The New York Times writes about Brian Page, a high school teacher in Reading, Ohio, who has done well enough for himself in his personal life to offer $500 to any student who opens a Roth IRA—no one has taken him up on the offer in the last two years—and decided one day to give students a firsthand look at the predatory lending industry: payday loans, rent-to-own centers, and pawnshops.
One student said she was surprised at how much money customers of these establishments are “conned” out of, but Mr Page said his mission was not to say these are terrible businesses that take advantage of people’s low credit scores, just to let students see the different ways of doing business. He ended the day of field trips with a visit back at the school by credit union employees, who discussed their business offerings with students.
A representative of the Ohio Consumer Lenders Association, which represents many of the businesses students visited, said he didn’t appreciate characterization of the businesses as predatory. “I hope [Mr Page] tells [students] about other types of short-term credit, like credit card indebtedness and overdraft fees,” the paper quoted him as saying.
But Mr Page doesn’t express any objections to the businesses at all. “I’m a strong advocate for capitalism, and I’m OK with choice,” the Times quoted him as saying. “I just want to make sure that they know exactly what those choices are and that if they ever walk back in there, that they’re going to be able to do the math and figure it out.”
Some of Mr Page’s lessons and notes are posted online here.
Mr Page is an example of a teacher, like so many others, who treat students as students, not as a point of data. It was refreshing, I have to admit, to see real lessons that are relevant to kids’ lives being taught in a school in a small town in Ohio and see that story in the New York Times. This is just as much a part of the record of school history as any economic or policy story by people who have never taught any actual kid anything.
I imagine Mr Page reads articles about “education” and just nods his head politely. And what’s funny is that politicians and economists probably read about what he’s doing with real kids and have a similar reaction. That’s the real shame here.
I have reminded people, several times, that nothing that happens in Washington, state capitals, board rooms, or even the principal’s office, is as important as even one thing that happens in a classroom. The teacher-student interface is where the rubber meets the road, and it usually happens in a classroom. Sometimes, though, a field trip is needed to drive lessons home, and teachers—not politicians, education bureaucrats, parents, business leaders, or billionaires—do that very well and efficiently.
