Okay........every once-in-awhile, a 15 or 16 year old will allow you to visit "their world" !
Lucky me and a chat with 7 of "them", all young women starting the 10th grade in a few weeks.
So, we did the $10/hr math thing from employment. We had more than enough of the "benefit of doubt" towards the most positive aspects of living.
Okay, so you have "work" that pays $10/hour gross and in particular; a full time position that does cover some health/dental benefits (the optimistic world).
---$400/week gross income, minus 20% for most deductions for fed., state, local tax; SS, and Medicare.
Now they're at $320/week net income into their pocket. But, wait there is more !!! They each want their own apartment. So, we used $500/month with all utilities included.
---Their monthly net of $1,320 is now reduced by $500, which leaves $780 remaining for the month.
Uh-oh........gotta eat, eh? Let's do the cheap and say $10/day. Hmmm, another $300 gone for the month.
---Now at $480 remaining for the month for everything else.
So, all of the other questions. What about your wi-fi connection (ya know this is high on the list of things to have, eh?)? Will you walk to the nearest free wi-fi spot? Well, they really need this at their apartment. Hmmm? "So, you now need an internet connection to allow you to have wi-fi"? This isn't cheap.
Transportation, clothing, face makeup, personal items, cell phone monthly fees and the list grows and grows about the "stuff" that is needed for "living".
You may form your own long list for these young folks.
They did begin to consider sharing an apartment and such, after the math got too crazy about money "in" and money "out" of their budgets.
Well, anyway; a write while sipping large coffee #2. All of these young ones plan to take a few classes that are offered in high school regarding "home economics/spending/budgets".
Hopefully, I helped stimulate a few brain cells about having a good education, personal/people skills and the "why's".
Note: a fast run with the above numbers, hoping they are all correct.
Take care,;
Catch
Comments
Regards,
Ted
With all respect to and for you with your position.......whew !; what a challenge.
A few trinkets I will add and I would use "if" I had your responsibility for such a decision area.
My wife and I have been involved, at a voluntary level; with the music departments and 2 music directors at the middle and high school levels. These volunteer positions allow us to be around and mix with the "kids" in the music programs. Our local school music program isn't too the point of having a "sting/violin" section; but the more traditional marching band during the football season, pep bands during the basketball season and various performances by the band(s) at a Performing Arts Center that is part of the school music program.
Piece(s) of knowledge (didn't know before) that I have gathered during this volunteer period is the large amount of time spent by the kids with their school music programs. In particular, those students who have stayed with music since the 6th grade level. Upon becoming high school level (9th grade), there are late summer band camps at the local level, as well as ongoing practice twice a week prior to school beginning. Currently, these twice a week practice sessions are 4 hours (4pm-8pm) on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Music then also becomes a 1hour/school day class, plus other rehearsal times outside of school hours.
---These schedules require a lot of committment and desire from these "young" persons.
---Most of the musicians, regardless of instrument; have a special bond with what they are doing.
---I/we noticed that the top ten grade point averages for the senior graduating classes over a period of several years always had 4-6 students on this list who were also members of the music/band. Having discussed this academic status with high school music/band directors I have met, confirmed this pattern for many, many years.
This circumstance was further enhanced by a cousin, who is a retired band director, from a conversation last month. He noted that other teachers would say to him (over many years) that you always seem to have most of "the smart kids" in your bands. I do believe there is a connection as to how the brains of these young musicians function that may be of great value for them going forward in life.
What I have observed regarding high school band members:
---desire and committment
---a bonding of this group of kids who have to work together for great results
---academic/grades, higher
If I were hiring today for a business/company; part of my criteria would be to review long term involvement of a potential employee, with their middle/high school music program.
Just me 2 cents worth, Sven.
Catch
Work is another story, and that it teaches me about patience and respect even for those who don't share the same work ethics.
I congratulate and salute you and your wife on your long-term commitment to local musical educational programs. That’s terrific. The final benefits to the fortunate recipients of your efforts far outweigh your meaningful time commitment. Good work, well directed.
Although I have not made presentations to our youth (mostly high school age) for several years now, I deployed an approach that differed somewhat from your minimum wage lecture.
I designed my lecture to deemphasize the minimum wage trap, and attempted to emphasize the benefits of higher education and the income disparities among occupations. By its very nature, a mostly Capitalistic system promotes unequal payday rewards.
The minimum wage earner population in the USA is much smaller than commonly believed. Here is a summary statement from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) 2014 Report 1054:
“The percentage of hourly paid workers earning the prevailing federal minimum wage or less declined from 4.3 percent in 2013 to 3.9 percent in 2014.”
For completeness, here is the Link to that data intensive report:
http://www.bls.gov/opub/reports/cps/characteristics-of-minimum-wage-workers-2014.pdf
The illustrative charts that I used are now outdated. I typically showed a wage chart as a function of education and another chart that highlighted representative wages as a function of several realistic occupations. I discovered that the BLS generates charts and tables that serve as excellent substitutes for those that I deployed.
Again from BLS, here is a Link to a chart that demonstrates wage disparity as a function of education level:
http://www.bls.gov/emp/ep_chart_001.htm
Many of the BLS reports that document wages as a function of occupation are simply too detailed for easy presentation; information overload is a real menace to understanding.
But other BLS presentations come to the rescue. Here is a Link that summarizes both the top and bottom wage earning categories:
http://www.bls.gov/oes/2014/may/high_low_paying.htm
These types of charts simplified my workload when making a case for higher education; that was a major goal of my presentations as well as encouraging students to stay the High School course (yet another problem). I believed these chart types were essential to the purposes of my talks.
I suggest you might want to consider adding charts like those I referenced to your lecture material. Maybe it will help.
Thank you again for the service you provide to our youth.
Best Regards.