Delayed gratification

This lesson plan teaches students that although a college education can be expensive, it can provide greater earnings for them in the future.

A lesson plan for grades 6–9 Guidance

Provided by College Foundation of North Carolina

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Learning outcomes

• Students will understand the value of delaying gratification. As an example, they will learn that college costs, but a lack of education is even more costly.

Teacher planning

Materials/resources

• Delayed Gratification activity sheet

Technology resources

• Students will need to create a login on the CFNC website in order to complete all activities.

Activities

1. Hand out the “Delayed Gratification” activity sheet.
2. Tell students to turn to the activity handout and answer the three questions by circling A or B. Read the text in the activity and ask volunteers to share answers to the three open-ended questions at the bottom of the page.
3. Ask your students to share additional examples of times when it might be appropriate to “delay gratification.”
4. Ask students to find a partner and complete the activity on the second page. Tell your students that although they are collaborating, both partners should individually record the answers in their activities. Compare students’ answers after they have completed the activity. Option A would receive $12,000 total and Option B would receive $102,375 total. Emphasize that oftentimes, like the exercise shows, education can look less appealing in the short term, but pays off in many ways in the long term.
5. Ask a volunteer to explain the significance of the “Average Lifetime Earnings” chart at the bottom of page 2.
   1. Emphasize that the numbers are only averages, but they show that getting more education usually leads to eventually earning a higher salary.
   2. Tell your students that the difference in earning power may be even more significant than the graph shows: people with higher salaries are often able to retire earlier, so their “lifetime earnings” may be based on fewer years of work.
6. Ask students to write an answer to the prompt, “Education is delaying gratification because ____________.”