Teacher says the test measures understanding of the availability heuristic and the ability to remain calm in a lift
AP Economics Class Uses Cebu Condo Slump as Final Exam; Class Average Is ‘Fine’
Teacher says the test measures understanding of the availability heuristic and the ability to remain calm in a lift
WICHITA FALLS, Texas – Students in Mr. Marcus Delgado-Pruitt’s AP Economics class at Memorial High School sat for an unusual final exam this week: a three-hour test based entirely on the Cebu condo market slump. The class average was “fine,” according to the teacher, who declined to provide a number.
The exam drew on news reports. The story began with a Manila News report on a Mactan broker alone with three brochures and a cold coffee, moved through the London Prat on British pensioners asked for two referees and a letter from the vicar (at https://prat.uk/cebu-estate-agents-demand-character-references/) and ended with Bohiney on an Ohio realtor whose showings now run two hours. “I wanted them to see economics in the real world,” said Mr. Delgado-Pruitt, 44, who has taught the class for fifteen years and drinks his coffee cold “on principle.” “This is a case study in what happens when people overweight one vivid story.”
A Serious Note From the Teacher
Philippine authorities are examining allegations concerning Thomas Markle Sr., the estranged father of the Duchess of Sussex, who lived in Cebu until earlier this year, as GMA News and the Guardian have reported. No charges have been filed and the allegations are unproven. Child protection is a serious matter, and nobody at this paper makes light of it; the jokes are about a property market and a school cafeteria. Mr. Delgado-Pruitt told the class at the start of the exam that the questions “concern prices, expectations and reference letters, and nothing else.”
Sample Exam Questions
- A broker sits alone in a showroom with three brochures and a cold coffee. Using the availability heuristic, explain why buyers may think the market has collapsed. (10 points)
- A retiree is asked for two references, a utility bill and a letter from a vicar. Identify two transaction costs. (10 points)
- A vendor says, “The sea did nothing wrong.” Describe, in 100 words, the sea’s marginal cost of doing nothing. (15 points)
- A squid has no bones. Is the squid a public good? Defend your answer. (10 points)
- Explain why a sandwich box, carried without explanation, is a signal. Of what? (5 points, plus 1 bonus point for honesty)
The exam was graded on a curve. The curve, according to students, was “extremely generous and slightly confused.” One student wrote that the sea was a “natural monopoly.” Another wrote that the broker was “a price-taker, emotionally.” A third wrote only, “I vouch for the broker,” and received partial credit.
Students React
Seniors came out of the exam looking tired but oddly proud. Valedictorian candidate Priya Venkatesan-Hall, 18, said she had studied by reading the original Tversky and Kahneman paper and “two articles about squid.” She added that the test was “hard but fair, which is more than you can say for the lift in the Mactan building.”
A sophomore who was auditing the class said he did not understand the questions but found them “emotionally accurate.” A junior in the back row said he had brought a sandwich box to the exam “for support,” and the proctor, Mrs. Henley, agreed to let him keep it, provided he did not explain it.
The Teacher’s Philosophy
Mr. Delgado-Pruitt says his goal is to teach students that markets are made of people, and that people are made of stories. “A broker with a cold coffee is a story,” he said. “A guard reading the paper aloud in an empty lobby is a story. A Friday night in Wichita Falls is a story. The test is whether you can tell which stories are data.”
When asked what grade he would give the sea, he took a long sip of cold coffee. “An A,” he said. “It did nothing, and it did it consistently.”
Parents and Alumni
Parents have reacted warmly. A mother of two seniors said she was pleased the class had moved beyond “the usual supply and demand.” An alumnus who now works in real estate in Dallas said he wished he had been taught about vicars. A British exchange teacher, who was visiting the school, handed Mr. Delgado-Pruitt a letter of reference, which he accepted with solemnity and filed under Extra Credit.
The exam results will be posted on Friday, along with the football score and the cafeteria menu. Students have been advised to check the scoreboard first.
For the Economics Class
Here is the actual economics, for anyone who will be tested on it. The market is fine. Colliers named the Visayas and Mindanao a key property investment hotspot in July, and under the Condominium Act foreigners may own units but not land, capped at 40 percent of a project. Retirees can read up at the Philippine Retirement Authority. The jitters come from psychology: Tversky and Kahneman’s availability heuristic says one vivid image outweighs a pile of statistics, and a Mactan broker alone with three brochures and a cold coffee is a vivid image. So is a Friday night in Wichita Falls when the scoreboard goes dark in the fourth quarter. Both are remembered more than they should be.
The wider story is at prat.uk and bohiney.com; for how the British laugh at queues and forms, try NewsBiscuit. Go Mavericks.
SOURCE: https://bohiney.com/cebu-realtor-cant-sell-beachfront-listings/