Charged Opinions

In my elective economics course we were discussing if credit cards harm or help society. I was excited–I thought this would be an engaging discussion because a lot of my students have a credit or debit card, so it would be relevant to them. I wanted my students to read two articles about credit cards and build an argument to answer our central question: “Do credit cards benefit our society?” Things were going as planned, students were making strong arguments and citing evidence from the texts. Then a student made a claim that did not come from either article: “People gotta stop spending their money on stupid stuff, like a $200 shirt. If people stopped doing that, then they wouldn’t be broke and in debt.” At first I was shocked by the comment because it was incorrect and also potentially hurtful to classmates. I did not know if any of my students’ families were in debt or experiencing any financial hardship. While I love when my students connect what we’re learning to their own lives and share their opinions, I want them to use sources to inform their thinking. I did not know how to respond to this student’s comment in a way that both acknowledged his opinion as important but also clarified his factual inaccuracy.