Business kids of the future show their stuff

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Cincinnati Enquirer Article

By Jeff McKinney • jmckinney@enquirer.com

Dashing across the gym in search of bargain prices on items sold by their peers, more than 1,200 kids were learning a little something about the American business way of life.

It was all part of Market Madness, an annual event for students in grades 3 through 6, sponsored by the Economics Center for Education and Research at the University of Cincinnati.

"This is a great way to teach kids about simple economics that can help shape their future," said Val Krugh, director of the center's Student Enterprise Program.

The young entrepreneurs were from 15 public and private schools. They set up 42 businesses on the basketball court of the Campus Recreation Center and took turns being buyers and sellers.

As buyers, they used "debit cards" to purchase up to $300 worth of stuff. As sellers, they marketed their goods directly to their peers, including wearing sandwich boards to advertise. Their wares ranged from decorated flower pots to paper airplanes to a small train made from various pieces of candy - all put together by the kids.

Charlotte "Charlie" Patterson, 8, a third-grader at Kilgour Elementary School in Mount Lookout, helped her classmates sell Mr. Perfecto placemats for $20 to $30 each (in play money).

The venture was an apparent success: Charlie estimates the business sold about 125 placemats. Charlie hopes to use her newfound skills to become her own boss someday. "I want to become a professional artist and owner of an art gallery that sells paintings," she said.

George Ten Eyck, a third-grade teacher at Kilgour, said his students even gave themselve executive business titles including president, vice president and marketing director.

Ten Eyck said the event taught students the basics of setting the correct price for a product and adjusting it if needed to make a profit.

"It's good that the students are learning these fundamentals now because it will help them handle their own finances one day," Ten Eyck said.