A bit of push back for Mr. Wolfers.
UPDATE: Wolfers identifies Hayek as a serious influence on his work.
Source link: http://archive.mises.org/12234/a-remedial-course-in-the-history-of-economics/
A Remedial Course in the History of Economics
Previous post: Caldwell on Hayek
Next post: “Put the FTC On Steroids”
{ 6 comments }
Marx is not an economist. His “economic” theories did not include any economizing,(The same is nearly true for Keynes and Summers.) he is more of an anti-economist. Well if we can include non-economists or anti-economists then I include Tiger Woods where I get almost 200million entries. (I am sure you saw where I was going.;-))
I found it weird that he uses his own opinions on what to research but fails to let the State School Board of Texas do the same. My personal view is that the State School Board of Texas should not exist. And if they must then they should not have textbooks as there is a wealth of information available on the internet and only a smidgen available in a textbook. Nor should they have “standards” as people educate themselves at their own rates by their own means.
The very existence of textbooks is an affront to children and to the idea of learning. They exist for the sole purpose of serving the State’s goals for what it calls “schooling,” not for providing anything that could fairly be called “teaching.” Textbooks exist so that soft-socialist losers, and thier enablers like Mr Wolfers, can exert CONTROL over the minds of children. Children who are allowed to read primary sources tend to become free-thinking. That’s dangerous to the State, so ideas are pre-digested into textbook form.
The whole thing is insidious, but Mr Wolfers contents himself with focusing on namby-pamby, trivial questions like debating the relative merits of various quantitative methodologies for selecting the textbook’s topics. Meanwhile, the State is crushing young minds by the second.
Bravo, Mr Wolfers. You have managed once again to completely miss the big picture.
Mr. Wolfer’s said the following:
“The message from the Texas Board of Education seems to be: If you can’t win in the marketplace of ideas, turn to government institutions to prop you up. I don’t think Hayek would approve.”
Of course, the unstated assumption underneath his criticism is the idea that the state-funded institutions run by people who make their living by means of government wealth redistribution make up a somehow objective ‘marketplace of ideas,’ which would never discriminate against anti-Statist ideas . . .
I teach economics in a public high school.
The background on my computer is FA Hayek with “collectivism is slavery” under his portrait. So all of my students are aware of Hayek. Is he mentioned in the standards? No. Do we talk about him? Yes.
Is Tom Woods and Meltdown mentioned in the standards? No. Do we read his chapter on the Great Depression? Yes.
I incorporate as many essays, articles, and blog posts from mises.org as possible.
My students also enjoyed the Fear the Boom and Bust rap.
Many of textbooks that get adopted are of poor quality. Good teachers supplement the textbook and curriculum to make up for the various deficiencies in the textbooks and the official state standards.
That’s great to hear, Bob. I wish I had teachers willing to venture outside “the material”…
the comments are attached to the wrong blog. belong on the riggenbach piece.
Comments on this entry are closed.