Design
Students go through a month in about 40 minutes. They are in groups of 4-6, and are given an amount of money roughly equal to a household of their number at the poverty level. We do round to the nearest multiple of five to keep the time consuming math at a minimum for them and me. I found the data at the HHS website, and I then took out taxes and Affordable Care Act Health contributions. I then cut up "bills" of paper with the monetary amounts of 5, 10, 20, 50, and 100 dollars to pass out. Each house has two adults aged 25, and all the rest are kids under 5.
Students must pay rent (1st week), utilities (1st week--water, electric and gas; and can choose cell phone and internet if they want), car payments (2nd week), and car insurance (final week) once a month. Groceries and gas for the car are weekly expenses. I did a Google search for average amounts for all these things in our area, so you could do likewise for your area and this included cost of eating out fast food and entertainment options. Groceries were the one exception- for that I used the USDA website for a chart that showed 4 different meal rates for all ages.
The 'weeks' are not timed, they are just long enough for me to collect what they owe, and them to figure out adjustments.
Along the way, stuff happens.
The kids need clothes- $10-20 each kid. The car breaks down- $100. The kids get sick- $20 doctor visit per kid.
And students must choose.
Choices
-Apartments:Students can choose living arrangements: number of bedrooms and location. They can also choose if they want HUD housing for a little bit cheaper rate.
-Grocery plans: Do you take the Liberal plan and eat well? Or take the Thrifty plan and tempt hunger?
-Car or bus?: Students begin with a car, but can sell it and buy a couple bus passes.
-Honesty: Do they tell me, the bill collector the truth? Or do they cut corners and cheat fate and the law?
What they did
Pretty much all the groups made the choice to sell the car before the simulation ended. They got $500 for it, minus the $50 for the bus pass. In one class, without selling the car, only one group would have stretched their money for the whole month.
Some students took the more expensive route with apartments and groceries. They learned very quickly their error- they sold their car in the first week. Grocery plans were most easily amended as we went along. I observed a couple groups who made the choice for the parents to take the thrifty plan so that the kids could eat more. This was cool.
At least one group chose to cut groceries out completely for a week here or there for some of the adults.
When the money ran out- they panicked. To sell the car or not? It was really the only option to get more money, so they took it. Some got really frustrated when the car they hung onto broke down and cost them unexpected money.
Another group kept trying to sell their kids clothes.
I had a couple students who had come in late from finishing assignments in another class. So, they became "unexpected twins" to a family who was struggling. They couldn't understand why getting more kids didn't equal getting more money.
One group decided to take the kids to McDonalds. There wasn't enough money for for the whole family, so the parents went without so the kids could have something. THEY learned something for sure.
What I think
I asked the students, "Would you have made the same choices if this were real?" Their answers ranged from "YEAH!" to "Probably not." They would not have been able to skimp so much on food, they would definitely choose the cheaper apartment.
When asked "COULD you have done this in real life?" most said, "No."
My classes have a pretty wide range of socioeconomic stati. For some, this was all too real. For others, who fit into the Upper class of Sociology Class Structure, it was sobering. Realizing that people actually do have to live like this made them take stock.
Some students took this very seriously, but all students seemed to have fun. But was fun the point? I think the fun was necessary for them to be able to take in what they were experiencing. If it had been as miserable and as harsh as the reality of poverty often is, they would have shut down.
My students found a way to 'survive.' They made hard choices- sometimes choices that we with the luxury of social position would call unethical. But in the end, I truly believe my students see a part of the world that many had not encountered with fresh eyes, and open hearts.
See, I love teaching classes like this, because not only do I get to teach theories, I get to challenge my students to act as better people, to learn morality. To learn how to care for others.
I think I would do Theodore Roosevelt proud with this lesson, as he once said:
"To educate a man in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society."
My hope is that my students are in no danger of being menaces, but they are in danger of being compassionate.
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