If basketball players make more than teachers, why shouldn't learners all aspire to play in the NBA? Unraveling the cost and benefits of education and future economic success can be tricky. Economic data, real-life cases, and some simulations unpack why a college degree may be better investment than banking on a pro ball career. 

Concepts

human resources, capital resources, entrepreneurs, economics, labor, income, cost-benefit analysis, education

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Additional Tags

social studies

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Instructional Ideas

• Ask young economists to evaluate the costs and benefits of education and income using the included activities
• Have your pupils evaluate various real-world scenarios for education and employment using the included extension activities

Classroom Considerations

• Part of a series from the Council on Economic Education

Pros

• Easy to adapt multiple activities for individual classes
  
• Real-world scenarios make the lesson useful to young people's life experiences

Cons

• Does not include all links and some are not valid; may require additional teacher research for some activities

Common Core

RH.9-10.1 RH.9-10.2 RH.9-10.3 RH.9-10.7 RH.9-10.8 RH.9-10.9 RH.9-10.10 RH.11-12.1 RH.11-12.2 RH.11-12.3 RH.11-12.7 RH.11-12.8 RH.11-12.9 RH.11-12.10