This "Stay
in School" program is designed to introduce incoming high
school students to the value of an education.
Here's one way to
accomplish this:
Near the start of
school each year, have, as part of first welcoming
assembly, a short presentation that explains the benefits
of graduating from high school and tells them that they
each have a million dollar bill in their school packet.
You might include pictures of what an extra million
dollars can buy.
On the back of each
bill, the following is printed:
"High
school graduates earn an average of over $1,000,000
more than students who drop out. And another
$1,000,000 if you graduate from college. Post this
bill where you will see it when times get tough as a
reminder that, in the long run, it will be well worth
it to make it through graduation. If you decide to
drop out, it's like throwing away a million
dollars."
All other things
being equal, a person with $1 in an economy where candy
bars cost $.05 is wealthier than a person with $5 in an
economy where a candy bar costs $.80. So, what are you
waiting for?
This would happen
only one time per student. If they lose theirs, sorry.
That's the point. Each new student that joins the school
after the start of that first year's program, would have
the program explained to them when they start school and
be given a million dollar bill.
What would an
extra million dollars buy?
Not the magnificent
pink diamond that sold for over $45 million dollars, way
beyond the pre-auction estimate.
You could donate it
to the Federal Government or the State of Oregon, or
maybe even Curry County to provide jobs, infrastructure,
health care, or education.
If you're not
feeling that charitable, you could have purchased
platinum today at $1,661.00 an ounce, or gold for
$1357.70 per ounce or silver for $27.457 an ounce
(11/23/10). You could also have gotten 72 -10 oz .9999
Fine Gold Bars - Pamp Suisse for $13,857.90 each or 714
-1 oz) .9999+ Fine Gold Bars - Pamp Suisse for $1,400.29
each.
You
like cars?
You might be able
to pick up:
A McLaren F1 for a pre-auction estimate price of
$1,100,000. Too late, it sold for $2,508,940
Or a 1965 Ferrari 275 GTB Berlinetta recently sold for
$1,012,000
Or a 1938 Bugatti Type 57C Atalante for $1,094,148
Or a Black Ruby Rolls-Royce coupe for 1,200,000
Or a 1930 Duesenberg “Whittell Mistress Car”
for $1.7M
Or a McLaren F1 auction set a record selling for
$4,194,234 at the hammer
Or for $3,738,339, you've got your pick of a 1965 Ferrari
250 LM Berlinetta or a 1959 Ferrari 250 GT Tour de
France
Want a
home?
The Blue Pacific
Realty Booklet for Brookings lists the
following:
2 bedroom
oceanfront home - dropped from $1,200,000 to $999,000
3 bedroom oceanfront home - $1,150,000
2,181 sq ft 3 bedroom oceanfront home -
$1,200,000
And those aren't
the most expensive Brookings homes by any means. There
are currently seven more over a million: $1,400,000,
$1,495,000; $1,499,000; $1,750,000; $1,795,000;
$1,954,000; and $2,450,000. And, the Bowling Alley with
RV/car wash is for sale for only $2,500,000.
Want a
baby?
Do you think you
will have an extra $125,000 over the next 17 years at
today's costs. You'll need at least that much to raise a
child off welfare. That doesn't include the cost of
college, lost income or career opportunities, life
insurance, tax benefits or the costs of living. If you
have 3 kids in California, it will cost $832,728 over the
next 17 years. That is without college costs. If you
include college, you are easily looking at
$1+ million. 
Want to drop
out?
You could drop out
and you'd be throwing away that extra million dollars
that you might really need, especially if you want to
have a family.
How
much is an education worth?