Topic 3: Where Choices Lead

In regards to being in PAS, it was not entirely my choice. The opportunity costs of getting me to PAS mainly apply to my parents. Of course, the obvious cost was the actual price of the tuition fee. However, other costs include time and effort. My parents have worked very hard and very long to get me to this school, and also, it took a lot of effort to raise me. However, I believe that they saw this school, or any other such schools, as a means for me to succeed in future, which may in turn be an investment, because my success determines how much I can support them in the future. Moreover, they probably wanted the best for their children because parents like to see their efforts come to best results. If I had control over whether or not I would have came to this school at all, I would say that it was a good idea. Although PAS is not the best of schools, it is undeniable that by being here, I have a lot more opportunities and gain a lot more globalized knowledge compared to where I would be if I had gone to a Taiwanese local school. Moreover, although this is not a perfect school, I can always take a lesson out of everything that goes wrong, or right, in our school. I believe that the most obvious result is my ability in english and critical reading. As opposed to the Taiwanese system,  which emphasizes a lot on memorization, the American system is more ‘liberal’ in the sense that it is not necessary to memorize everything, but that the most important thing is to apply concepts and develop individual thinking capacity. However, comparing PAS to other similar international or american schools, perhaps other schools can provide with the same benefits. Nevertheless, I believe that PAS was a good option for me, because I learn how to deal with people and events in a very limited environment, and in a school so abundant on academics and extracurricular activities, I believe that this provides me with more opportunities. Even so, I must admit that even with such benefits, there are also future problems and the growing competition in the “real world,” so like most investments, a profit is not guaranteed.

Topic 2: Scarcity in School

Scarcity can be found everywhere in our school, especially in terms of time. High school students get homework and have activities to do, so for them, they lack time, while they still want to do what they want. Students give up their free time to do school work. In return, they get good grades and more knowledge. This then leads to going to good colleges. Similarly, teachers also give up free time in order to help students and teach them. In return, they get their salary. The office staff also gives up their time in order to keep the school running. Another important and interesting factor which I think can be applied to student is ‘memory.’ Students are constantly under harassment to do well on tests and memorize everything. However, just like most things, we only have a finite memory, so therefore, we must pick the most appropriate things to memorize.

Personally for me, I have a lot of extracurricular activities as well as my academics to manage. This means I make trade-offs all the time. Since last year joining the basketball team and this year being captain, I’ve been spending a lot of time on basketball. The trade-off of this is time and energy. Personally, due to a strong commitment to the sport, I put it as my priority, and nearly never make excuses for absence. In terms of homework, I am giving up free time and sleep. This is an important factor for a lot of high school students, too. Sleep is one of the most valuable and loved resources for us high schoolers. I am also involved with student council, and since it involves more than just me, I tend to place more emphasis on it as well. This goes for MUN as well, whereby going on trips make me miss a lot of school work. However, all this work and management is for the purpose of me going to a good college, in which case the whole situation itself can be demonstrated as a trade-off.

Chapter 1 Questions

–Section 1, p. 11, #5

        The owner of the computer repair shop would first of all, need the land for the shop, and also resources used to produce the tools and spare parts. Also, the owner would need to employ people for labor to run the shop and help. He or she would also need capital, or the actual tools and parts that are required to repair computers. Lastly, the owner should probably develop good entrepreneurship to run a successful and profitable business.

–Section 2, p. 17, #3

        I would spend time doing homework. This is to keep up my grades and learn the material taught in class. The opportunity cost is that perhaps I would have lost time that could have been used for leisure and rest. Also, basketball practices entail opportunity costs such as loss of time for homework and study.

–Section 3, p. 23, # 3

        The PPC takes into account the limited resources and the number of goods and services that can be produced given a certain amount of efficiency.

–Section 4, p. 31, #7

        Politicians often cannot produce full credible and reliable statements and promises, so they express what they want to see happen, not necessarily what actually happens. 

Topic 1: Big Questions

 The study of economics is based in two big questions. The first is “How do choices end up determining what, how, and for whom goods and services get produced?” If you think about PAS as an economy, and everyone at PAS as both a producer and consumer, this question can be answered in twofolds. Firstly, the faculty are the ones who produce the "knowledge" which are produced for the students. Hence, the knowledge is the what, the faculty is the who, and the students are the for whom. The products are produced by the teaching and the passing on of knowledge. Another way to look at this, it can be seen that the students are the one producing the "results" and it can either be for themselves, or for the faculty or adults or administration, or whoever cares about their grades. Thus, the "results," either in the form of SAT results, GPA, college admission, etc., are the what, the students are the who, and the person who supervises the grades are the for whom. The products are produced by the students taking in the knowledge and producing results. If you look at it in terms of its relationship with each other, you may find that they are actually a circle. Teachers effectively passing on knowledge to students causes the students to produce good results, which in turn allows the teacher to keep on teaching, and its like a happy cycle. It resembles a market in that in the "real world," companies produce products which the customers purchase, the things enable the customers to do certain actions, i.e. make money, which in turn is used again in the purchasing, which then gives the company money. So it's a happy cycle!

The second big question is “When do choices made in the pursuit of self-interest also promote the social interest?” The social interest basically is what is good for the society as a whole. In my opinion, I feel that as mentioned above, the self-interest in the promotion of one's own future and knowledge benefits the teachers, and in turn makes a circle. So, again, answering this questions in two parts: in the pursuit of self-interest by the purchasing items, you benefit all those working for the company producing the items and the immediately affected ones. On the other hand, the producing of products helps the people in between the production, as well as the customer.