[New] Currencies in Elementary School

BY CARTER STARKEY

It’s the year 2009, and you walk into an ordinary elementary school. You walk past art rooms with finger-painted turkeys plastered on the walls, math rooms where kids are being introduced to the dubious concepts of algebra and arithmetic, and find that many of the kids are having recess. Suddenly, you stumble upon a room of excited children trading chestnut-sized plastic toys called Bakugan. When one touches a specific surface, it pops out of its spherical shape, slightly resembling a dragon or a snake. Looking back, it is a bit of a lackluster trick. Nevertheless, these things have immense value within the walls of an elementary school.

Out on the playground, you notice that kids are huddled in groups. You may see a dollar bill or two being passed around and countless wrists adorned with Sillybandz: a whole underground market of trading them back and forth. At the school store, you find lines of students waiting eagerly to buy eraser tops shaped like farm animals with their allowances. Not only did these things have value, but they acted as a language for us to explore our wants and desires from a young age.

Who knows why these small, underground markets pop up or why these items become pseudocurrencies for kids who don’t even know that word. Before any of this, kids traded snack cakes at lunch tables. Maybe it’s in our nature to turn to our neighbor, see the cool stu they have, and make some of our very first economic decisions in order to get something cool of our own. Maybe it was the corporations’ doing, designing things like toys and cards to be traded amongst groups of friends.

In the year 2022, there is no telling exactly why this phenomenon occurs. Instead, we can be thankful for some of our earliest obsessions and look back at them with the fondness they deserve.

BY QUINN MCCLURG

INTERVIEWER: Interview start! This is Jeremy at Wide Awake Elementary School and today I will be talking to Jimmy and Ryan about bullying on the playground.

INTERVIEWER: Hi! What’s your name and how old are you?

JIMMY: My name is Jimmy! J-I-M-M-Y! I’m six and in third grade! *Jimmy holds up 8 fingers.* But I skipped a grade because I’m super smart!

RYAN: The name’s Ryan. I’m the oldest in third grade.

INTERVIEWER: What is your most favorite recess activity?

JIMMY: [Flag] football is my favorite! I’m really good at it and no one can ever get me!

RYAN: I like flag football. I’m really strong and I tackle the other kids even though I’m not supposed to.

INTERVIEWER: Other kids say you’re always picked first. How does that make you feel?

RYAN: Cool. Not like I care. Everyone already knows I’m cool.

INTERVIEWER: All the kids say you’re always picked last. How does that make you feel?

JIMMY: It’s only because I’m faster than everyone else and they’re all scared of me because I’m fast.

INTERVIEWER: What do you think of Ryan?

JIMMY: He’s not good at football. I’m faster and stronger than him too.

INTERVIEWER: What do you think of Jimmy?

RYAN: He’s weird. I don’t like him. He always cries when other kids get his flag. He never leaves after he gets out either.

INTERVIEWER: Do you think you should be more nicer to Jimmy?

RYAN: No. He’s a little dweeb. “More nicer” isn’t even a word, stupid.

INTERVIEWER: Do you think you should be nicer to Ryan?

JIMMY: No. He’s a big meanie-head.

INTERVIEWER: Alright! Bye bye!

INTERVIEWER: Ok this is my end stu now. Jimmy really needs to be bullied. He doesn’t even know his numbers and he’s not even that smart. Ryan said he’s a dweeb and a crybaby too and he knows because he’s cool. Okay, this is Jeremy from fourth grade and interview done. Bye bye!