Assignment 3

Kat Jorgensen

American Economies in the 19th Century

Prof. Rainville

6 September 2012

            Throughout college, students are treated to long and frightening lectures that repeatedly  emphasize the idea of a sixty hour college work week.   Synonymous with long hours of studying are assignments that require scholarly research that is often hosted through databases such as JSTOR and EBSCO.  Access to scholarly research and data is critical, not only for academic success, but the databases in which much of this information is contained helps to shorten the research process. Due to the fact that every vixen is an active student and will most likely have a need for scholarly research, access cards to all of the Sweet Briar College databases should be the foundation for a new SBC currency. Creating an electronic system that would allocate a certain number of article downloads as payment for goods and services would essentially create a monetary system based on the electronic transfer of information and knowledge.

            A SBC currency with a foundation resting on access to secured databases relies on using access cards, similar to gift cards, as payment for goods and services. To implement the logistical side of this monetary system it would be necessary to create an electronic access system to all library databases, in which students could swipe or enter a pin number, and therefore would be granted access to download the allotted number of articles as denoted on that specific denomination of SBC. Unlike many other currencies that rely upon access to natural resources for the production of the currency, such as gold or paper, the SBC Currency is entirely electronic. However, the means of transferring the SBC requires plastic access cards that can be exchanged as a form of money.

            SBC currency cards would be designed in such a way to be reflective of the information they represent and the vixen community. Books and other intellectual materials cover the background and the top is embellished with the terms "Vixen Currency."  Located in the lower right corner is the value amount in denominations of one, five, ten or fifty downloads on SBC databases.

            Using a currency based upon access to critical knowledge and information indicates that as a community, Sweet Briar places the most value on academic success and learning. Many societies value education and knowledge to the degree that they free education is provided to all. American society as a whole proclaimed their value on education as being priceless by creating a public school system. However, the philosophy that everyone has equal access to education has never been completely true, as shown by the existence of private educational institutes.

            The economic value of the SBC currency, when related to the American dollar, would be reflective of the academic value of achieving a high GPA and the monetary cost of producing the academic articles. College academic officials not only encourage students to utilize reliable scholarly research but expect students to rely upon their sources as the basis in a majority of all assignments. In universities across the nation the cost of each credit hour ranges from five hundred to one thousand dollars. For a majority of classes, scholarly research is necessary to fully earn the credit.  With this reasoning, the SBC currency should have a higher exchange rate than the American dollar because the SBC currency not only acts as a payment method but also plays a significant role in the earning of college credit.

            Due to the inherent relationships between the SBC and the American dollar, the value of the SBC should be three to four times that of the American dollar. For example, a one download card should have a real world value of approximately three American dollars. This value takes into account the educational worth on one article when compared to the cost of an entire course tuition as well as similar real world membership payments to access databases similar to JSTOR.

            Furthermore, education opportunities have instead become a defining characteristic of  social and economic class with the wealthy being able to afford more prestigious educational institutions. Economic wealth is crucial to the stratification of social classes, and by combining economic and monetary policy with access to scholarly research, education and learning will become more heavily valued.  For example, in today's academic sphere, many of the assignments that require the use of academic databases are done at the last minute in a hurried fashion. By using an SBC Currency founded on critical academic resources, students would inherently be more focused on coursework and would also be required to prepare in advance for access to necessary resources for their assignments. Essentially, by placing a value on scholarly resources and using these resources as a basis of a monetary system, students would be encouraged, by economic means, to value their education and resources to a higher degree.

            In placing importance on the ability to access scholarly resources, the economic value of this ability must be decided. Using an educational resource as a foundation to a monetary system naturally leads to a variety of social values. Although all students would see the access cards as having the same economic exchange rate, students who are committed to their academics would value their download privileges more than those who have fewer academic priories. Therefore, it could  be expected that higher achieving students would be the most likely be frugal with their access cards.

            Basing the monetary system of Sweet Briar on the new SBC Currency would result in new defining characteristics of class structure. With the use of access cards to databases as a payment form, those with the most financial security and wealth would inherently also have the most access to databases. Therefore, because access to scholarly databases is necessary for academic success, those who are wealthiest mostly likely would also be in the best academic standing. Inherently this monetary system would decimate the American dream that opportunity is available to those that work the hardest, as the resources to a quality education would become solely for those that could forfeit large sums of money necessary to do well in the academic realm. Essentially, a SBC Currency founded on access to databases would inherently lead to the wealthy controlling access to a  large source of knowledge and therefore the wealthy could indirectly manipulate the perspectives and decisions of the lower social classes.