People who are new to book-keeping typically already have a mental model of it from bank statements. The salary is "credited", and withdrawals are debits. This notion muddles things up.
"Every transaction must balance" is a succinct explanation, but it is unfortunately even one more level abstract for someone not exposed to the very idea of book-keeping. The hope is that showing a few entries without being muddled in what is debit and what is credit territory, and how they relate to each other will trigger the aha moment a little sooner.
I guess the bank account thing would be confusing initially, but it really just needs to be explicitly stated upfront that the bank account is drawn up from the perspective of the bank, and your accounts are literally the inverse of the bank's accounts. The muddling up of debit and credit because of bank statements should vanish quickly after that.
"Every transaction must balance" is a succinct explanation, but it is unfortunately even one more level abstract for someone not exposed to the very idea of book-keeping. The hope is that showing a few entries without being muddled in what is debit and what is credit territory, and how they relate to each other will trigger the aha moment a little sooner.