A poverty game is played when a library meets with seniors in elementary school on the theme of'money'. When I was a college student, I first experienced the poverty game while working as an outside club, but I know that it was first created by a foreign non-profit organization and translated and used by college students working with international aid organizations. The background of the age of the game can be thought of as hyperinflation in Peru in the 1980s and hyperinflation in Zimbabwe in the 2000s for a long time. Broadly, it shows the modern capitalist society condensedly and symbolically. Like the title of the game of poverty, participants work hard according to the rules of the game, but eventually face a tragic end. It is helpful to understand'money' and'a society that revolves around money' in that you can experience the nature of capitalism while playing the game for about two hours.
Four or five players form a family. Each household must make hard shoes with the provided tools (scissors, paper, shoe frame, certain amount, brand mark, etc.) and sell them on the market. People who make shoes, sell them in the market, people who go to borrow money, and people who buy shoe materials. Children work hard to produce more shoes than other households, sell them on the market, and finally make a lot of money, and they start with the idea of winning the game. To start with, no matter how hard each family works, even if they use an expedient to double their output, all families fail to pay taxes and the family goes bankrupt. The moment to reach is met.
The market for selling shoes is also not sluggish. Don't buy shoes if it's determined that the value of the product is even a little lower. The role of the person buying the product in the market is important, and it is good to leave that role to other teachers or parents. If the paper is crooked at least a little, or the position of the product mark is not correct, you must put a puck (?) relentlessly. When a family member dies one by one and goes to the cemetery, some children burst into tears when they don't buy shoes at the market.
Due to the game setup, there are no major problems for each family until 3 or 4 weeks have passed (one week is played every 5 minutes). Even at this time, each team moves in tandem to their role while discussing the most efficient production method. After 5 weeks, oil prices fluctuate and inflation starts to fluctuate due to changes in the international situation. Psychological pressure is created on participants, such as a sharp rise in shoe material prices and a rise in monthly rent that must be paid to the landlord. From this point on, your voice gets louder and your actions speed up. Even a small mistake makes a loud noise, and families with insufficient money borrow money from a loan shark. As the week goes by, the situation gets worse and the interest owed to the lenders rises, and families with low credit are unable to borrow money from the lenders. Landlords and loan sharks are entrusted to children who are able to fulfill their roles faithfully, but at this point, children who act as landlords and loan sharks become public enemies. In fact, there is an argument with other children, and if you don't mediate, it can even become a real fight.
On the verge of rushing to the worst, they provide shoes and money to each household in the name of international aid. Children cheer and rejoice as they jump. However, international aid only has the same effect as an electric shock to a dying person (it's a bit of a stabbing moment for the host. You all die anyway...). Eventually, as the 9th week passes, a bankrupt family appears, family members die, and there is no single family that makes a profit. Children with depressed expressions, children giving up games, landlords and loan sharks rushing around for interest. The game ends tragically like this. The stories children tell while experiencing this short game symbolically show a lot. At the moment when it is announced as a game that makes money and starts, it is basic to try to receive money even if you lend a pen or an eraser, and complaints accumulate toward the members who cannot produce (produce) shoes quickly. Children's impressions after the game is over.
“It was so hard to have to cut the paper without stopping.”
Then I answer like this.
"Your parents are working without a break every day. Please go back and say thank you and love you today."
"It was the most comfortable to go to the cemetery after I died."
When it comes to such a reaction, it is also frightening, but the fact that even though Korea is the number one suicide rate for the elderly and the selection of people with no production capacity, many people think that life itself is a pain, but the fact that the equation of job = dream is still established. It's just ironic.
"Before I died, I wanted to terrorize or take money from other households."
"I had a desire to have one member of my family die when I didn't have money to pay back."
"I was upset because I didn't buy hard-made shoes at the market."
The borrowers and the children who played the role of landlords also talk about their positions.
"The kids aren't paying too much money. I have to live with it."
When we talk like this, there are children who experience the harsh reality to some extent, and there are children who are sincerely worried that their parents seem to be having a hard time (something upset at that time). The follow-up meeting is important to ensure that capitalism is unconditionally bad and a system that needs to be changed. At least four or five times, you should approach the relationship between capital and society step by step. You should show videos of what happened in the country that is the background of the actual game, throw up topics such as whether inequality is inevitable, and whether you think you can overcome social structural problems by developing your skills, writing and debating. The simplest approach should be the most vigilant.
In many ways, it is not a simple problem, but every time you play the poverty game, it becomes a complex heart, but they say that you must become an adult and change into a better world, and that the responsibility is heavy. After Corona 19, it is impossible to predict how human life will change, but I hope that it will not be a situation where the responsibility is handed over to children. Still, I think I'm planting the seeds of hope and wait for the day to see my children again.