The Great Penny Debate Continues!!

The question that I asked in my recent post, "SHOULD THE PENNY BE ELIMINATED?  WHY OR WHY NOT," has become a more thought provoking inquiry than I first anticipated it to be.  Upon beginning my collection of responses, I thought that it would show repetitive opinions in the responses given.  Initially I believed it would come down to the factors of the cost of producing this currency and the role it plays in our purchasing transactions.  This initial hypothesis was made without my thinking beyond the first factors considered by me personally.  It really is proving to be a question that garners a variety of responses that may be an insight into certain beliefs, values and characteristics of the person giving the response.  I now see that many factors can, and may be, contributing to the differences in opinion shown in answers given to this particular question such as: education level, type of education received, age, income status, family status (children, no children, etc), age and sex of the person answering the question.  Also, in this increasingly digital world, factors like the current forms of payment generally used by those that are responding to the survey and, I'm sure, a wide variety of other factors that I haven't even slightly considered.

As Henry Perez, my classmate and fellow blogger, noted in a recent post on his blog, http://engcompone.blogspot.com/2014/08/keep-change.html, children see the value in coins more than we may as adults.  When I have one of my children with me, I point out coins that I happen to notice on the ground and tell them, "You're closer!" with a little wink.  They love to save their change and I've found that them counting their coins can be a great way to get them to do math without them even realizing they're doing an educational activity.  As a parent, anything that provides an opportunity for them to enjoy learning is a worthwhile endeavor.  This factor that is considered when responding to the question would only be taken into account by parents of younger children, therefore showing an example of how having a parental perspective (which would also take into account the perspective of the children of said parent), is a major contributing factor to the response given by these parents responding.

A perspective that seems to be held by many of those without young children would not consider whether or not there is considered value to the penny by young children.  I sometimes see a small denomination of coin on the ground when I don't happen to have a child with me, and I have a small internal debate over whether or not I think it's worth the time and effort that would be necessary in order to pick it up and lay claim to the found money (Unfortunately I'm not getting any younger!).

As I've browsed the many responses to my assigned question, I've been very surprised by the sentimental thoughts expressed from many of those that have said that they think the U.S. should keep the penny.  A good portion of these positive responses stated that the penny is an American tradition and should be kept for that particular reason.  I suspect that this may have an emotional link to our childhood and the memories and positive feelings associated with the collecting and saving of coins that we all did as children.  Maybe this is the case, or maybe not......what do you think?