Never mind all that book-learnin', kids, wait'll you get a taste of the real world:
GREENCASTLE -- More than 550 eighth-grade students faced the reality of adulthood for a few hours Monday during the Reality Experience.
[. . .]
The middle-school students arrived at the "store" with a checkbook and their gross monthly salary. They then pay taxes, utilities, housing and medical costs. They roll the dice to find out how many children they have and visit each "booth" to pay for food, transportation and insurance.
[. . .]
Along the reality journey, students visited the wheel of chance, where they might win the lottery or lose money due to house fire or car repairs. It may also send them to the legal representatives with issues like breaking a lease and possibly being sued or will preparation.
Sounds like a pretty cool program that at least tries to give the students a taste of the two truths most come out of school without a clue about: 1. Life isn't just going to unfold -- plans actually have to be made. 2. No matter how good the plan is, stuff happens. The story notes that for the reality experiment, the kids have to choose an occupation without knowing the salarey. That sounds awful, and I should know -- that's the way I did it.
