Academic Success by Marie Menna Pagliaro

Author:Marie Menna Pagliaro
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: undefined
Publisher: R&L Education
Published: 2012-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

Classroom application 5.3

Mr. Fein overhears one of his students, Karen, telling classmates that her family just renovated their kitchen and bathrooms at a cost of $125,000. Karen and her friends seem to speak nonchalantly about this amount of money. Mr. Fein also knows that Karen has bragged about her job as a lifeguard over the summer and spending her salary on clothes. A few days later Karen tells him about the renovation and its cost.

Mr. Fein: Do you realize how much money this is, Karen?

(She looks at him in such a way that he is not sure if she is saying, “Mind your own business” or “I don’t care or have a clue.”)

Mr. Fein: You mentioned that this summer you had a job as a lifeguard.

Karen: Yeah.

Mr. Fein: What was your salary?

Karen: Ten dollars an hour.

Mr. Fein: Wow, that’s higher than minimum wage. How many hours did you work?

Karen: Forty hours a week, that was the most they allowed.

Mr. Fein: How many weeks?

Karen: [Thinks for a while.] Nine.

Mr. Fein: So how many hours was that in total?

Karen: Let’s see. Forty times nine. Three hundred sixty.

Mr. Fein: At $10 per hour, how much did you make for the summer?

Karen: $3,600.

Mr. Fein: Did you save any of the money, maybe for college?

Karen: Save? No, I bought clothes.

Mr. Fein: [Scratches his head.] Making that same amount each summer, how many summers would you have to work to get $125,000?

Karen: [Tries to estimate, then takes her calculator from her backpack.] More than 34. [She says this looking completely surprised.]

Mr. Fein: Suppose that was your full-time job and you worked 50 weeks a year as most people do, how much would you earn in one year?

Karen: [She fiddles with her calculator once again.] $20,800.

Mr. Fein: With that amount, how long would it take you to earn $125,000?

Karen: More than six years. [This time she says this without the assistance of the calculator.]

Mr. Fein: You bet, and $20,800 is the money you would have, not only for clothes but for food, shelter, or anything else you needed. And people who make much more than that have to pay taxes, so what was left would have to pay for their expenses.

Karen: What? Never thought about it that way.

Mr. Fein: Well, take extra good care of the kitchen and bathrooms.

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