Money: it’s Child’s Play
Young people on what they do with their cash.
| £1,000 is a lot of money for me. The cost of living today is so high that £100 is quite a small amount. |
Phew…The summer holidays are finally here and all we, as school children, have to think about is ice creams, amusement parks and exciting youth club summer programs.
Well…that's what we thought. But 27 pupils aged between 11-13, from the Geoffrey Chaucer Technology School in Elephant and Castle in London spent two weeks of their summer break learning about money! The event organised by London based Well Placed Consultancy, and run by Mia Morris, was designed to help young people understand the value of money.
On the day they visited The Bank of England there was only one thing on their minds…MONEY! What to do with it, the history of it, how to spend it, and how to save it.
We really wanted to see how the cash flow was going so we started by asking them what they considered to be a large amount of money.
For Glynn (11) anything over £100 was a lot of money. But for Micah (12) (influenced maybe by his sightings of gold bullion's at the B of E) it was a different story he said: "£1,000 is a lot of money for me. The cost of living today is so high that £100 is quite a small amount."
And Micah is not alone with his high value on money, according to a recent survey children in the UK are now getting the highest rise ever in pocket money - with a 29% increase.
So are our parents to blame for our desire for money or are there other forces that come into play?
"Usually my parents will give me money but if I want more money, I'll get stuff like pictures and games off the Internet and sell them says David (12).
The group of soon-to-become-money-specialists all burst into laughter when David made this comment, but it's no joking matter for Denzil (12) who is also the 'Director' of a small Internet picture business. For the two of them it's a fast way to make extra money. But how fast is it?
"TWO MINUTES!" continues David also giggling.
Considering that there is an increase in pocket money and young entrepreneurs down loading pictures and games from the Internet, does that mean getting a Saturday job now belongs to the age of the dinosaur?
For Joe (14) the past is still pretty much at the forefront of his thinking, since it was only two years ago that he had a Saturday job in a pie and mash shop.
"I earned about three to four quid every Saturday." He added.
Joe felt that he didn't get paid enough but as he puts it: "I needed the money." He was only 11 at the time!
And the need for money by young people continues with the weekly buying power of the nations youth soaring around the £73m mark. And what does the last of the big spenders spend their cash on?
The survey says…sweets! 57 per cent of girls and boys spend most of their money on ice creams, and generally all things sugary.
Joe has another passion, he told us that he spent about £35 a month on computer games. While Glynn spent her money on clothes and shoes. Micah meanwhile sapped up a little culture and spent his money on going to the cinema and buying magazines. Speaking of which isn't it the media that encourages us to spend, spend spend?
Joe saw the media as ruling us and making us think and behave in a certain way.
"The media puts pressure on you because they know that as we grow up we are their future." added Micah.
But it's not only pressure from the media to have money to spend, there is also fierce peer pressure to contend with.
"You need to get all sorts of new clothing otherwise you're just the odd one out and you're left alone and your friends go off without you" says Glynn screwing up her face as she speaks the bitter truth.
But it's not all spend, spend, spend. Before you can spend, as a young person, you usually have to save your pocket money. Kofo (12) tells us about her saving arrangements… "I only save when I want something and then I spent it on what I have saved for."
But will this new spend-trend of today's youth continue? We don't think so not if Secretary of education Estelle Morris has her own way. She plans to introduce money-wise classes, teaching children how to spend pocket money, into schools this September. During "citizenship classes."
While the expression 'Money makes the world go around' continues to echo in our classrooms for Emanus (12) it's the case of: "As long as I have money to buy whatever I want, it's okay with me."
About the team
This article was produced following a roundtable discussion with young people at Geoffery Chaucer Technology School in Elephant and Castle, edited by Della Hicks-Wilson and Danyel Edwards, 15. It was published as part of Teen Talk, the Children's Express page in the New Nation.
