Throughout Freakonmonics, Levitt and Dubner observe "the hidden side of everything" and question what actually happens in our world. One of the things I noticed that kept reoccurring was behavior and actions of people and how they affected the world around them.
In chapter 1: the overall controversy/topic is how teachers cheat on their own students state exams to gain better reputation or get more money. To me, this is still incredibly ironic, since teachers have always been saying that cheating does no good in school and in life. But if that's actually true then why DO teachers cheat? Or what made them make this decision to cheat? Their action to do this lead those teachers to some dire consequences, like being fired, which completed altered their lives for not only that moment but for the future of any other job they get, their reputation has permanently been stained.
On the other hand, in chapters 5 and 6: the topic is the overall role and effects of parents on their children. what I found most interesting about this was the fact that even when parents (and most others) think they are doing the right thing to help or benefit their children, but in reality they might actually be hurting their future reputation. Even with something as little as a name; Levitt and Dubner explored how the different variations of names can affect their total years of school education. I had never actually thought about how two people with the same name, but different spelling, differed in lifestyles, or how the parents settled on a variation of a name and not the original. Also, Levitt and Dubner claimed that books in the home played a key role in the future of a child's success; if there are books in the house the child grows up in then they will have better test scores latter on. This is just another decision a parent would have to make if they wanted to create a better future for their child.
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