Jolly Rancher Mania

It is no lie that candy in America is much higher in sugar than most of the rest of the world. Whenever I get any sort of candy made in Taiwan or other part of Asia, I can tell the difference right away. After living here for over a year now, I sort of like the less intense sweet taste- especially since eating some candy from the U.S. feels like it's melting your teeth as you consume it.

It is also a universal truth that all children love sugar. So all of our students are of course, no exception. They grew up eating the Asian candy that has a much lower sugar content (and probably lower levels of artificial dyes and sweeteners as well), so when they have American candy they sort of freak out a little bit.

I tend to have an almost constant supply of Jolly Ranchers in my classroom so I can win the teacher popularity test (thanks Mom for sending them in packages always!). There isn't actually a contest like that, but it is fun to bribe the kids with candy sometimes. And the students treat them like they are pure crack cocaine. It is funny but somewhat alarming at times.

Take today, for example. I accidentally mentioned to one 8th grade student that I would give her a Jolly Rancher if she visited me in my classroom and told me her favorite prime number. Before I knew it, there was a pack of children in my room yelling out numbers, not always prime, and just a constant demand of "We want candy!"

It was hilarious for the first five minutes and then I had to start getting brutal. Some of the older students couldn't simply tell me their favorite prime number for the goods, I made one of them tell me the four congruence theorems for triangles because I taught him geometry last year. I made another student solve an SAT math problem to get the sugary treat and simply made another say that math was their favorite subject. It was pretty fun even if it was sort of a loud headache for about ten minutes.

Although it gives me a good chuckle to watch them freak out over the candy, it does concern me somewhat. What are American candy companies putting into their products to make them so addictive and desirable? Can we get some of that for learning math?