Studying money, finance, debt and attitude to debt is a fascinating way to compare and contrast past and present societies. At KS2 or KS3 students could be asked to create a PowerPoint presentation explaining the origin and meaning of the many terms which are referred to in this article. We could have fun with Exchequer, credit, hire purchase, on tick, never never, thrift etc.
More able students could be asked to describe and explain how these terms may have different meanings then and now. There are lots of books and websites on crime and punishment which could be used by KS2 students to research what happened to people who did not pay their debts in ancient Egypt, Rome, Greece. KS3 students might look at the Poor Law or the reports of Charles Booth and Seebohm Rowntree to compare modern debt with debt in the VictorianEdwardian period.
