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The Economics of Staying in School comprises several activities that help students discover the importance of an education to their decisions to enter the work force. They explore their personal skills and interests, various career opportunities, personal budgeting, and the consequences of the decisions they make. They are encouraged to define what success means for them individually and to set goals to attain it.
The learning objectives listed beside each activity state the skills and knowledge the students will gain.
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Activity One: Making Your Own Way
The consultant greets the students and describes his or her background, job, organization, and the role education has played in his or her life. The students then are introduced to the program through an activity that reveals the relationships among education, career options, and earnings. |
Key Learning Objectives
The students will
 identify their personal interests
summarize how education affects career options and earnings
define success in personal terms |
Activity Two: Playing With Success
The students play SUCCESS, a board game that illustrates the relationship between education and achieving personal goals. In the discussion following the game, the students explain the relationship between the number of success points earned and players’ schooling and career options. |
Key Learning Objectives
The students will
describe the value of an education
identify situations that cause students to drop out of school
analyze the choices and opportunities available to help them achieve success |
Activity Three: Living and Learning
The students are introduced to the important role education plays in the United States. By working as teams to read tables, design charts, and communicate critical data, they discover the financial costs and opportunity costs of education. |
Key Learning Objectives
The students will
describe how taxpayers invest in education
interpret tables and design charts
identify the opportunity costs and trade-offs involved in a decision to drop out of school |
Activity Four: The Cost of Living
The students work in small groups to prepare monthly budgets. They refer to the jobs they selected in the first activity to determine their incomes, and they use the local newspapers to determine costs of housing and transportation. |
Key Learning Objectives
The students will
gather information from classified advertisements
calculate take-home pay
prepare a monthly budget |
Activity Five: Knowing Yourself
The students discover their skills and aptitudes through a personal assessment. They match the results of the assessment with their career choices from Making Your Own Way. They will consider ways they can gain the skills they need for the work force. |
Key Learning Objectives
The students will
analyze their personal skills and aptitudes
assess their skills in terms of career choices
evaluate how experiences at home, school, work, volunteer activities, etc. help them develop the skills they need for the work force. |
Activity Six: Setting Goals
The students write definitions of success, then in small groups they identify the goals that would enable them to achieve success. |
Key Learning Objectives
The students will
develop personal definitions of success
discover the importance of setting goals to achieve success |
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ESIS enhances the students’ learning of the following concepts and skills:
Concepts – Budgeting • Careers • Choices • Employment • Expenses • Income • Job market • Opportunity costs • Skills • Success • Taxes • Trade-offs • Work
Skills – Analyzing information • Building self-esteem • Critical thinking • Decision making • Evaluating experiences • Following directions • Gathering data • Giving reports • Goal setting • Interpreting data • Mathematical interpretation and computation • Summarizing • Teamwork
All JA programs have technology enhancements and are designed to support the skills and competencies outlined in the SCANS (Secretary’s Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills) report. These programs also augment the school-based, work-based, and connecting activities for communities with school-to-work initiatives.
Personal Economics |
Enterprise in Action
The International Marketplace |
The Economics of Staying in School
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