Olivia Agius

Today our class preformed an experiment in order better understand how status affects people, as well as success. The class was divided into groups, which represented communities. Each community had to achieve education, shelter, food, and minerals. These subjects were represented by objects. Every group was given a different amount of objects, my specific group was given wood paper, wavy lined paper, and five paper clips, along with a pen. Using these supplies we were told to create certain things; a burger, a ring, a house, and book. Even though my group did not win, and did not create all the objects, I believe we did achieve success. Yes, we got angry at certain points during the experiment, however we worked hard to build up what we were given in order to complete the project, which is what gave us success. At the beginning we found out what we had, and what we needed in order to make anything. We then walked to groups, trying to trade what we were given to get other objects such as a ruler, scissors, glue, different paper, etc.. What held us back from reaching higher success was that people would not trade with us. Everyone got other supplies from other tables, and we only had one thing they needed, but they wouldn't trade for much. It took a long time for people to realize that they needed what we had, and by then the class was almost over. Also, when we did get a ruler by trade, it turns out that ruler had been stolen. The ruler was then taking away. Our supplies (paper clips) also went missing. Lastly, another thing that held us back was the fact that we began with less than other groups. The group who won had a greater chance of winning because they had nearly everything they needed, then they practice isolationism, refusing to give out any needed supplies to anyone else. Right off the bat we had to fight harder to get supplies than other groups, yet even once we did there it was difficult to compete with the other group. I believe our group achieved success because even though we did not win, we worked hard to trade and get the supplies we needed. Through the greed, the thief, and the lesser chance of winning, we managed to get a lot of supplies needed. We created the ring, and at the end were on our way to create the house and the burger. The group had gathered enough objects to have the opportunity to be successful, and if given more time we could have been. The experiment shows that the American Dream of working hard will improve your status, is true. My group at first had low status (even though not the lowest), and we weren't given a lot of supplies. However, we worked hard to trade with other groups and luckily got more supplies. By getting more supplies we were making our "community" richer, giving them a higher status. Through the frustration our group went through, by the end we were able to come close accomplishing the task. Winning did not define success to us, our group was successful because we were able to get more than we had, and get higher on the status bar by working hard.