School Bells – Current Affairs – Grade 8 – Week 36
We are nearing the end of the school term. I am going to miss meeting with these students. I have not heard if the school will offer the class next year. Even though I volunteer my time, there are other issues which affect whether or not the time and space can be allocated for a class such as this type of class.
Here come the students now.
Me: Good morning class.
Class: Good morning Mr. Jim. Cookies?
Me: No, we had them last week. I will certainly try to have them next week. I am eager to hear the thoughts of you and your family members about whether the community, as a whole, is better off if the main focus of a business if to make as much profit as possible. You will recall I am sure that we began this conversation by discussing the quote by a well-known business and community leader that it is better if a business does not have heart. At the conclusion of that discussion I suggested that some would argue that if the focus of the business is to make money then the business can employ more people who then get to spend more money which then creates more jobs. At the end of the class Susie suggested that profit was not the reason people worked when everyone lived and worked in the village. Yet, everyone worked and shared equally with each other. Why did this work in the village and does not seem to work for larger communities now?
Tom: My mom explained that not only do the workers have to be paid but all the owners have to be paid also Mr. Jim.
Me: What do you mean by the owners Tom?
Tom: She said that many companies have many owners who own little pieces of the company. All those people expect to make money too Mr. Jim. If there is no profit, then they do not get paid and will not continue to buy pieces of the company.
Me: Those pieces are called stocks and the owners are called stockowners. They get paid out of the profits.
Abdul: My dad suggested that we be clear about what is counted as profit.
Me: Please explain Abdul.
Abdul: Well, he said that profit is only what you have left over after all the salaries and other expenses are paid. Some companies pay some people a lot of money – millions of dollars – but that is not out of profit. They might pay a bonus out of profit. They also have to buy and replace equipment and supplies.
Ann: Why are big salaries not part of profit Mr. Jim?
Me: That is a good question Ann. Does anyone know the answer? I guess the real question is why pay a huge salary even if the company is not making a lot of money.
Will: My mom, dad and I googled that question. Some heads of companies said that they had to make a lot of money to show how important they were compared to others.
Susie: When we were reading about villages it seemed as if everyone in the village was important and they knew that.
Will: Yes, but in cities all over the world there have always been people who had big houses and other stuff such as palaces and pyramids to show how important they were.
Me: So it seems as if the villages were better at making everyone seem important even though people had different jobs. The basic lesson here seems to be that we need to find a way to assure everyone that they are equally important. In this class, for example, is everyone equally important?
Amena: You are more important than we are Mr. Jim.
Me: Is that true Amena? It is true that part of my job is different but we are here to learn. If there were no students I would not be a teacher and if there wase no teacher there would be no one to guide the learning.
Paul: My mom said that everyone in the village knew and lived with everyone else and knew that the health of everyone was very important.
Me: Good point Paul. Although the big boss might know some of the employees to say hello, he or she does not really have a personal relationship with everyone. Perhaps if someone is a thing, such as a worker, then they are not a person like the boss.
Paul: When my family goes to work at Catholic Charities mom and dad insist that we get to know people as Mr. and Ms. If we say that so and so is one of the homeless people then they are not like us. It is difficult to think that we could be homeless but mom and dad showed us that if they lost their jobs and could not find another one the money we have in savings would be gone very soon.
Me: Are you saying it would not be long before your family would homeless Paul?
Paul: Well, we have you and other relatives who would help or we could live together but otherwise we would be.
Me: So, you seem to be saying that we are all equally important and similar in many ways Paul.
Paul: That is what you, mom and dad always say Uncle Jim.
Me: Yes, we do.
John: Mom and dad said that life was much simpler when one lived in the village Mr. Jim. No one needed cars and people shared all the stuff in their houses because they did not have any place to shop for many pairs of shoes or whatever.
Amena: Dad said that even today there are people without electricity, indoor plumbing or other stuff. Everyone in the village lives much the same.
Me: That is true.
Susie: But we also have health care, live longer, plenty of food and stuff. Working for companies who can make a profit allow us to have money we need for stuff we need.
Me: That is true Susie but it there also a question of what of how much we need versus how much we want? We had that discussion way back in week six of this class.
John: My mom said if companies did not make a profit then no one would want to create or own such a company.
Me: I wonder if that is always true John. If everyone felt good about what they were doing and had enough to take care of themselves and their families would they still work hard?
Will: We do not have to take this class Mr. Jim and we still work hard.
Me: That is a great example Will. Of course, we all have plenty of money for what we and our families need.
Ann: We are really nice to each other and everyone feels important here. It feels like what we are doing is important Mr. Jim
Abdul: If I was hungry it would be hard to care about this class Mr. Jim.
Me: Yes, I think that would be true for all of us Abdul.
Dear me. Time is nearly up. It sounds as if we are saying that the question of profit is way more complicated for us than it was for those living in a small village, but some of the issues are the same. For example, everyone wants to feel as if they are equally important and as if the needs of the family are equally important. It also sounds as if we saying that the less we know about each other as people just like us the less we can care about them and less we can function as did the village.
For next week let us talk with our families about what it would like to be able to have empathy for everyone in our community whether they are a CEO making millions of dollars or a really poorly paid clerk in a store.
Ring! Ring! Ring!
Me: Have a good week everyone
Class: Bye Mr. Jim.
