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"In today's business environment, giving back to the community is an expectation companies have of their employees," said Jane Lambert, director of the undergraduate programs and a lecturer in accounting for the School of Business. "Our freshmen come to us without those expectations."
Teaching economic concepts to very small children may seem like quite a challenge. But Lambert said it can be as simple as showing first-graders a poster depicting a variety of people doing their jobs in their neighborhood. The poster, she added, teaches children that every job has its own required tools and skills.
The class began in the 1998 fall semester as part of IUPUI University College's effort to place each entering student in learning communities. Lambert, who is among those teaching the course, calls it a "profoundly moving experience for some students," who find they learn more than they bargained for.
"I can remember the first day of class when I got the syllabus and it said we have to do a Junior Achievement project. I was not very thrilled," Chad Stone of Hilton Head, S.C., wrote as class ended last winter. "Well, all of my thoughts about the project were totally wrong. It was a big motivator to me to do the best job I possibly could do to show these kids what a college education is going to do for them and what staying in school will do.
"I have never been happier with a class in my life."
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