I'm Going To Teach a Class About Currency Debasement. Advice

[Thogey]

I'm going to teach it to a class of 5th and 6th graders, who will only have to sit out one more election till they are old enough to vote.

I plan on trying to blow their little minds and put some meaning behind the big numbers. I'm going to make them understand just how screwed they are by all this overspending.

I'm plan on starting the lecture on what real money has always been, a dollar being an 8 reale. I plan on giving away some stuff, hyper-inflationary bank notes etc.

It's a great opportunity, but I want to have it be fun and impactful.

Any advise would be appreciated.

[Engineer]

Get their attention by passing out crayons and colored paper, and then telling them they don't have to pay attention. Sounds fluffed up, but it works. The ones who wouldn't pay attention regardless will be harmlessly occupied, while the rest will be drawn in by the reverse salesmanship.

If you want the lessons to stick, leave them with a ray of hope.

[Market Harmony]

You've got to think on their level... they only understand the money that their parents give to them... Show them what $5 would have bought them when they were born, today, and 5 years from now. Use candy, toys, etc.

[Lemon Thrower]

i would do something based on monopoly. this is rough, but here is a sketch. say there are 30 kids. bring in 45 small pieces of hard candy. then give all the kids an equal amount of money. then do a theoretical auction for each piece of candy.

do it again on day 2 but with say 15 donuts. let them form partnerships to buy a single donut and cut it in half.

do it again day 3, except after you give all the kids an equal amount of money, draw some names out of the hat - say 10%. tell these kids they are "bankers" or "government," and get an unlimited amount of money. or better yet, let anyone who is a banker bid with IOUs and treat them as real money. then conduct the auction again.

you could make it more realistic by telling the kids who are bankers that they are bankers in secret, and that they have the power to bid with IOUs, but don't explain this to the rest of the class. the 3 bankers will end up with all the donuts, and the other kids will realized they got screwed. they won't know how they got screwed, but they will know they got zero donuts, that the bankers got all the donuts, and will then be very interested to learn how the bankers did it.

another lesson you can do is instead of making some kids bankers, just give them a set amount of money on one day, and then see what price the candy clears at, and then on the next day, give everyone 2X as much money. don't tell them what you did. they'll initially think they are richer, but its an illusion due to inflation, and should end up with the same amount of candy.

[copperhead57]

You can demonstrate this very well by using Mexican coins. Start with a 10% silver 1 Peso coin from 1957-1967. Next you show them a copper-nickel Peso dated between 1970 and 1983. Then you show them a 1000 Peso coin from the late 1980's. Explain to them that they made that 1000 Peso coin equal to 1 new Peso in the early 1990's.

All of these coins are very easy to find, and are inexpensive.

This article might be of some use to you.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Mexican_peso

[inflationhawk]

Just don't go overboard telling people how we are going to end up like the Weimar republic and descend into chaos. They'll just think you are some extremist lunatic. Stick to the facts and explain how debased our money has already become. Just because it got debased didnt mean the world ended, but if they properly prepare for further debasement and others don't explain how much better off they'll be.

[silverflake]

How about this: hand each kid a dollar bill and a Morgan dollar. Ask them what they can do with the piece of paper, other than spend it at this particular point in time in our country. For 5th and 6th graders - you might say, use it as a book mark, kindling for a fire, wipe your nose if it's worn and soft enough. Then ask them what they can do with a real piece of silver (the Morgan). Tell them they could form it into bullets (oh no!) or make it into jewelry, or spin it down and use it to conduct electricity or polish it and use it as a mirror or flatten it and use it as insulation or shape it into silver ware to eat their food, or grind it into powder and formulate an antibacterial cream out of it, or...save it for a rainy day!

Which would you rather have? Thus, which is real money?

Over their heads?

Then just tell them that there's silver in their iPods.

Stack, friends, until you can't stack anymore!

[henrysmedford]

Can you have it filmed and put it up on Youtube so we can see.

[Mike]

Show them a postage stamp album. In the late 1950s first class postage was 3 cents, then 4 cents in the early 60s, and on and on.

There have to be some movies on DVD that show gasoline at 26 or 27 cents a gallon...sorry, but I just can't think of any right now off the top of my head.

Look at the price on old paperback books. 55 to 65 cents each is common.

