Middle Schoolers Hear Timely Message from Top Expert:
Be Savvy Consumers, Says Maryland’s Attorney General
Attorney General Curran Visits Cockeysville MS to Unveil New Web Site

Just in time for holiday shopping, no less an authority on consumer protection than Maryland’s Attorney General arrived at Cockeysville Middle School recently with a pointed message for teens: Be smart and sensible customers, and do your homework before you shop.

The homework that Attorney General J. Joseph Curran, Jr., discussed wasn’t the usual school fare of reading, writing, and arithmetic. Rather, he discussed the importance of teens knowing about consumer fraud and Internet scams and educating themselves about their rights as consumers.

To that end, he came to Cockeysville Middle School (CMS) to unveil a homework helper, of a sort. A new web site offered by his office called “WiseBuys for Teen Consumers” debuts on the web site of the Office of the Attorney General. The site, produced with the help of CMS parent Andrea Cooper may be found at http://www.oag.state.md.us/WiseBuys/index.htm.

“We need you to be our test market,” Mr. Curran told Deborah Burk’s eighth-grade family studies class. “We need to know if you think a web site like this is helpful or not.” The consensus Mr. Curran received from the class was that the site, with its helpful tips and interactive advisories, will be well-received.

“I think a lot of adults could use this information, too,” whispered Cockeysville Principal Philip Taylor during Mr. Curran’s visit. At the front of the class, the web site’s author, Jamie St. Onge, took the class through an interactive consumer quiz on the site that ranged from questions about credit cards to tattoos.

Among those visiting CMS along with Mr. Curran were the school’s PTA President, Kathryn Sless, and the BCPS Manager for Career and Technical Education, Charlene Bonham.

Ms. Cooper, who works for Mr. Curran’s office and who provided the graphics for the web site, said she hoped the site would help keep teenagers from making common consumer mistakes. “We wanted to make this information accessible and relevant,” she said. Her daughter, Maura, a CMS 8th-grader, served as an informal consultant to her mom’s project. “She’d tell me, ‘Mom, that’s lame,’ if something wasn’t going to appeal to her or her friends.”

By and large, though, it was apparent from the response of Ms. Burk’s class that the information would be valuable to those who access the site and learn to be savvy consumers. One by one, students related stories of scams or rip-offs they or their parents had received in the mail, over the phone or Internet, or encountered in the marketplace.

Mr. Curran appreciated the feedback, too. “We’d rather see you go to a web site like this and learn how to avoid becoming a victim,” he said, “than end up having to come to us with a problem.”

See event photos

Story and Photos by Charles Herndon Communications Officer