Black Friday

The Washington Post is running an article entitled, "When Every Day Feels Like Black Friday." The article states, "Once heralded as the symbolic kickoff to the holiday shopping season, Black Friday is sacred no more. Retailers this year began touting door-buster discounts weeks before anyone thought about roasting a turkey. And the deals will continue long after the leftovers are eaten, with online retailers and even infomercials touting events to prolong the hype." "Because it expects Saturday to be so similar to Black Friday, Wal-Mart has requested that the two days be merged into one, creating a 48-hour Friday. The company even sent a letter to honorary Astronomer Royal Martin Rees, professor of cosmology and astrophysics at the University of Cambridge in England, to request his blessing," according to the article.

Read the Article!!

Discussion Starters for Younger Children

• Ask your students where they think the toys in a toy store come from. Who buys the toys for a toy store? Do students think more toys are bought by people around Christmas/Hanukkah time or in the middle of August? Encourage students to support their opinions.
• Ask students to imagine that they owned a toy store? Would they want people to shop at their store? Why/why not? What would students do to encourage customers to come into the store and buy toys? Why would they do this?
  
• Ask your students if they ever wished they could have stayed up later at night. Why would they want to stay up later? Do students think it would be good if somehow a day could be made longer? Why/why not?
• If students could have any one Christmas/Hanukkah gift what would they want? If students could give the world one Christmas/Hanukkah gift what would they give it? Why? What do students think they might give their parents for the holiday season? Does every gift have to cost money? Why/why not?

Discussion Starters for Older Students

• Vocabulary terms to discuss: Flummoxed; Cosmology; "In the Black"; and, Symbolic.
  
• Ask students to imagine that they are economists working for the government. Do the "economists" think that it is good for the economy that so many stores have begun actively promoting bargains several weeks before Thanksgiving? Why/why not? What questions do students think should be answered in order to respond to this question as intelligently as possible? Why do students think that these questions should be answered?
• Traditionally store owners have not broken even until Black Friday, hence the name. What kinds of expenses do students think that store owners have? Do students think that large stores or small stores would break even sooner? Is this question fair? Why/why not? If students owned stores what would they try and do to limit expenses? Ask them to explain potential consequences of these actions.
  
• What is a day? Do students think that days are artificial constructs created by people or are they real phenomena? Encourage students to explain their opinions. How would days be different if they lasted for 48 hours instead of 24?