From esoteric to enlightening
Soumyanetra Munshi
Back in the 1980s and 1990s, economics was not a subject in school until class ten. I opted for it in my higher secondary and later went on to pursue the subject in my bachelor’s and master’s and finally my doctoral studies. And I must admit that at every stage the subject felt very new to me. Economics at the master’s level appeared different from economics in our undergraduate courses, which again was quite different from what we were introduced to in our higher secondary. This is why economics is both an immensely enriching subject to get exposed to and at the same time a mischievous challenge to grapple with. The gamut of topics that can easily fall within economics is mind boggling. No wonder, therefore, that students, especially in school, find it hard to come to grips with the esoteric concepts and teachers find teaching the subject far from a cakewalk.
Nowadays economics is taught in schools (see Bose and Sardana (2008), Srinivasan (2008)) in India, and not without reason. Rodgers et. al. (2007) hold that “[D]ecades of research in economics, education, and early childhood development have shown that young children enter the primary grades with an experience-based knowledge of economics, and they are quite capable of learning basic economics during the primary grades.” Moreover, they say, “The economic lessons that young students learn in their early education form the building blocks toward achieving a solid understanding of economics at higher levels of educational attainment. Students in the primary grades are already gaining a rich exposure to a wide variety of ideas in economics, and they are gaining the skills to apply this new knowledge. The principles taught at a level appropriate for primary-grade students are crucial for a basic understanding of the economic world around them.” In the US, for example, economic concepts are taught right from primary school and some economics subjects (like microeconomics and macroeconomics) are compulsory in the equivalent of the tenth grade examination.
Given the importance of economics, both as a subject and as a way of thinking, I ventured to personally interview some of my students (who are pursuing master’s in economics and had studied economics in school) as well as some students who are learning economics in school now, to get a sense of how well the subject is being taught and received at the school level. From my small survey, I felt that genuine efforts were being made on part of both the students and teachers to learn the subject, but somewhere things were still falling short of the goal. Students complained about the many chapters in the syllabus, the topics seemed too vast to be covered, teachers were asking students to go through the last five years of question papers and marking portions of texts they should learn for exams. At the end of the day, students score well in economics, teachers are happy, and maybe a few motivated students actually go on to study economics in college. However, the real loser in this scheme of things is economics – such an exciting and dynamic subject, it doesn’t really get a fair chance among the other core subjects, neither in the hearts and minds of students nor in the hectic schedule of teachers.
Of course, much is to be blamed on the system, the syllabus, exams, etc., which are beyond our control. Much however, can be improved within the classroom despite the constraints we have. Researchers studying pedagogical methods recommend that effectiveness of economics teaching especially increases with methods that go beyond “chalk and talk”. See several recent articles on effective economics teaching like Becker (2000), Watts and Becker (2008), and Becker et al. (1998). These authors find that economics teaching is much more effective when it becomes interactive, games are played in class, videos are screened, or even PowerPoint is used instead of just the chalk on the board. Rodgers et. al. (2007) in fact list stories and children’s literature that contain economic content and highlight how students love and enjoy learning economics through literature.
Economics in school often seems dull and drab – only dealing with money, or esoteric concepts like inflation and unemployment that an average urban student is unlikely to understand or relate to. There are two definite areas which can be worked upon to make economics both entertaining and informative. First, several new and upcoming areas of economics, even if not included in the syllabus, can be introduced to kindle interest and motivation in students for the subject so that more routine concepts can be better received. Second, concepts that are in the syllabus can be delivered in novel fashion so that apparently uninteresting things can easily find acceptance among students. Below I elaborate on each of these.
The economics of the world
Economics today has transcended the usual boundaries of consumption, production, markets, inflation, unemployment, national income, etc., and new fields of studies have emerged like game theory and network economics. Game theory tools, for example, can be used to analyze topics that are as diverse as coalition formation in government, formation of terrorist networks, marriages, conflict, price wars, auctions, sports, and so on.
Similarly, several game-theory concepts like randomisation (mixed strategies) occur in penalty shoot-outs, tennis serves, etc., and students would love to know of the economic concepts hidden in them. Others like games of chicken, rock-paper-scissors, etc., are found in movie clips which can easily be screened in class to kindle interest in the subject1.
Network economics help us understand networks better. Networks are all-pervading in our lives – they provide us social insurance, determine how diseases spread, what products we buy, which languages we speak, how we vote, whether we become criminals, how much education we obtain, and so on. Network economics helps us understand how social networks affect our behaviour and which network structure is likely to emerge in society – questions that are crucial to understand the working of the economy better and also for policy-making purposes. For example, who befriends whom in school, who marries whom, who borrows from whom have serious consequences regarding the spread of information, learning, and the speed at which things propagate through the network.
