Not much - they just choose to ignore it. I’ve been teaching teenagers a long time. They’re not dumb. They know the score, and they know what they can get away with. They supremely exploit that fact.
But there is one thing they often don’t understand at all, and it is precisely because they’ve played the system that they don’t understand it:
Insolvency.
Teenagers are almost never insolvent. Sure they might be out of money, but the bank of mom and dad usually has more. Sure they might not be able to make ends meet, but the ends somehow get met.
There comes a point in most peoples’ adult lives, though, when the money required to stay afloat simply isn’t there. The moment at which you are seriously concerned that you will default on something important. That sickening ache in the belly at the thought of losing a tangible thing because you simply can’t afford it.
It’s a feeling most adults have experienced, and one major reason I think many politicians are woefully out of touch with everyday citizens. If you’re like me, you’ve had that “oh hell” moment, and you never want to feel it again. But the people who run this country are almost exclusively from the small class of people who have never felt this fear. They have never robbed their kids’ college fund to buy a new refrigerator. They’ve never had something repossessed, never had a bill go to collections, never defaulted, never been evicted. They haven’t lived the American Dream during its gritty, hardscrabble beginnings.
Giving teenagers some skin in the game (i.e. you earn it you spend it…otherwise the bank is closed, eh?) is a good way to get them a little taste of this feeling without leaving them out in the cold. Our politicians could benefit greatly from having had this same experience.
Read other answers by Dave Consiglio on Quora:
- What event in your life made you realize that people already thought of you as an adult?
- If every person on Earth turned into a baby, and you had to raise all of them, how many babies do you think would live to adulthood under your care?
- What is the best thing you’ve heard a teacher say?
from Quora http://ift.tt/2gwUCUU
No comments:
Post a Comment