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Hinsdale Central students debate minimum wage
Hinsdale Central economics teacher Arpan Chokshi tells his class to encourage friends and family to invest in the company they're starting for a class project. "They'll have more interest in marketing your product." | Buzz Orr—Sun-Times Media
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Updated: April 8, 2013 6:25AM
HINSDALE — Spencer Wawak took economics this semester because it covers the principles that drive decision-makers, both consumers and business owners.
“Decision-making is a real important part of economics, how companies work and why they make the decisions they do,” the Hinsdale Central junior said in class.
Wawak said teacher Arpan Chokshi brings a great energy to the class.
“He doesn’t just plop down a textbook on your desk. You are learning real life examples,” Wawak said.
“All the other classes, like English and math, you are just going through the motions,” said junior Brent George. “Economics has real-life applications.”
The students in Chokshi’s two economics classes researched and debated whether governments should set a minimum wage.
George said he was neutral on the issue, but after researching came out in favor of minimum wage.
“There’s always going to be someone who is willing to work for less,” George said.
And companies, or countries like China, will take advantage of that, he said.
Peter Nelson opposes a minimum wage, believing “it hurts businesses and people’s ability to get jobs.”
If companies have to pay more to each employee, they will hire fewer people and fewer inexperienced workers, such as teenagers, Nelson said.
The students are onto a new assignment. Each of Chokshi’s classes formed a company. Nelson was chosen chief executive officer of a business that plans to sell coffee, tea and smoothies in the high school, with students bringing in their own and others’ money to invest.
“We have enough to start up, but we are limited by what we have,” Nelson told the class.
