2023-10-14 15:13:49
Economics is stupid. Guido Neuhaus knows this attitude from many children and young people. “Because . . .” could be a typical response when asked why that is. In fact, they find some topics quite exciting: whether there really are bounty hunters like The Mandalorian in Star Wars, where people are working on the production of jeans everywhere, or how much a dog costs over the course of its life (spoiler: 20,000 euros with food and… Vet).
All of this is ultimately business knowledge, Guido Neuhaus said to himself – and realized his business idea for the Hamburg-based Carlsen publishing house: a business magazine for children under the title “Because. Discover how everything is connected.”
Because Carlsen products are encountered from an early age through the Pixi books (later also about Harry Potter), but the expertise in business is not so obvious in the publishing group, Susanne Risch from the business magazine “brand eins” was hired as co-editor-in-chief .
The 41-year-old Guido Neuhaus certainly brings his own business expertise with him – a banking apprenticeship and a classic political and economics degree in Münster as well as a master’s degree in general management in Witten/Herdecke (where Neuhaus had first studied philosophy and cultural reflection). Since 2019, Neuhaus has headed the “Carlsen K” publishing division in Hamburg, which produces children’s media on behalf of companies and organizations.
These are often videos or radio plays or podcasts, but in the case of “Because.” they rely on print: “The children know that from school,” says Neuhaus, explaining his thoughts. He believes that kids want to see videos on the screen, but not large texts. The first, 82-page issue has just been published in an initial print run of 10,000 copies. A magazine like this is planned six times a year, which is not available at the kiosk but requires a subscription.
The publisher is hoping for sponsors
Carlsen has come up with special rates for schools, knowing full well that the core target group (children from fourth to sixth grade) will not be buyers themselves. “I think parents are also looking in,” says Neuhaus. He is hoping for donors and sponsors who will buy entire class sets of the magazine, which is currently completely ad-free, for school classes in their region. The publishing manager can expect to find open ears.
Published/Updated: Recommendations: 10 Lima Fritsche Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 34 Rainer Hank Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 7
The Chambers of Industry and Commerce in particular often complain that economics is a topic in school lessons far too rarely and too late. The Conference of Ministers of Education of the states put together recommendations for a curriculum in 2003, but it was not until 2016 that Baden-Württemberg became the first federal state to start with economics as a compulsory subject from seventh grade onwards, followed four years later by North Rhine-Westphalia.
Most recently, Federal Research Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger (FDP) announced a “National Financial Education Strategy”, a demand that has been made by the OECD since 2008. According to OECD data, for example, only two thirds of adults can correctly answer simple questions about interest calculations, and only one in two understands the concept of compound interest.
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