How can I get students to think about the topic of human capital?
I ask them, what is the single most important resource in the world?
Oil, water, air?
“People” is often a passive answer, indicating uncertainty about the meaning of the resource.
Once it is found that the resource anything that produces goods and servicespeople, or population is logically understood.
Examples please. This is always interesting. High school students are immersed in the influx of college applications being produced, confident in “declaring major projects” and confident in their future educational plans. Apart from categories like engineering, computer science, international relations. or Psychology, students are rarely exposed to the multitude of activities – jobs- that exist even within their future field of study.
I then explained a few. A deep sea welder is a scuba specialist, who may spend only two hours a day working hundreds of meters below the sea welding pipes and equipment. A radiation oncologist spends most of his time with patients building relationships during treatment while interacting closely with surgeons and various medical professionals while reading scans, blood work and other information. The iceberg mover is an expert in maritime transport, working closely with oil companies and environmental agencies, using technology to monitor and even tow icebergs by ship or tugboats to ensure marine infrastructure. A pet food tester uses their senses to work closely with nutritionists and product developers to ensure quality recipes, taste, texture, consistency, decay, and overall taste. I’m excited about this ever-changing part of my presentation, showing photos of workers in their most unusual places.
The reality is that most of us will spend over 100,000 hours in our lives trading our significant others for money in what may be a random succession of jobs in and out of all fields, where only some of us can achieve expertise in a particular field. workplace. (A wonderful opportunity to relate the concept of scarcity to a number of experts in the field as this concept was introduced in the first week of class). Thinking about population on a personal level helps students relate the concept to the larger scale of the country’s production factors.
Presented forever as land, labor, and capital, as the entrepreneur has added in recent decades, the factors of production are fundamental to understanding the economy. Individuals (not governments) make decisions to combine these factors of production into goods and services according to changing individual and collective needs and wants. It is a source of scarce jobs, in a society of 8.25 billion people, providing physical and intellectual work that produces goods and services.
Here I would like to revisit the profound wonder of living in a free and responsible society where our likes and dislikes are different. Our ability to choose from many options is as important to our work life as it is to our daily ability to choose products that satisfy our needs and wants. Additionally, and important to our personal choice, is our ability to choose representatives who will follow the direction of our community and country and make decisions about the use of scarce resources. I remind students that this phase of life that will include college and the first job for many (from the high school where I teach) is temporary. Some will earn a degree and others will leave before getting one to start that first “real” job. They will face many professional and personal decisions in their lives that will affect the trajectory of their careers.
A follow-up activity takes students on a short guided tour of the BLS website. Then I encourage students to explore Occupational Outlook Handbook and gathering information on at least three job titles, including required education levels, average salaries, and projected growth rates. I also have them write down five or six words for specific jobs within a major career interest category including ones they’ve never heard of or thought of. The site holds a wealth of regularly updated data that is more interesting to young people than they can imagine before the day’s lesson.
A related but very different aspect of productivity requires a separate day of instruction. Business. I will share that soon.
Alice Temnick is an IB Economics instructor at the United Nations International School in New York City.
Source link