I'm in Des Moines, Iowa, this week for a math conference. On Sunday, Des Moines received 4 inches of rain. Tornadoes, winds reaching 60 mph, flooding, mudslides, and constant rain is what most of Iowa has seen the last week. When the severe thunderstorms strike, the sky is as black as night and the rain sweeps in horizontal. I have seen miles of farm land under water so deep that you could canoe through the corn fields. Economists like to say that bad weather is good for farmers. With Indiana, Minnesota, Illinois, Kansas, and Nebraska having the same kind of weather as Iowa, how can bad weather be good for farm commodity prices?
Are womens restrooms always or almost always to the right of mens?
When I observe joggers on the street, one is jogging 4 or 5 yards ahead of the other but the gap between the two doesn't change? Why do joggers run together when one wants to lead?
In Muscatine, we have 8 consignment shops who sell their merchandise at a higher price than consumers could buy new at Wal-Mart? Why do people value their second-hand clothes higher than new?
At the end of this school year, 22 teachers left for other positions and 1 retired. Why is teacher turnover so high? After weighing the costs and benefits of the moves, I don't see how many of these teachers gain. I think many mistake activity for achievement.
Many of my students work 20 to 30 hours a week at fast-food restaurants. The money is all disposable income to them. I wonder if there is any other benefit that students gain from this working experience. It's an old joke to tell a student who isn't studying to say, "Would you like fries with that?" meaning that they will only work at McDonalds. So how is it that there's any thing to gain from working at these jobs?
The McDonald's job--work all year so you can spend $800 on prom. I often lament the number of hours high school students work and have had many talks with individual students on this topic--often when they are topping 30 hours a week and school is an afterthought. I started to generalize a reply, but just like most of economics it is dangerous to make generalites but since I have Coop as one of my hats, I can give some insight on benefits to individual students. Student placements for me range from banks to nursing homes to Hardees (no McDonalds in Manchester).
ReplyDelete1. Some need to work to reduce the number of hours spent on chugging beer and general mayhem--the job may keep them out of jail. (The probation officer often encourages it.)
2. A few learn how much they have given up after working for a year or two--they finally see the opportunity costs of extracurriculars, drops in grade points, and $0 in their checking accounts. They start to set goals and create budgets at this point. Sometimes this happens in high school but more often when they are 20, 23, 25.
3. A few actually pay rent for themselves or are helping to support their families. There are families where the kids are actually acting as the parents, often due to a parental addiction.
4. Some do benefit from seeing how the real world works--you are evaluated and if you don't show for work you no longer have a job. Some students struggle just to be responsible and the money occasionally is the incentive they need to start the trail to being responsible. Thanks Mike for all your work! Kelly Jared (and I rarely check my gmail account)