs office, from where it offers not only current account services but also time deposit savings.

The Bank of Wenlin, suitably outfitted with equipment like bill wrapping and bill counting machines, occupies a corner of the student affairs office, from where it offers not only current account services but also time deposit savings.

Student’s passbooks record all of their transactions with the Bank of Wenlin. Lai How-wei is sure the program will help them appreciate the value of money.

Wenlin Elementary’s plan for setting up a bank, founded in enthusiastic and idealistic educational motives, has brought money management into the every­day lives of grade schoolers.