Did you ever have a mini-society at school? That’s where the teacher prints out a bunch of fake money and the kids in class are assigned to groups to “produce” something to sell to each other in an educational exercise that demonstrates commerce and the importance of free trade! Super duper!
anyway
In third grade on the eve of the start of this exercise Dan, my best friend of 7 years and the boy with whom I someday hoped to live out my days with in our giant treehouse chucking rocks at girls and living out the idyllic prepubescent existence, had no clue what to do for our assignment. Neither did I. We couldn’t make anything. We were too lazy to try to and we were convinced that wrapping colored pipe cleaners around pencils to sell was completely lame. What to do? With two hours left we were fast approaching the very real possibility that we would flunk a completely unimportant and silly assignment. But then-
While shuffling through a deck of cards, Dan had an amazing idea. We would open up the first and only casino in the class’ mini-society. He’d deal blackjack. I’d deal poker. We wouldn’t have to produce anything. If we lost our money so be it.
So what happened? What happened? WE TOOK THAT FUCKING SOCIETY FOR EVERYTHING IT WAS FUCKING WORTH. Buying stuff to buy stuff was only fun for some of the more shallow kids. The rest wanted action. And that’s what Dan and Gus brought to the table. High stakes poker and blackjack. Walk in a third grade schlub and walk out a fictional millionaire. The kids were hooked. Some bet their entire allowance of cash and lost it all. They couldn’t stop. Dan and I were like Biff Tannin in Back to the Future 2. The class was our oyster. Sometimes we would buy candy for everyone in the class from somebody who brought it in to sell. We were like the twin monopoly guys. Then, when there were only a few minutes left at the end of the exercise we took all our cash and bought everyone out. Dan and Gus owned the entire society.
I remember Mrs. Stamford being very upset by this whole exercise. She never conducted it with any of her subsequent classes after that.
Dunno why I just thought of that.
Did you ever have a mini-society at school? That’s where the teacher prints out a bunch of fake money and the kids in class are assigned to groups to “produce” something to sell to each other in an educational exercise that demonstrates commerce and the importance of free trade! Super duper!
anyway
In third grade on the eve of the start of this exercise Dan, my best friend of 7 years and the boy with whom I someday hoped to live out my days with in our giant treehouse chucking rocks at girls and living out the idyllic prepubescent existence, had no clue what to do for our assignment. Neither did I. We couldn’t make anything. We were too lazy to try to and we were convinced that wrapping colored pipe cleaners around pencils to sell was completely lame. What to do? With two hours left we were fast approaching the very real possibility that we would flunk a completely unimportant and silly assignment. But then-
While shuffling through a deck of cards, Dan had an amazing idea. We would open up the first and only casino in the class’ mini-society. He’d deal blackjack. I’d deal poker. We wouldn’t have to produce anything. If we lost our money so be it.
So what happened? What happened? WE TOOK THAT FUCKING SOCIETY FOR EVERYTHING IT WAS FUCKING WORTH. Buying stuff to buy stuff was only fun for some of the more shallow kids. The rest wanted action. And that’s what Dan and Gus brought to the table. High stakes poker and blackjack. Walk in a third grade schlub and walk out a fictional millionaire. The kids were hooked. Some bet their entire allowance of cash and lost it all. They couldn’t stop. Dan and I were like Biff Tannin in Back to the Future 2. The class was our oyster. Sometimes we would buy candy for everyone in the class from somebody who brought it in to sell. We were like the twin monopoly guys. Then, when there were only a few minutes left at the end of the exercise we took all our cash and bought everyone out. Dan and Gus owned the entire society.
I remember Mrs. Stamford being very upset by this whole exercise. She never conducted it with any of her subsequent classes after that.
Dunno why I just thought of that.
