The Reality Check Students Need 

Challenging the Myths Around Wealth  

Jason Pearson has been teaching personal finance for nearly two decades. But his first lesson has nothing to do with numbers. 

“Day one misconception [for students] is, ‘show me how to get rich,’” he says.  

But before his students learn how to build wealth, he gives them a dose of what’s really going on with money in America. Because looking wealthy isn’t the same as being wealthy. “Most people don’t own those cars. Most people don’t own those houses,” Pearson explains. “Those things own them.”

Learning the Easy Way 

That reality check shapes how Jason teaches about money. “I can’t imagine a more important class that a student should take in high school,” Jason says. 

Jason sees the same pattern: People chase what looks like wealth, take on payments to get there, and realize what it truly costs too late. 

“Nobody ever taught them this stuff in high school,” he explains. “I think when a student takes Foundations in Personal Finance in high school, we arm them with the information they need before they make these mistakes out in the real world,” he says. 

Keeping It Real 

That mission shows up every day in Jason’s classroom.  

“I’m not your typical teacher,” he says. “I’m telling stories—failures I’ve had, successes I’ve had—and I make them interesting and engaging.” 

And students notice. They see that everyone faces the same financial decisions: the pressure to keep up, the temptation to spend, and the trade-offs that come with taking out loans. 

Once they see what it costs, it’s hard to ignore. 

“Using personal stories makes it real,” Jason says. “It takes it from content to real life.” 

That’s when students lean in. They ask questions. They start thinking differently about their own decisions. 

Impacting Lives for Good 

Students know what’s useful. And word spreads fast when a class teaches skills they’ll actually use.

That’s why demand for Jason’s personal finance class has grown steadily over time. What started as a handful of sections each year is now one of the most in-demand classes in the school. Nearly 350 students take it each year!  

“They don’t have to ask . . . ‘when am I ever going to use this?’” Jason says. “They see the value of the stuff that they’re learning.” 

By the end of the course, the money myths students walk in with don’t hold up. The idea that wealth is something you see—that it’s tied to cars, houses or appearances—starts to fall apart.

They stop asking how to get rich—and start building real wealth.