Nov 05 2009
Kids on the Economy
Published by Jason Welker at 5:13 am under
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I love this! Marketplace Public Radio convened a “Small Townhall” with eight middle school aged kids to ask them questions about the economy. The idea is that the economic decisions made by today’s business leaders, policymakers, academics and grown-ups in general will have huge effects on today’s youth when they grow up, so why not ask them what they think of the big economic issues today? In my own classes, I often refer to the US national debt as a “teenager tax” since it will ultimately be paid back through higher taxes by income earners in the future. Well, these kids are those future income earners.
The questions the kids are asked:
- Should kids be allowed to have credit cards?
- Do you know what the recession is?
- What is the deficit?
- Has the recession changed your dreams?
- What do you think about debt?
- Do you have any investment advice?
- What do you think about saving money?
My favorite is the kid’s explanation of the current recession. If one of my 18 year old year two IB Economics students could explain the recession as well as this 12 year old, I’d be one proud teacher!
About the author: Jason Welker is a teacher at Zurich International School in Switzerland, where he teaches Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate Economics. Jason was an international school student in Malaysia before studying economics at Seattle University then earning his Masters in Education. He calls Seattle and Northern Idaho home. In addition to maintaining an economics wiki and this blog for economics student and educators, Jason also gives presentations on using Web 2.0 tools in education at workshops and conferences around the world. His economics wiki won the 2007 "Best Educational Wiki" award from the "EduBlog Awards". Related posts:
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