Questions for Discussion

  1. When Karen was about to start school, her mother was told that she should be put in an institution. What did Karen's mother do? What does this tell us about how Karen's mother felt about her?

  2. When Karen started to work, how much money was she paid each week? How much money was taken out of this for her rent? What did that leave her to live on? How easy would it be to live on that much money?

  3. How did Karen find out that she was being treated unfairly by her employer? What did she decide to do about it? How can other people find out if they are being treated fairly in their jobs? If they are not being treated fairly, what can they do?

  4. What is a workers' co-operative? Why did Karen and her friends want to set one up? What did they have to do to set up their co-op? How long did it take? What problems did they have?

  5. Look in the Yellow Pages under Co-Operative Organizations. Are there any co-op businesses in your area? What kinds of services do they provide?

  6. Karen did different things when she was trying to get the government to change the minimum wage law. What did she do? How long did she try before the law was changed? Do you think the law would have been changed if she had not tried? Why, or why not?

  7. Karen said, if she saw a toy that was dangerous, she would go to Consumer Affairs. What is Consumer Affairs? What does it do?

  8. Karen said that trying to change the law changed her as well. How was Karen changed?

  9. What are Karen's goals for the future? What is she doing to try to reach those goals?