The question posed to the San Francisco eighth-graders was: “Have you ever been ripped off?”
Hands shot up. Cedrick Mitchell said, “I gave my friend $20 for four new wheels for my skateboard, but I only got two new ones. So I had to roll with two nice wheels and two bad ones.”
Will deHoo, standing before the whiteboard in a classroom at Stuart Hall for Boys, nodded excitedly. “That’s right. You can get ripped off for $20 or $100 or $1,000. Whatever it is, it doesn’t feel good. We are here to help you not get ripped off, and to make smart money decisions.”