The Dismal Science, Dismally Taught - New York Times
As our new school year begins and we all settle into the routine of teaching economics, I thought this article offered a wake-up call for us principles of economics teachers. Robert Frank, econ professor from Cornell, makes some poignant observations about introductory economics courses in this NYT article:
“Studies have shown that when students are tested about their knowledge of basic economic principles six months after completing an introductory economics course, they score no better, on average, than those who never took the course.”
Frank goes on to suggest that perhaps the reason for this dismal news has to do with the fact that Econ teachers tend to emphasize far too much in an introductory course.
“The typical course bombards students with hundreds of concepts, many of them embedded in complex equations and graphs. The mathematical formalism that has become the hallmark of economic research has yielded deep insights. But it does not seem to have helped introductory students learn basic economic principles.”
As I prepare for another year of teaching AP Micro and Macro, it is certainly daunting to think of all the formulas, graphs, equations and definitions kids will have to learn between now and May. Is there any hope that it will stick beyond those two, 2-hour exams they sit for in the spring? If we wish it to do so, we may reconsider how we go about teaching the basics. Frank writes of a “revolutionary” approach to teaching complex subjects like economics:
“Just as a few simple sentence patterns enable small children to express an amazing variety of thoughts, a few basic principles do much of the lifting in economics. If someone focuses on only these principles and applies them repeatedly in examples drawn from familiar contexts, they can be mastered easily in a single semester.
The form in which ideas are conveyed is important. Perhaps because our species evolved as storytellers, the human brain is innately receptive to information in narrative form.”
At the end of last semester I had my students complete a course evaluation in which many of them mentioned that their most memorable moments from their AP course were the times I told personal stories that helped illustrate the basic principles (such as opportunity cost, cost-benefit analysis, diminishing marginal utility, and so on). Most such stories are not thought out before hand; I’ve never written a story down and given it to kids or read it to them.
Almost always, it will be in the middle of an energetic lecture about a topic, say, diminishing marginal utility, and often times something will come to me: “like the other night when I was at Haggen Daaz downtown Shanghai and my wife and I were choosing what to order… I had to weigh the marginal benefit of a three-scoop bowl to the marginal cost. Of course, the third scoop costs less than the second, but it also provides me with less marginal utility!”
A story like that… it was totally spur of the moment, totally unscripted, but it illustrated, what, three different basic principles to the students? Those kinds of stories stick, the narrative form of teaching economics focusing on major principles seems to be the means by which my students will take something away from this brief time we have together, which is so important in this time of ever increasing scarcity. As Frank says:
“Basic economic principles are not rocket science. They are accessible even to children. Lance Knobel, for example, who writes the blog DavosNewbies.com, said that he’d been regaling his 11-year-old son with economic naturalist puzzles at bedtime, “and he can’t get enough of them.â€
Given the importance of the economic choices we confront, both as individuals and as a society, more effective economics training would yield enormous dividends. And in light of the low bar established by traditional courses, there seems little risk in trying something different.”
As another year of scarcity, costs, markets, supply and demand gets off to a start, this article seemed like a great excuse to pause for a moment and reflect on the practice of teaching, the art of teaching, and the means by which we attempt to get SO MUCH information into these kids heads in SO LITTLE time! Good luck to all you Econ teachers who are also starting the new year out afresh… hope you find your narrative, your flow; perhaps take a risk and try something new… that should make you and your students learn and enjoy economics so much more!
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