Wrong Line Of Work
I am a teacher at an international high school, and our students are incredibly well-connected and wealthy. In pre-calculus, we began a discussion that, fortunately, is always relevant. We discussed applications of exponential functions, and in particular compound interest. After I had finished my speech, a very wealthy girl was not impressed.
She complained, “When will we ever use this?” She asked me incredulously “But why would you ever need to borrow any money?” After I explained patiently why for the second, I sighed and repeated my explanation about the power of compounding interest using another exaggerated illustration. I told her I would give her $100 in a week or $50 today.
She laughed. This was the same student who got a UN internship to fight poverty. It was the same student that insulted the poor student who received a scholarship. This is not a joke.