When our children were in elementary school I sat them down at a table with a number of toy cars, toy houses, cans of toy food and the like, and gave each of them a number of toy coins. I set it up so there were two toy coins for each toy on the table. I asked them how much each toy cost...the answer they figured out was two coins each. Then I gave each of them double the number of toy coins. At first they were happy thinking they had twice the money they had before. But the number of toys on the table hadn't changed. Slowly it dawned on them that they were no better off with twice the number of coins if the number of toys didn't also go up.

[Treetop]

Id bring some actual monopoly money, some debased currency with really high numbers but little or no value and some dollar bills. Start by asking them if they know what the dollars are. Of course they do. Then ask them if they would rather have the monopoly money that says 100 or the single one dollar bill. When they opt for the single one dollar bill ask them why? they know of course the monopoly is just a piece of paper.

Then explain that the dollar was once backed by tangibles. Being backed by something real it wasnt just a piece of paper. then bring out the hyper inflated cash. explain that at first their paper was backed as well. people dont want dollars because they are paper, they want them because they store wealth and others will give you goods or services for them. When you make to many of them however it takes more and more of them to buy what you want.

You might also try to use visuals to show how mucch debt they each have in their names. Show them what they could have bought. with the debt they owed when they were born. then show them the projected debt they will have by the time they are in the job market. Then explain its much worse then supported actions on inflating currency and debt passed onto our kids... because eventually we wont be able to sustain it. Hard to peg exactly when it will stop being sustainable, but it cant be sustained. Not only have we been debasing the currency but we have a major case of generational welfare going on.

good luck either way! Is this a school thing? or a boyscout group or something?

[creshka46]

Just curious, how did you get an opportunity like this?

[Thogey]

Just curious, how did you get an opportunity like this?

I asked my kids teacher if I could do it. She said yes, so they will combine two classes to hear what I have to say.

I'm hoping it will have a lasting imact.

[creshka46]

Wow, that's pretty cool. I wouldn't have thought they allow that kind of thing.

[Thogey]

It's a charter school. The staff is actually sane. They trust my education and experience.

Parents are encouraged to come in and teach the kids real-world stuff, read to them etc.

I will run a lesson plan by them first though.

[theo]

It's a charter school. The staff is actually sane. They trust my education and experience.

Parents are encouraged to come in and teach the kids real-world stuff, read to them etc.

I will run a lesson plan by them first though.

Yes, that's a good idea. Try not overwhelm them with a lot information. The teachers should be a good guide here. Talk about the difference between nominal and intrinsic value. Bring in a 90% silver quarter along with a clad quarter and talk about the difference in value. You can also talk about modern coins; for example point out that the pre-1982 penny has more metal value than a clad dime.

Check out You tube for educational videos on gold and silver for more ideas.

Good luck,

[fansubs_ca]

Reminds me of this:

http://www.mises.org/daily/2207

A little more broad than what you are covering but the same idea.

[Delawhere Jack]

I'm going to make them understand just how screwed they are by all this overspending.

Let them know that debt is ALWAYS REPAID, whether it be in land, labor or blood! Then tell them that our "friends" to the east have over 100 million excess men to insure it happens.

Let them know that grandma and grandpa are largely responsible because they think they're entitled to every useless medicine available, and all the "free" health care that they want.

Tell them that when they see a 30-40 year old obese slob riding a medicaid scooter around the grocery store, that that person is the reason they will have to die fighting an overwhelming numbers of enemy soldiers.

Let them know that when they see a credit card ad on the Tee-Vee that keeps chanting "FREEDOM!.......FREEDOM!" They will know who really wants them in chains.

Well, maybe I've gone a bit too far....... all that info could give the kids nightmares for a decade.

[justoneguy]

[quote="Delawhere Jack"][quote="Thogey"]
Let them know that when they see a credit card ad on the Tee-Vee that keeps chanting "FREEDOM!.......FREEDOM!" They will know who really wants them in chains.quote]
When i saw that ad, that's when it really started to sink in.
It seems that since TV advertising began, is when it really began to be OK to just lie.
TV lies to us all daily.
Then it occured to me who has dominion over the air.

[cupronickel]

Give them each a high denomination banknote and tell them, "A roll of toilet paper costs,(1000 times whatever note you gave them) so with this banknote you could only buy one square of toilet paper. You couldn't have bought the whole roll. Would you trade your banknote for one square ? or just use it instead.

[scyther]

Don't pass out hundreds through the class, they might not all come back...