Posted by
on Tuesday, January 15, 2008 7:23:52 PM
David Strom's take on European indoctrination in an anti-free market ideology really got my attention. I'm only a semester away from earning a B.S. in economics and a B.A. in political science, and the difference between the quality of education I received in each program is startling. In our political science program, we're pretty much told to act like condescending spectators, asking why those stupid, ignorant members of the American public aren't doing what they should be doing or voting the way they should be voting. I'll give you two guesses as to why I find that way of thinking offensive, but you shouldn't need more than one.
At the same time, my education in economics really changed my way of looking at the world. As soon as you admit that people make rational decisions based upon their priorities and that the government can't possibly have as good an idea of what's best for individuals as those individuals can, then the idea of government protecting people from themselves by providing for them seems kind of nuts. In fact, it seems downright dangerous.
I go to a very liberal university in Washington, D.C. People's jaws drop when I tell them I was a hardcore Democrat when I first set foot on campus at age 18, because within less than a year, I had become a pretty conservative Republican. Most of the professors are pretty liberal--although at least the economics professors are very fair and unbiased--so it's ironic that I somehow managed to reject the dominant ideology on campus. I don't know how often that happens, but if there were a little more academic freedom and intellectual diversity on campuses, then we'd probably all be better off.
Nevertheless, a problem I've already started running into is that its difficult for me to communicate what I've learned to anyone who doesn't have the benefit of four years of economics under his belt. Part of that is inevitable, since I've been stuck in an ivory tower for four years and trying to talk to someone who still lives in the real world isn't the easiest thing anymore. Still, some of the ideas of people from Adam Smith to Milton Friedman appear obvious to us only in hindsight, and I wish I would have had more exposure to some basic economics when I was in high school.
I think everyone should. If we're going to be deciding presidential elections based on "the economy, stupid," then high school seniors should be taking not just a course in American government, but also one in economics. My old high school in Cincinnati has courses in pottery-making, gourmet cooking and fashion design, but to my knowledge, no basic course in economics. Maybe if we could inject some real market competition into government education, then the market would eliminate a lot of the fluff and replace it with the substantive education that we need to be good citizens.