Money's Value

The concept of money - this is an idea that my 7th grade students do not understand yet - the article provided by a friend: http://www.theonion.com/content/news/u_s_economy_grinds_to_halt_as - as well as my friends commentary: "It's funny because it's true" - hits upon a lesson that I often try to explain to my students. We investigate current events that often discuss the economy or the idea of value - in addition, we examine the Holocaust - the Germans dealt with hyper-inflation which without a good understanding of value is difficult to understand - I try to provide the parallel of extra credit points in my classroom - while I rarely provide extra credit opportunities - I have become more willing over time - I often provide a point or two as prizes for class competitions (I have my various classes compete in quizzes) or as part of testing various theories - even a point or two of extra credit despite my total points for a quarter being in the 800-900s truly motivates my students - but back to the main point of this tiny rant - money and value are something that students struggle to comprehend - I try to establish a connection to their lives through the idea of extra credit points - I create a certificate with the proclamation of 1,000 Extra Points - with my signature on the bottom of the page and as how much would they pay for such a certificate - this begins a dialogue of value - each student carries a different desire for these points and this they explain motivates them to pay real money for the certificate - again I will then explain what happens if there are 20 certificates versus one - this highlighting the point of supply and demand - but my next point hits upon the idea of the Onion Article - what if after the quarter ends I did not give 1,000 extra credit points to the person who held the certificate? What if I instead tore up the certificate? Or what if the certificate was only worth 100 extra points instead of 1,000? Does this change the value of the certificate? Or if you are an 8th grader does the certificate hold value? Students, or at least a lot of the students, begin to see that money is truly worth only what people agree that it is worth. This idea that money is a set in stone price is untrue - some could argue that the gold standard before had created a set price - this is a longer and different argument than what I will mention here - but it is fascinating to see these students grapple and think about this idea - it is an idea that needs to be spread because in our society many of us do not realize that while this Onion article is funny - it is also, as my friend explains much more simply and elegantly - true.