In the CHOICES Challenge exercise, the presenter asks students to consider a series of real-life alternatives, such as whether to attend a basketball game or stay home to study. The students discover that not only might they pass or fail a test depending on their decision, but that the consequences from one simple choice, or a series of choices, could affect them for the rest of their lives. More importantly, they learn they can anticipate the possible result of their decisions before they make them.
CHOICES also makes a compelling case for the way education, or the lack of it, affects a person’s options. During another exercise, three students play the roles of a high school dropout, a high school graduate, and a person with education beyond high school. The rest of the class pretends to be an employment agency, trying to match the students with available jobs. All the students quickly see how many more job options are available to those with a higher level of education.
After completing CHOICES, kids consistently say they understand how even little decisions early in life have long term consequences for themselves and others.