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A Conversation with US Chief Economist Austan Goolsbee

and O'Reilly Media
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TreeLuvBurdpu Avatar
TreeLuvBurdpu
Posts: 43
Posted: 09.15.10, 03:25 PM
I think it's silly that a discussion of the economy has only two comments, and they are about education.

But now that we are on this topic, why do we have such an abyssimal program for educating children in economics?

Let me point something out: I have taken about 16 years of public education classes. I can calculate a rocket's trajectory and the rate of chemical processes, but I have had zero economic education. Why is this bad? Because I use money every day. The math that every person uses every day is not introduced until late in high school and can be skipped, as I did. We all do cost-benefit analysis on what we purchase or weather we purchase all day every day but we receive little or no education on this topic.

My view is that money, business and trade has always been viewed by intellectuals as a dirty science. This is a medieval viewpoint. Traders and merchants were always viewed as anti-noble. Consider the persecution of the Jews, and the phrase, "money is the root of all evil".

It is no wonder that even with our lavish education spending that our current, and many previous, crisis is one of economics.
Aaberg Avatar
Aaberg
Posts: 12
Posted: 11.06.09, 05:26 PM
I'm not sure I'm getting what you're saying? I, for one, am sure I would not have understood integral and differential equations had it not been for my teacher.
Your methodology seems very much applicable for lower-grade classes, but kids too make cost-benefit analysis on what they want to do, often with little regards to the future. So if you were told to study something, with no measurement of whether you actually did some studying, chances are you're not going to study that hard.
For the kids who already have an interest for the subject, it's not a problem, but for everyone else, you end up with adults lacking many basic skills.
But in line of your thoughts, I agree to a large extent that it's not what you teach the kids to know, but instead how to think. Be inquisitive. Ask questions. Don't take answers such as "Because I said so" for valid.
That will help all children out of getting scammed later in life.
mta Avatar
mta
Posts: 4
Posted: 11.06.09, 03:52 PM
The fight over educational standards is a war of attrition being waged on the public schools. Why oh why can liberals not see this? Standards will never produce quality education.

Human beings of true talent and inspiration are not inspired by hitting arbitrary markers, often put in place and enforced by their intellectual and creative inferiors. Let our kids' exploratory minds soar. Provide them with tools and guidance and evidence of others success. Then and only then will their interest be piqued and their true potential made manifest.
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