A Case for Economic Education

It is simply the case that people's day-to-day activities require each person to make a variety of decisions concerning the allocation of time, resources, and/or talent, and all of these are economic goods. Yet the study of the principles which underlie both the decision-making processes used for making such decisions, as well as the institutions used for implementing such decisions--the study of economics--has traditionally not been taught below the college and/or university level in the United States. And, many of those who attend colleges and/or universities never take any economics.

Given these facts it is not surprising that a survey by the Gallup Organization revealed that seven out of ten adults in the U.S. have never had any formal training in economics, and eight out of ten adults, and high school students and college seniors in the U.S. rate their knowledge of economics as fair to poor. More than 96 percent of those surveyed thought schools should teach more about our economic system. Less than half of today's high school seniors have studied any economics.

These findings by the Gallup Organization demonstrate that, while the past 30 years have seen 29 states mandate the incorporation of some economics into their respective K-12 curriculums, it has definitely not been enough. California became one of the 29 states in 1986 with the passage of senate Bill 1213, SB 1213 required--beginning with academic year 1987-88--that all students graduating from California high schools must have successfully completed a one semester course in economics during high school. However, SB 1213 does not make the formal study of economics a prerequisite for those teachers who teach the high school economics course.

Economics Department