Adk DeCap

My 1st period Seniors are starting Nickel and Dimed: On Not Getting By in America by Barbara Ehrenreich. It’s the story of the author’s attempt to live on minimum wage. She was really trying to see if a person could make ends meet making 7 or 8 dollars an hour. It’s easy enough to just do the math and realize it’s impossible but that doesn’t really make for a good story, does it?

Ms. Ehrenreich waited tables in the Florida keys, cleaned houses in Maine and worked at Wal-Mart in Minnesota. She set down some ground rules for herself. She kept her car and didn’t figure that into her bills, she refused to ever go hungry. Essentially she let herself cheat somewhat. But she also didn’t allow herself to use her education (she has a PhD in biology) and she had to take the best-paying job offered. One of the first things she admits is that she has the distinct advantage of being a white, native-English speaker.

Class was fun this morning. For an intro to the book, we talked about the price of living: the price of gas, the price of luxuries like cable TV and a cell phone and especially the price of food. Everybody agreed that the cheapest food is not only the most filling but also the worst for you. Think Dollar menu. Then it was on to the experiment. Could they live on whatever low-paying jobs they have now?

I gave out budget worksheets and had them do the actual math. Yes, really, math in English class at 8:30 in the morning. How much do you make per hour, multiply by 40? Take 20% off the top for taxes, 30% if you want health insurance, then multiply by 4 for your monthly income.

Just like the author of Nickel and Dimed, we cheated a little. I let them assume I paid the security deposit and gave them some basic furniture. Subtract rent, utilities, phone and food. Want luxuries? Subtract gas, car insurance and cable TV. Out of the 10 students working out a budget only 2 finished in the black for the month. One with $15 dollars left over, the other one is sharing a one bedroom apartment with a roommate who can’t afford food! The best comment came from the student finishing about $400 in the red. With a smile she summed it up with, “I hate my life.”