Through movies and the Internet
Students can be exposed to the lives and works of great economists through movies and documentary films. They will find these very exciting and inspiring. One easily remembers the movie, A Beautiful Mind, a 2001 American biographical drama film based on the life of John Nash – a Nobel Laureate in Economics. It was inspired by the bestselling Pulitzer Prize nominated 1998 book of the same name by Sylvia Nasar2. The blockbuster movie Jurassic Park can again be cited to begin a discussion on different kinds of occupations and vocations that include entrepreneurship. Hammond, in an attempt to increase efficiency and save money on his entrepreneurial effort, wants Jurassic Park to be able to operate with a minimal number of staff. Therefore, he has the park designed to be operated almost entirely by a huge computer system that automates virtually all of the park’s systems and functions. The computer system has significant bugs, however, and these defects prove disastrous over the course of a 24 hour period. Of course, we all remember the movie, the important thing is to glean out the message.
In a similar vein, how many of us don’t love Kung Fu panda? Think of Mr. Ping, Po’s father and his tactics to sell dumplings and noodles in his noodle shop in the valley. What about his buy-one-get one-free offers and the “secret ingredient” soup? Students will really cherish ideas of bundling, advertising, and marketing when seeing them in the movie. Even standard concepts like inflation can be pepped up using videos from the Internet like Raghuram Rajan’s (RBI governor’s) ‘Dosanomics’, where he uses the dosa to explain various economics issues (see https://youtu.be/hKWkWnaSJnY for example).
One can think of the movie Avatar and the struggle of the indigenous people to retain their rights over natural habitats to initiate discussion on natural resources, rents, conflict, etc.
Through literature
We also come across several pieces of literature from which valuable economic lessons can be gleaned. For example, the backdrop of 16th century Venice in the famous Shakespearean play The Merchant of Venice speaks a lot about maritime trade and commerce, and also the vocation of money lending.
Not just the classics, cartoon strips, too can set the stage for discussions on economic concepts. For instance, if you are a fan of Calvin and Hobbes you will realize that there are lots of situations here that can lead to discussions about loans, banks and their functions. There are other examples too in literature. Many students will have read The Gift of the Magi, a short story by O. Henry about a young married couple who secretly buy Christmas gifts for each other with very little money. Other than the great emotional appeal, teachers can talk about the lessons in saving from it and nicely tie it in with the role of banks.
Silas Marner by George Eliot, is a fitting backdrop for a discussion on technological change – it, in part, rests on the effects of industrialization on 19th century English society (it has also been made into a classic motion picture). It essentially begins with how Lantern Yard, where Silas comes from, has turned into a grimy, dark place full of unhealthy people, after the factory has been built. Students can then learn more about technological changes and lifestyle and other transformations that accompanied them. Questions about inequality can also be mooted and greater appreciation for the subject can be kindled.
Even stories and poems that are included in the syllabus in schools can be used to convey economic messages. For example, one comes across the poem Indian Weavers by Sarojini Naidu in the English reader of class 6 in ICSE schools. It can aptly be used to initiate a discussion on division of labour, different vocations, and so on.
Conclusion
Economics is a way of life. It is a way of thinking and looking at things – a way of appreciating and analyzing situations and circumstances in the world around us. It is best taught in a lively and entertaining way and not just as a means to get a good
score in an examination. To that end and for the subject to make any meaningful sense and impression on a student’s mind, I think it is imperative that we pep it up with ample dollops of mirth and entertainment. And in general, this is true of any subject so that the fun of academics doesn’t get divorced from the learning part of it. It is especially true of subjects like economics whose contents may not appeal to youngsters right away, so additional effort needs to be made on the part of the teachers to get the content across to the students and also to spread and have a good laugh at the end of it all.
References
Becker, William E. “Teaching Economics in the 21st Century”. The Journal of Economic Perspectives 14.1 (2000): 109-119.
Becker, William E., Becker, Suzanne R. Becker, Michael W.Watts. (eds) “Teaching Economics: More Alternatives to Chalk and Talk”. Edward Elgar Publishing. Cheltenham, U.K. (1998).
Bose, Sukanya, and Arvind Sardana. “Teaching Economics in Schools”. Economic and Political Weekly 43.32 (2008): 54-60.
Rodgers, Yana V., Shelby Hawthorne, and Ronald C. Wheeler. “Teaching Economics Through Children’s Literature in the Primary Grades”. The Reading Teacher 61.1 (2007): 46-55.
Srinivasan, M. V.. “Teaching Economics: A Comment”. Economic and Political Weekly 43.42 (2008): 77-79.
Watts, Michael, and William E. Becker. “A Little More Than Chalk and Talk: Results from a Third National Survey of Teaching Methods in Undergraduate Economics Courses”. The Journal of Economic Education 39.3 (2008): 273-286.
Footnotes
1. In the movie The Princess Bride, the hero (Westley) challenges a villain (Vizzini) to a battle of wits. Westley will poison one of two wine cups out of Vizzini’s sight. Then Vizzini chooses from which cup he will drink; Westley must drink from the other cup.
Visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_eZmEiyTo0 for example. For a game of chicken, see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7hZ9jKrwvo.
2. John Forbes Nash, Jr. was originally an American mathematician who made fundamental contributions to game theory, and also
differential geometry, and the study of partial differential equations. His theories are extensively used in economics, computing,
evolutionary biology,artificial intelligence, accounting, computer science, games of skill, politics and military theory. He received the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1994.
The author is, Assistant Professor at the Economic Research Unit, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata. She can be reached at soumyanetra@isical.ac.in.
