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TODAYMoms - Would you let your daughter have a fake teen pregnancy? (http://moms.today.com/_question/2011/04/21/6509532-would-you-let-your-daughter-have-a-fake-teen-pregnancy - broken link)-
If my daughter did that she'd have to keep it from me as well as I could not support a school project over the feelings of other family members that could feel very hurt at this deception.
My SIL attended a very low end community college. Also and this is a little off topic, but it was dig at me because I had been working retail at the time.
Quote:
Originally Posted by fallingwater
As far as my SIL goes, she is a snob. She has always been overly concerned with how I spend her brother's money. I will leave it there because you do not know my SIL nor understand the dynamics of my husband's family. I am not going to explain it to you. Choose to believe what you think my reaction should have been. I could care less.
I forgot your SIL is a witch. Sorry she did that to you.
Quote:
Originally Posted by fallingwater
Barbara Ehrenreich wrote her book. It has been done. SIL's professor at her community college was going to try the same experiment. Barbara Ehrenreich is not the only person to write on this subject.
That's true. Others did replicate Ehrenreich's experiment to challenge it. The purpose of her experiment was to test how difficult it would be for people to get off welfare. One guy somewhat disproved it. He went to North Carolina with only $25 in his pocket---within 10 months, he had a job, an apartment and a vehicle.
Quote:
Originally Posted by fallingwater
Just like understanding in most cases, someone working retail is going to struggle financially. If someone truly believes working at McDonald's will enable them to save a ton of money then yes, they lack common sense. Break out a calculator, take the wage and then figure out monthly expenses. It's not that hard. I personally have never met anyone that thought someone working at McDonald's or Walmart produces high incomes. I guess I spend time with realistic people.
The purpose wasn't to see if they could save money or if they made high incomes. The purpose was to see if people can actually survive and provide themselves with the basic necessities and experience first hand what it's like to live in poverty. There's a place for these types of experiments when you get these politicians who act like people living in poverty should be just fine.
I don't understand how this is really a "social" experiment. Maybe a person experiment...but getting pregnant in your teens isn't some obscure thing that never happens. Maybe when she when her next experiment is "I am going to fake my own death to see how much people will miss me" her mother will talk some sense into her.
I don't understand how this is really a "social" experiment. Maybe a person experiment...but getting pregnant in your teens isn't some obscure thing that never happens. Maybe when she when her next experiment is "I am going to fake my own death to see how much people will miss me" her mother will talk some sense into her.
I agree that is seems more of a personal experiment.
It's social because it deals with how others react to a given situation. If it only involved her, it would be personal, but it involved everyone around her.
It's social because it deals with how others react to a given situation. If it only involved her, it would be personal, but it involved everyone around her.
But it has no value to anyone around her. Those folks were experimented on, without their knowledge or consent, and gained...what? A feeling of having been deceived, most likely. The most they could gain would be second-hand information about a pale imitation of reality; they'd be better off watching MTV. She may have gained, but since she was the one who conceived (pardon the choice of words) the project, carried it out, and benefitted, I'd still consider that quite personal. (And a few other things.)
When I read this I see
Lying
Which I think is bad.
I wonder how one studies the reactions of people.
I would have thought to do this properly one would have needed some university professors on board to advise.
But as a joke then I imagine she could have some fun with it. But why let the school principal know.
I personally thought it was an interesting experiment. However, I think the boyfriends parents should have been "in" on it. Not including them was a poor choice and I can't imagine the gamut of emotions they ran through on this one.
As for the validity of what was done (and done in similar things like the minimum wage experiment), I agree that it is easy enough to deduce or calculate what the results would be. However, there is a benefit to actually living the reality versus writing about the reality as a casual observer. These experiments work because the person living the experiment is doing so with the purpose of detailing the experience and reality. They're awakening to the reality and their writing on it is what has value. You can argue that it is invalid because they have a safety button to get back to their reality at anytime, but they still have the experience of trying it.
Would I encourage my daughter or son to do this, probably not, but I do think it's an interesting experiment and I do give her credit for the amount of thought and effort that had to go into something like this.
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