Some of the Best in the Country Teach Economics to District 170 Students

Trading stocks on Yahoo Finance. Observing price indexes. Having a meeting with John List, one of the top economists in the world. 

It's all in a semester's work for Chicago Heights District 170 eighth grade students. 

Twenty eighth graders, representing all nine District 170 elementary schools, are learning in an 11-session course that wraps up this month. Another group of 20 District 170 students will take the same course starting in January.

A visit to the class revealed their current project: an analysis of the price of every gift mentioned in "The Twelve Days of Christmas" song. And the students have done plenty of other activities as they learn from their University of Chicago economics department instructors Alec Brandon and David Novgorodsky.

The students meet with and Skype with Brandon and Novgorodsky every week, and Jefferson School eighth grader Naja Anderson said she respects everything they have to say.  

"I think they know what they’re talking about because usually the things they say end up applying to real life," Anderson said. "There’s been plenty of times, since starting this class, that I’ve been helping my parents out with the bills."

Chris Sanchez, an eighth grader a Greenbriar School, recalled his favorite economics-related activity. 

"Two weeks ago, the last time we met, the professors came in and we did an activity where half of us were buyers and the other half would sell," Sanchez said. "The buyers could not buy over their limit, and the seller could not sell less than a certain amount. We would have a profit and for every dollar (of profit) you would get a piece of candy."

How do the students get into this program? There are some parallels to the college admissions process, according to the District 170 technology coordinator Ed Mrosek. 

"We go based on recommendation from principals," Mrosek said. "We did interviews this year. We try to treat it as much like a collegiate course as possible.

As District 170's partnership with University of Chicago economics department continues to flourish, Supt. Thomas Amadio says it is all about encouraging the students.

"We're trying to push the envelope," Amadio said, referencing the Fortune 500 companies and their owners. "These people who run these companies, a lot of them started with humble beginnings."