On Monday, April 1st, Ridge High School had the honor of hosting guest speaker Martin Cox along with surprise guest Dr. Jamie Whyte. Martin is the Director of the John Locke Institute and has previously taught economics at Oxford University, while Jamie is the John Locke Institute’s Editorial Director and a renowned Cambridge-educated philosopher.

After months of planning from RHS junior Isabelle Qi and her AP Government teacher, Mr. Mike McTernan, a plan was formulated for Martin to fly over from Washington, D.C.! He was in the American capital to host a gap-year program where students met the Senate Majority Whip, Democratic Senator Dick Durban of Illinois. Countless (alright, not really countless – more like 74) emails later (not counting the extensive behind-the-scenes work from Mr. McTernan and the board of education), Martin flew in to Newark Airport en route to Basking Ridge, New Jersey.

On the day of the big event, Martin appeared alongside Jamie, a surprise guest who had just flown over from England! Martin gave a provocative, entertaining lecture on unintended consequences in today’s government and economy to an eager audience of RHS students. The lecture revolved around four types of unintended consequences: I) intending to help yourself and hurting yourself, II) intending to help yourself and hurting others, III) intending to help others and hurting yourself, and IV) intending to help others and hurting others. Martin gave a wonderful example focusing on sweatshops in developing countries – how, for instance, well-intentioned American citizens may boycott products with the goal of calling attention and forcing companies to act, but ultimately end up taking away jobs from sweatshop workers who voluntarily chose to work there and must now turn to other, worse opportunities. Dr. Lazovick, Ms. Dwyer, and Mr. Coates also attended the lecture. Afterwards, students joined Martin and Jamie for a closer Q&A “breakout session”, where they discussed lecture topics and general questions. The Q&A session was also amazingly popular, with many students attending and asking questions!

We received overwhelming feedback commending the interactive, thought-provoking talk and Q&A. The event was a huge success, and students were thrilled to have learned from Martin and Jamie’s insights. If students are interested in learning more and experiencing similarly wonderful activities, they are highly encouraged to contact the author or check out the John Locke Institute’s programs! Here is the link to the Institute’s website: https://www.johnlockeinstitute.com

A huge thank you to:

• Martin and Jamie for flying over from Washington, D.C. and London, respectively, to inspire Ridge students!
• Mr. McTernan for being a tremendous source of support and enthusiasm throughout the process. The event could not have happened whatsoever without Mr. McT’s dedication.
• Dr. Lazovick and Mr. Graber for approving the event and for letting us use Room 624 and directing hallway traffic during the lecture.
• Mr. Coates, Ms. Dwyer, Mrs. Fox, Mr. Liska, Mr. Norris, and Mr. Zande (listed in alphabetical order) for sharing news about the talk with your students. 
• Every one of you who attended, for making it a success!