Written May 10, 2017
We are nearing the end of the school term. I am going to miss meeting with these students. I have not heard if the school will offer the class next year. Even though I volunteer my time, there are other issues which affect whether or not the time and space can be allocated for a class such as this type of class.
Here come the students now.
Me: Good morning class.
Class: Good morning Mr. Jim. Cookies?
Me: No, we had them last week. I will certainly try to have them next week. I am eager to hear the thoughts of you and your family members about whether the community, as a whole, is better off if the main focus of a business if to make as much profit as possible. You will recall I am sure that we began this conversation by discussing the quote by a well-known business and community leader that it is better if a business does not have heart. At the conclusion of that discussion I suggested that some would argue that if the focus of the business is to make money then the business can employ more people who then get to spend more money which then creates more jobs. At the end of the class Susie suggested that profit was not the reason people worked when everyone lived and worked in the village. Yet, everyone worked and shared equally with each other. Why did this work in the village and does not seem to work for larger communities now?
Tom: My mom explained that not only do the workers have to be paid but all the owners have to be paid also Mr. Jim.
Me: What do you mean by the owners Tom?
Tom: She said that many companies have many owners who own little pieces of the company. All those people expect to make money too Mr. Jim. If there is no profit, then they do not get paid and will not continue to buy pieces of the company.
Me: Those pieces are called stocks and the owners are called stockowners. They get paid out of the profits.
Abdul: My dad suggested that we be clear about what is counted as profit.
Me: Please explain Abdul.
Abdul: Well, he said that profit is only what you have left over after all the salaries and other expenses are paid. Some companies pay some people a lot of money – millions of dollars – but that is not out of profit. They might pay a bonus out of profit. They also have to buy and replace equipment and supplies.
Ann: Why are big salaries not part of profit Mr. Jim?
Me: That is a good question Ann. Does anyone know the answer? I guess the real question is why pay a huge salary even if the company is not making a lot of money.
Will: My mom, dad and I googled that question. Some heads of companies said that they had to make a lot of money to show how important they were compared to others.
Susie: When we were reading about villages it seemed as if everyone in the village was important and they knew that.
Will: Yes, but in cities all over the world there have always been people who had big houses and other stuff such as palaces and pyramids to show how important they were.
Me: So it seems as if the villages were better at making everyone seem important even though people had different jobs. The basic lesson here seems to be that we need to find a way to assure everyone that they are equally important. In this class, for example, is everyone equally important?
Amena: You are more important than we are Mr. Jim.
Me: Is that true Amena? It is true that part of my job is different but we are here to learn. If there were no students I would not be a teacher and if there wase no teacher there would be no one to guide the learning.
Paul: My mom said that everyone in the village knew and lived with everyone else and knew that the health of everyone was very important.
Me: Good point Paul. Although the big boss might know some of the employees to say hello, he or she does not really have a personal relationship with everyone. Perhaps if someone is a thing, such as a worker, then they are not a person like the boss.
Paul: When my family goes to work at Catholic Charities mom and dad insist that we get to know people as Mr. and Ms. If we say that so and so is one of the homeless people then they are not like us. It is difficult to think that we could be homeless but mom and dad showed us that if they lost their jobs and could not find another one the money we have in savings would be gone very soon.
Me: Are you saying it would not be long before your family would homeless Paul?
Paul: Well, we have you and other relatives who would help or we could live together but otherwise we would be.
Me: So, you seem to be saying that we are all equally important and similar in many ways Paul.
Paul: That is what you, mom and dad always say Uncle Jim.
Me: Yes, we do.
John: Mom and dad said that life was much simpler when one lived in the village Mr. Jim. No one needed cars and people shared all the stuff in their houses because they did not have any place to shop for many pairs of shoes or whatever.
Amena: Dad said that even today there are people without electricity, indoor plumbing or other stuff. Everyone in the village lives much the same.
Me: That is true.
Susie: But we also have health care, live longer, plenty of food and stuff. Working for companies who can make a profit allow us to have money we need for stuff we need.
Me: That is true Susie but it there also a question of what of how much we need versus how much we want? We had that discussion way back in week six of this class.
John: My mom said if companies did not make a profit then no one would want to create or own such a company.
Me: I wonder if that is always true John. If everyone felt good about what they were doing and had enough to take care of themselves and their families would they still work hard?
Will: We do not have to take this class Mr. Jim and we still work hard.
Me: That is a great example Will. Of course, we all have plenty of money for what we and our families need.
Ann: We are really nice to each other and everyone feels important here. It feels like what we are doing is important Mr. Jim
Abdul: If I was hungry it would be hard to care about this class Mr. Jim.
Me: Yes, I think that would be true for all of us Abdul.
Dear me. Time is nearly up. It sounds as if we are saying that the question of profit is way more complicated for us than it was for those living in a small village, but some of the issues are the same. For example, everyone wants to feel as if they are equally important and as if the needs of the family are equally important. It also sounds as if we saying that the less we know about each other as people just like us the less we can care about them and less we can function as did the village.
For next week let us talk with our families about what it would like to be able to have empathy for everyone in our community whether they are a CEO making millions of dollars or a really poorly paid clerk in a store.
Ring! Ring! Ring!
Me: Have a good week everyone
Class: Bye Mr. Jim.
Written May 10, 2017
RSS Feed