English school is trying different methods to revive the SuperMoney Economy, which has been failing for months
November 14th, 2010
TAIPEI-
TAIPEI-
It appears that the world-wide recession, which has been affecting economies negatively since late 2008, has found yet another victim: the SuperMoney economy of Hess Young Scholars English School in Taipei, Taiwan.
Students at the school are apparently experiencing a lack of faith in the system. They seem unwillingly to trade in their highly coveted pieces of cardboard for any of the numerous prizes that Hess offers them. Instead of actively participating in the exchange of S.M. cards for goods and services, students are monitoring their S.M. balance very carefully and holding on to their money cards for dear life.
“At times like these, it’s important to save and hold on to what you’ve got. You never know when your next S.M. payday may arrive”, suggests a surprisingly mature E6 student. “I’ve got a future to think about. I need to have at least enough to buy the bare essentials for the next school year. I’m living on a budget here. I can’t just be freely…is freely an adv. or adj.?...Oh Ok. Yeah, I can’t just be freely giving my money away in uncertain times like these.”
Fear for the safety of their S.M. has actually led most students to stop bringing the cards to school altogether. Unwilling to invest them in the Bank of Hess, students feel that all bringing S.M. to school does is put them in danger of being stolen. As an alternative, students keep them at home under lock and key…waiting to bring them back them out until after the economy shows some signs of improvement.
“I keep mine in my state-of-the-art industrial strength safe at home, alongside my other treasured possession—a signed Super Junior poster,” shares Wendy.
“I keep mine under my pillow at night…next to my gun,” offers another student, who wishes for obvious reasons to remain anonymous.
However over-reactionary these fears may seem, they are certainly not unfounded. Due to the recent lack of investment in the Bank of Hess, Hess officials announced they would be temporarily placing a hold on printing more money cards.
“We were hopeful that by temporarily stopping the creation of more money cards, students would have no choice but to start spending again and restart the economy,” explains Vicky, manager of the Chung Hua Hess branch. “Not to mention that, in situations like these, we always must be mindful of the effects of inflation—too much money out there and the price of goods will inevitably rise.”
Despite the good intentions behind the move, the effect it had on the health of the S.M. economy was ultimately negative. Instead of helping to get the economy moving again, buyers’ fears were reinforced.
Additionally, the lack of money at the teachers’ disposal had further disastrous consequences.
“The structure of our classes is essentially built on the incentive for rewards. If you can reward students with money cards, they will be likely to participate and keep class flowing. However, take S.M. out of the equation, and students have no motivation to involve themselves. There needs to be a reward for success. Students thrive on the opportunity to collect S.M. They even compete with one another to see who can win more during class time. Without the incentive for rewards and to be better than one’s peers, students have little desire to try. It’s common sense really—like why capitalism, despite its’ flaws, will always be a more viable system than communism,” ponders Teacher Andrew, a rather intelligent and handsome newcomer to Hess.
Instead of participating in review games with the usual vigor, students were rather reluctant to get involved and/or excited.
“Throwing a sticky-ball is great…but throwing a sticky-ball to win Super Money, now that’s a rush,” confesses Alvin, another E6 student.
Furthermore, without a reliable supply of money cards to give to students, many teachers had found themselves being stricter towards students and taxing money cards just in order to keep their own stock afloat.
“I’ve recently instituted taxes for talking out of turn, not raising one’s hand, going to the bathroom, speaking Chinese, and looking at me the wrong way…basically everything short of breathing…which may very well be the next one to be enforced,” Teacher Eddie admits half-jokingly.
However, school officials, realizing their mistake, very recently pulled a complete 180 and decided to inject the S.M. economy with tons of money cards—reversing their previous action, and ending the freeze on S.M. printing. This reflected a move in an entirely new direction in addressing the S.M. crisis. Management is hopeful that with money cards readily available once again, students will be motivated to spend. This maneuver is already being labeled “the Obama method”, as it resembles the approach the U.S. government has taken to battle their own economic crisis—inject the economy with a boat load of money and hope something positive happens.
Well, here’s to it working out better here than it has over there.
