People pay to be served nearly every day. You pay the bus fare, and the driver takes you along his route. You pay the barista to make you coffee, the bartender to make your drink and the cabbie to take you home.

But how would you like to get paid to be served? That’s the deal that more than 300 rising ninth-graders in the District are getting in classrooms this summer, as The Examiner’s Lisa Gartner reported Monday. They had signed up for the District’s summer work program, but DCPS flagged them as at-risk academically. Now, school has become their summer job, with a wage of $5.25 per hour. DCPS officials are discussing expanding this program next year.