IN THE CLASSROOM:

Only a child would get a pleasant response from the chief executive of Volcom clothing after telling him that with a $180-million market value, his company can afford to donate stuff to a sixth-grade class.

The company’s value is more than double that, but that’s beside the point. Within days, teacher Marc Africano’s sixth graders at Newport Heights Elementary had a box of Volcom goodies.

The boy’s boldness last year matched Africano’s lesson plan: create a pretend company (Africano Corp.), a pretend NASDAQ symbol (AFRO) and pay the kids pretend wages for their work. In December and again in June, the students will be able to cash in their “earnings” for products donated from companies like Volcom.

“It will give you a different appreciation for what mom and dad are doing on a daily basis,” Africano told the class Monday, which was payday. The kids received their first paycheck with name, date, signatures and room for comments.

Students started in the mail room with a $2,000 base monthly salary and attempt to climb the corporate ladder, accumulating more money, lifting their base pay.

Africano rewards and penalizes students based on their work and behavior. Those who exhibited effort, performed well on tests and quizzes, turned things in on time, and “went above and beyond the call of duty” saw up to $2,000 in bonuses on their first paychecks.

“If they give their best effort, then they’ll get paid for it,” Africano said.

They’re also fined for tardiness and disciplinary reasons.

There is more to A-Corp than lessons on work ethics and financial responsibility (kids have to save 10% and donate 10% of their income to charity). The sixth-graders will pick stocks to invest in and keep track of them for five months — integrating lessons on graphing, percentages and statistics. Their letters to companies like Billabong, Paul Frank and Quiksilver is a way for students to work on composition.

“It’s good because we learn about money and stocks and writing,” said the company’s public relations man, TK McWhertor. Recording his pay, TK turned to a classmate and said “I’m going to make myself a little checkbook.”

The lessons in bouncing checks don’t come till college.

JOSEPH SERNA may be reached at (714) 966-4619 or at [email protected].