Should Economics Be Taught In Schools

Why should economics be taught in primary grades? According to Posnanski, Schug, and Schmitt (2007), recent statistics have shown that there is a high level of economic and financial illiteracy in the United States; therefore, it is important to build the foundations of basic economic principles as early as possible to decrease economic illiteracy, preventing many negative consequences (i.e. divorce, suicide, bankruptcy) in the future for students (Posnanski, Schug & Schmitt, 2007). Alan Greenspan, an American economists, suggests that by starting financial education as early as possible and "improving basic financial education at the elementary level ... provides a foundation of financial literacy" (as cited in Posnanski, Schug, & Schmit,

MicroSociety, etc). These experiences engage students’ to make economic decisions (i.e. decisions based on wants versus needs) and at the same time allows them to feel and/or live with the consequences of their decisions (Parker & Beck, 2017). This method is an awesome way to add economics into students’ daily lives. In the school that I work at they use the MicroSociety concept to teach economics and as a tool for behavior management. Students’ receives Microbucks for good behavior and/or lose Microbucks for inappropriate behavior during Microclass time. These Microbucks can be used at the Microbuck Store or held in their Microbuck savings account to be used at a later date for a variety of activities (i.e. swimming, trip to movie theatre, etc.). I think it is great way to learn about wants/needs/consequences (economics) while encouraging students to behave in the classroom. It has been very successful activity, but it is important to note that in order for these types of activities to be successful, the teachers’ primary goal should be about teaching economic principles and behavior management as a secondary

An example of an activity that deals with a specific economic concept is called popcorn economics. Popcorn economics is an activity that allow students’ to experience scarcity of resources (popcorn) and learn about what is scarcity of resources, effects of scarcity, and ways to prevent scarcity. This particular activity also allows students to recognize that resources are not unlimited and that they cannot have everything they want (Economic Education Web, n.d.). Students’ will be asked to come up and serve themselves popcorn snack from a grocery bag with no limit on the amount taken. Students’ will continue coming up until the grocery bag of popcorn is empty. The remaining students’ who did not receive popcorn from the first bag is told that they can open the additional bags for their snack. The problem is the remaining bags are filled with newspaper. Many students’ will be angry because they don’t receive popcorn, but that is the lesson about scarcity. Discuss with students about the what is the problem, why did the problem exist, explain that experience symbolizes a major problem that all societies face (scarcity), discuss how people must make choices about allocation, explain how natural resources is connected with scarcity, etc (Economic Education Web, n.d.). This activity can also be used to discuss the availability