Feducation Essay

• Introduction
• Taking the Fed Challenge
• The Fed Enters the Classroom
• "A Tremendous Resource for Teachers"
• Never Too Young to Learn
• Working Economics into the Classroom
• Saving Our Future: Economics and Personal Finance
• For more information

 

Working Economics into the Classroom

Even if teachers don’t question the value of economics for young students, squeezing it into the curriculum presents more of a challenge. The old adage of “reading, ‘riting and ‘rithmetic” has taken on a new meaning in recent years. The U.S. government’s No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 holds schools accountable for student test scores in reading and mathematics. President George W. Bush’s recently announced American Competitiveness Initiative urges schools to focus more on math and science.

As a result, teachers are forced to focus on those areas at the expense of other subjects—such as economics, Suiter says. “So, if we want economics to be taught, our best hope is to find a relevant way to integrate it into the rest of the school curriculum.”

At St. Louis Fed classes and conferences, teachers of economics-only usually find themselves in the minority, Griffitts says.

“We have social studies, history, government, business education, math and even some language arts teachers,” Griffitts says.

For example, the St. Louis Fed’s 2003 fall teachers conference focused on the economics of the Great Depression.

“We had lots of history teachers attend, many of whom had never heard the economic perspective on the Great Depression before,” Griffitts says. “They had mostly heard only the historical perspective. We gave them another way to think about it and to teach it.”

The annual Teach Children to Save Day event, in which volunteers from the Fed and community banks talk to elementary school children about the importance of personal savings, uses lessons based on children’s books. This approach merges economics with reading.

In fact, economics can actually spice up other subjects for kids—rather than the other way around, Suiter says. “Kids are intrigued by money. If you can hook them by talking about money, you can infuse a lot more economics into the material to improve their knowledge.”

Integration of economics into other subjects is likely to remain the rule in American classrooms, with only about one-third of states requiring high school students to take economics. As a result, there is less incentive for districts to make room for pure economics classes on the schedule. There are some encouraging signs for the future, though. Illinois and Kentucky already require students to take a personal finance course prior to graduation. Mississippi and Arkansas both require a course to be offered. Missouri will now require high school students to earn a half-credit in personal finance, starting in fall 2006.

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