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4 to 8 (middle school)
social studies, business, economics
approximately 2 class periods
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Beginning with the great industrial and financial boom of the late 19th century, this activity asks students to think about entrepreneurialism and participate in a business project of their own.
The activity involves two essential steps: 1) developing an idea for a new product or service; 2) getting others to invest in it. The Get Rich Quick! activity is best done as a class activity.
Begin this activity by having students read the articles "The Business of Battle," "The Robber Barons," and "The Panic of 1873."
Hold a discussion about the great boom and bust cycles of the late 19th and 20th centuries. You might ask the students why economies go through boom and bust cycles. What were some of the factors behind periods of growth in the 19th and 20th centuries? And what led to the busts? What role do new technologies play? What about speculative excess? How about foreign competition? These are what economists call macro-economic questions.
Next, turn the discussion over to questions about micro-economics. What makes a business successful? What are the elements of a successful business? Products, service, location, advertising, a brand name? What causes businesses to fail? How much is success or failure due to ideas, hard work, money, or luck? What role does luck and accident play in business success? And what about investments? Why do people invest in businesses? How can businesspersons get people to invest in their business?
You might also want to have the students discuss personal or familial experiences with business success or failure. How did the family cope with success or failure? How did it change their lives? (Needless to say, a discussion of such questions is up to your discretion; this can be a sensitive subject.)
This activity could be done by individual students, but it would probably be more fun and productive to do it in groups.
- Have the students think of a product or service that they would like to market. As noted in the activity section, this can be something new or simply something that is not available where the student is. To use the proverbial lemonade stand, lemonade is not a new idea but lemonade at a local park where there are no refreshment stands is. In terms of developing the new idea, students can either do this individually or in groups.
- Next, have the students develop an initial public offering, or IPO, in which they try to convince their fellow students to invest in their business. To do this, students should develop a written IPO that discusses the new product or service, its competition, the potential market, the advertising, the catchy slogan, etc.
- Then have the students make copies of the IPO for others to look at. You might want to create a classroom marketplace. Perhaps issue each student $10,000 in scrip for them to invest in whatever they would like. Once the students have read all the IPOs, they can decide which companies they want to invest in and how much they want to invest in each. Once this is completed, you -- or the class -- can add up the numbers. Which IPOs attracted the most investment?
Note: you may want to do this anonymously. That is, the students do not put their names on IPOs. This guarantees that it is the merit of the idea -- rather than the popularity of the student -- that wins the investment money.
- Another activity option focuses on investing in existing businesses as opposed to creating new ones. Give students an amount of imaginary money, perhaps in the form of a stockbrokerage account. Then have the students study the business pages and look for companies to invest their money in. Let them buy and sell stock as they see fit. Have them keep track of their progress in a log. If you choose, you can keep things honest by having them record all transactions with a neutral party, such as yourself. At the end of a given period of time, have them write up how much they made or lost in the stock market.
Get Rich Quick!
There are great opportunities in business, and great risks. For every person who gets rich in business, there are dozens of others who just get by, or who fail. As the IPO exercise game has taught you, no one really gets rich quick (unless they win the lottery and the odds against that are about a zillion to one). People make it in business with smart ideas, lots of hard work, and more than a little luck.
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Early New York