Insider Trading…in the 3rd Grade
What I love about our educational system is that what is being taught is so rarely what is being learned.
At my daughter’s previous, very private school, the headmistress thought that what she was teaching was that there is right and wrong way to do absolutely everything – a way to walk down the halls, a way to think, and above all, a precise way to express oneself – that way being, to express oneself in accord with her.
Instead of learning how to conform, my daughter learned she had absolutely no interest in conforming. A pretty important thing to know at 8, eh? So we did the inevitable and switched to the public school in our neighborhood.
Has it been a panacea to cure all ills? Of course not. But overall, a terrific year. Overcrowded a bit, like all public schools in New York, but conscientious in the right ways and laissez-faire when they should be. After a few months of adjustment my daughter began to relax, stop fearing constant scolding, and to enjoy her new friends, one of whom is referred to as “Queen of the Lunch Table.”
Which brings me to my point: children have a whole ‘nother life we parents don’t really know about. Sometimes they are our children, sometimes they are the teacher's students.
But who they are to each other belongs only to them.
And it's never really what you'd think. Take this exercise in free market trading the girlchild related one day while packing lunch. In her new school, most of the kids bring something from home. But apparently, no one actually eats they lunch they bring. Eating, if it is done at all, comes only after a complex transaction period that would boggle the Big Board.
The most highly valued trade commodity is, according to current trends, the Chinese fortune cookie. Its bland flavor and lack of zippy additives would seem to work against it, but one mustn’t overlook its essential two-part nature. Having both a fortune and a cookie doubles its value. The girl who most aggressively corners the market on these actually uses the lucky numbers on the back, to play lotto.
Other valued items? Goldfish crackers, any chip that comes in a pack of its own, and homemade chocolate chip cookies. I love that the kids do this, that they’ve come up it with on their own. Adults wouldn’t understand the relative values, I’m sure. But I also love that she’s learning a real skill. To trade well and fairly, she has to think about what she has to offer, what someone else has to offer, and what a third someone might have that’s even better if you just hold out. That’s knowledge she’ll use every day of her life, whether the math facts stick or not.
By the way, snack marketers of America, are you listening?
At my daughter’s previous, very private school, the headmistress thought that what she was teaching was that there is right and wrong way to do absolutely everything – a way to walk down the halls, a way to think, and above all, a precise way to express oneself – that way being, to express oneself in accord with her.
Instead of learning how to conform, my daughter learned she had absolutely no interest in conforming. A pretty important thing to know at 8, eh? So we did the inevitable and switched to the public school in our neighborhood.
Has it been a panacea to cure all ills? Of course not. But overall, a terrific year. Overcrowded a bit, like all public schools in New York, but conscientious in the right ways and laissez-faire when they should be. After a few months of adjustment my daughter began to relax, stop fearing constant scolding, and to enjoy her new friends, one of whom is referred to as “Queen of the Lunch Table.”
Which brings me to my point: children have a whole ‘nother life we parents don’t really know about. Sometimes they are our children, sometimes they are the teacher's students.
But who they are to each other belongs only to them.
And it's never really what you'd think. Take this exercise in free market trading the girlchild related one day while packing lunch. In her new school, most of the kids bring something from home. But apparently, no one actually eats they lunch they bring. Eating, if it is done at all, comes only after a complex transaction period that would boggle the Big Board.
The most highly valued trade commodity is, according to current trends, the Chinese fortune cookie. Its bland flavor and lack of zippy additives would seem to work against it, but one mustn’t overlook its essential two-part nature. Having both a fortune and a cookie doubles its value. The girl who most aggressively corners the market on these actually uses the lucky numbers on the back, to play lotto.
Other valued items? Goldfish crackers, any chip that comes in a pack of its own, and homemade chocolate chip cookies. I love that the kids do this, that they’ve come up it with on their own. Adults wouldn’t understand the relative values, I’m sure. But I also love that she’s learning a real skill. To trade well and fairly, she has to think about what she has to offer, what someone else has to offer, and what a third someone might have that’s even better if you just hold out. That’s knowledge she’ll use every day of her life, whether the math facts stick or not.
By the way, snack marketers of America, are you listening?
posted by Whoopla at
7:18 AM
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