FREAKanomics chap 1. SUMO TEACHERS ATTACK!!!!!!!!!

This reading was interesting, that is to say it has been much better than the past ones however I believe the following chapters will be better.

The opening of the reading was very interesting with the Israeli day care. It is astounding that people can feel not guilty when they leave their kids past the time they were supposed to come pick them up. I guess its not really a disappointment to the kids because they're just at day care for another twenty minutes but its more of a burden for the day care. Still though that is just the characteristic of a neglectful parent, I know ideally a parent would like to be on time to see their kid and I know that many parents are late, but as the author explained the study I was even more suprised.

The parents didn't care when they had to pay a fine of three dollars to pick up their kids late, more parents came later! It was also done over a few week period which means that the parent wasnt just very busy that week, it was on purpose. They subconciously or conciously didn't care if they were twenty or more minutes late to pick up their kids from day care. Thats ridiculous really. If I was working at the day care I would be angry. I don't know if they are getting paid overtime for waiting for all the kids to get picked up but my guess is that they're not. The parents just think that when they drop the kids at day care they don't have to care what happens. That is not the case, the kids are still theirs and they cannot alleviate all responsibility and pass it on to the staff. It was an intriguing study and a very good study to start the chapter with. The next topic of cheating and teachers with the standardized tests didn't interest me though. It made me think of third grade when we had to take these sort of tests and I just wondered if our teacher did anything like what was said in the book. The bagel man story was very interesting however.

A story was presented near the end of the chapter about a man who wanted to cure world hunger but ended up working for the U.S. Navy in D.C. He started bringing bagels to work and ended up quitting his job and pursued his bagel making full time. I was verryyyy suprised to find that he made the same amount of money selling bagels as he did before...I guess when they say the government doesn't pay well they're not kidding ;).

The man's new business was also a test of human morality and principles. There was no customer interaction in which the person taking a bagel encountered the man selling the bagels, therefore there was no one to cheat physically. There was however the conciense of the people taking the bagels. Some people did not pay, but the economist turned bagel man accounted this on oversight, which I thought was wishful but a good way to think. I was very amazed that he got 95% return though, I didn't expect that many people to pay for the bagels, I figured more people would steal the bagels.

I do not think people are moral, they can be, however the vast majority of people will cheat and steal if they get the chance; this study however showed differently.

The chapter got me thinking about alot of things and I am interested to see what will come in the next chapter.

-bluey