Why this teacher is charging her students rent

I am going to take your money. Woo! Wow! So you're charging third-graders rent. I am. I sure am. How does that work? They have jobs, and of course I pay them. Not real money. They have to go ahead and pay me rent once a month, just like I have to pay bills, they have to pay bills. If you got 384, say, oh yeah. Oh yeah! Shelby Lattimore is a math teacher in North Carolina, and her viral classroom economy TikToks have allowed her to stay in the profession. You have to pay me rent. You have to pay me for that nice desk you got, and that nice blue chair that you are sitting in. This past year I made six figures, which is insane because my teacher's salary is not even half of that. I'm getting there before the bell rings, I'm staying after the bell rings, and she still made it. TikTok's creator program and brand collabs have kept her from having to pick up a second job, like becoming a barista or babysitter. Do you ever want to see what my secret Santa got me? Instead, she spends her free time working on her viral videos, all about teaching students personal finance in a creative way. Look at all my hard life lessons of third grade. And she's constantly keeping them on their toes. Miss Lattimore is inflating your rent. No, come on. I sure am. Jobs with more responsibility, like fish feeder for Knuckles, get more money than lower-stakes jobs like door opener. Seven. Seven dollars of rent is collected for their desk and chair, and then the kiddos have a choice to make. Spend it or save it. We went over what we have for low prices, middle prices, high prices, they are on the board. Low prices may be like candy, then they can buy lunch with me, and they come up to the class and they eat lunch with me. They can buy lunch with a friend. How much? $30. Our most expensive thing, the top-notch prize, is they can be the teacher for the day. And they love that one, but of course it takes some budgeting because it is the most expensive one at $30. Do you have $5 in your wallet after you spend that? No. So you gotta buy something else then. So they do have to budget for that one, but they love the responsibility of taking attendance, telling them when to get in line, when to get up, things of that sort, they love that. Latimore has over 800,000 followers and over 26 million likes on TikTok alone, but she says this is much more than just a viral moment. Charlotte is known for generational poverty. The whole project of my school and the environment that they are living in is all part of a project to kind of combat that. Title I schools, like the one Shelby works at, provide additional resources to children from low-income areas. A lot of my students of color, Hispanic, Black, whatever it may be, they see their parents, they see their guardian, they see their grandmothers, grandfathers, whatever may be living check to check. They see the money management of not thinking long-term necessarily or the consequences of it. So I'm just going to write a 2 next to candy to show that you get 2 for $4 a pass. And a lot of them do come from housing insecurities and different circumstances where parents have to work two, three jobs to pay bills for their kids to put food on the table. Watching my students now become appreciative of possibly what their guardians are going through, of course, in a safer environment, just kind of gives them that responsibility to then move forward as they become adults. These systemic knowledge gaps are documented through data. One study looked at 28 personal finance questions and found that on average, 20% of white adults answered all of them correctly, compared to 5% of Black respondents and 6% of Hispanic respondents. Why do you think it's important for Black educators to stay in this industry? Representation, it's very important as a Black educator for my students to see someone who looks like them. Even down to Marley, one of my students, she even went through the transition of not wanting to wear her natural hair. Hi, Ms. Latimore. Hi, good morning. Marley's in fourth grade now, but was one of Latimore's best students. Now, her mom says she's been more responsible with spending money in the real world. We didn't really discuss money a lot. She just thought it grew on trees and she could spend it. And then she got a rude awakening of what it was like to actually have to save money and spend her own money. Marley says Ms. Latimore's class gave her a whole new perspective. It gives you a life lesson of how money is really, when you spend it, you don't have a lot. But if you don't spend it, you can pay your rent every single month. So what's one thing that you saved your money to buy? These shoes. It took me like three months to save up. What's your favorite thing about Ms. Latimore? That she looks like me. Can someone say, in a sentence, I love Ms. Latimore's class because? I love Ms. Latimore because she challenges us. Because she's in it. Because she encourages us. Since I'm an adult, what if I said, third grade is too young to learn about money? Uh-uh. What would you guys say? Excuse me? Excuse me! Third grade can learn anything. A couple of you guys didn't say good morning to me this morning when you came in. What keeps you waking up every day and excited to go to work? Wow. I'm sorry. No. Don't apologize. Take a beat. Yeah. You got it. It's going to sound so corny, but it's them. Hi, Cedric. How are you? The corny little hugs that are germ-filled, but you just can't let go. Or the random little notes that you get. I'm not even a mom, and the draw I have to my kids emotionally is crazy. It's crazy. Do you feel fulfilled? I do. I love my job. I would be talking to a co-worker about buying food or door-dashing, and kids just listen to everything you say. And they'd be like, Ms. Lattimore, aren't we supposed to be saving? Aren't you supposed to be saving your money? And I'm like, okay. Thanks for checking me. Got it.