And, by micro I mean little people, not the allocation of limited resources (thank Prof. Silberberg!)—unless you’re talking candy and desk property. That’s the economy of scale Angela Bishop’s fifth grade students are working within.

In order to foster better understanding of financial management, Bishop’s Aberdeen classroom functions as a mini-economy where she serves as the factory owner and the students are the workers, earning a monthly “paycheck” by taking jobs as diverse as “meteorologist” (looking up the weather report on the Internet and telling classmates if they’ll need their jackets at recess) to “computer technician” (turning all the computers off at the end of the day).

According to the Aberdeen Daily World, “The students will pay ‘rent’ for their desks, and they’ll have opportunities to make ‘bonuses’ by taking attendance and doing other chores. They can also rack up fines for misbehaving.”

If this story sounds “cute,” it is. But there’s a deeper victory here. I suppose I don’t have to mention the financial mess our country is in and the desperate need for the public to understand its origins. Beyond that lies the fact that we simply don’t introduce students to basic economic principles early enough.

Believe me, if I had a nickel for every time someone wrung their hands about this issue in the meetings I attend (and hey, here’s an article right here), well, I could probably solve a small part of our economic crisis.

By some stroke of genius, however, Bishop understood that adding economics and financial management to instruction doesn’t have to displace other important curriculum—it can merely serve as a framework for classroom management and approaches other subjects. I bet those 5^th graders will be far better prepared to tackle algebra (they’re already dealing with variables!), economics classes in college or work training and, ultimately, financial life after high school.

Hats off to Angela Bishop for saving the world for the rest of us!