By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
The game of Monopoly is playing out in real-time for Park Elementary School sixth graders in Great Bend. Well, sort of. During Tuesday's USD 428 Board of Education luncheon at the school, sixth graders Gentry VanSkike and Rubi Perez shared details about My Classroom Economy.
"My Classroom Economy is simple," VanSkike said. "I earn and spend money in a simulated microeconomy and I'm involved in many financial concepts. For example, I apply for and am offered a job, and I earn money based on my grades. I pay rent for my desk and any fines for any inappropriate behavior that are levied against me."
Every sixth grader has a job and cannot have the same job in back-to-back quarters. Students earn a simulated income, pay bills, balance their account, and pay rent on their desk. If students can pay three times their rent in any given month, they can purchase their desk. Once they purchase their desk, they are eligible to purchase other desks and charge classmates rent as another source of income. Fines and bonuses can be levied by the teachers as a way to reinforce behaviors. Teacher Eric Dowson said not all students stay in the black.
"All we can ask them to do is come in and do something to make up the difference," he said. "We have a bonus list. Come in and do an odd job. Go do an extracurricular thing."
Being a simulated economy, the students quickly learn how to use certain features to their benefit. They give loans to friends and even partake in some under-the-table deals to boost their incomes. Teacher Nina Ralston said there are real-life lessons learned with the simulation.
"It's something we don't spend a ton of time incorporating into our month," she said. "We do it about once a month, but I do think it's very beneficial for them to already have been exposed to what that should look like."