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@ Keith Meola
2025-03-03 22:14:39
Education is foundational to growth and prosperity in a community.
It is not easy for people to engage with and interact with the foundational idea of a community when they do not understand it.
Unsurprisingly, BTC Isla is built around Bitcoin, which not many people understand.
However, on the tiny island of Isla Mujeres, that is changing one class at a time.
### Education Is Essential
At the center of each Bitcoin circular economy around the globe is the ethos that education is paramount to adoption and the overall success of the community.
This is no different with BTC Isla, where Isa teaches Bitcoin classes to the locals on the island.
During my recent stay on the island, I sat in on one of the classes to see what they are and how Isa is spearheading educating the locals.
### The Class
Classes take place at the Mayakita restaurant on the southeast side of the island. They last about an hour.
Isa follows the Bitcoin Diploma curriculum created by [Mi Primer Bitcoin](https://myfirstbitcoin.io/) and teaches the classes in Spanish. I don’t speak Spanish so I couldn’t exactly follow the lesson to a tee, but that wasn’t important as the enthusiasm from Isa and the students was palpable.
On this particular day, there were 4 students present who had attended the classes before, and one new student.
It was exciting and fun to see this timid teenager walk into the restaurant who hadn’t the slightest idea of what Bitcoin was. Isa welcomed her with open arms and threw her right into the thick of it.
She seemed to learn a lot and have her interest piqued and afterward told me that she enjoyed the class and would be returning.
Another student and member of the community has begun their Bitcoin journey, very exciting!
I understood the lesson (Isa’s activity with the markerboard helped!) to be primarily about inflation and the scarcity and divisibility properties of Bitcoin.
I always enjoy seeing how people react when they learn about inflation and how Bitcoin is different and why it is a solution.
### Paid To Attend Classes?
At the end of each class, something strange occurs: Isa pays the students sats for attending the class!
She surprised me before the lesson by telling me she does this, but her reason for doing it makes sense.
The locals on the island live a completely different life than ours in the United States. The concept of saving and putting away money for the sake of building savings doesn’t exist. When money plays a purely transactional role in life, the store-of-value characteristic isn’t important let alone thought about.
Paying the students to attend the classes does 2 things:
- It allows the students to begin to build savings in bitcoin as well as interact with and use their money and have real experience with the very thing they’re learning about
- It creates an additional incentive for the students to attend the classes
While yes, it is strange to monetarily incentivize people to attend a class, it makes sense when you realize that the locals need a reason to *actually* be interested in and learn about Bitcoin.
The normal interest and entry points to Bitcoin as an investment that we use in the United States and Europe aren’t applicable.
However, despite the students being paid to attend the classes, they all seemed genuinely interested in the lesson and learning about Bitcoin. They were all attentive to Isa, taking notes and staying engaged. They cared about the subject.
### Future Classes
Isa, myself, and a few others were discussing field-trip ideas for future classes, and in the future Isa will take the class to the streets of Isla Mujeres!
She will give the students sats with the implication that they need to spend them on goods at the bitcoin-accepting merchants downtown. By doing this, bitcoin injects itself into the economy and perhaps more importantly, the students get experience transacting with bitcoin in the real world!
Nostr: [BTCIsla](https://www.primal.net/btcisla)
Website: [btcisla.xyz](https://www.btcisla.xyz)