If just one Chattanooga School for the Arts and Sciences student learned a financial management lesson Wednesday, the annual “Reality Check” role-playing exercise sponsored by the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce was worth it.
Too often today, children leave school and home with little in the way of practical sense about how to handle money, what “real life” costs, and how to budget or save for what they need or want.
On one end, they may have been given everything they’ve wanted, lived in a bubble of comfort and don’t have to worry about the cost of higher education. On the other end, they may have had so little they have no experience in dealing with what things cost, what to do if you had a little money and the necessity of putting needs like an education ahead of wants like a nice car.
The Chattanooga Chamber has offered “Reality Check,” a 40-minute workshop in which students are given a simulated life situation and must make decisions in order to thrive in Realville, to Hamilton County schools since 2003.
“The activity increases their awareness of the connection between education, income and careers,” Cathy Humble, education and public strategies coordinator for the Chattanooga Chamber, told Times Free Press reporter Meghan Mangrum.