Over my years teaching economics students at the undergraduate and graduate levels, I have become more and more convinced that our youth and their parents are getting ripped off by the government school system. In terms of academic skills, it is apparent that, while we have trained high school students in America to memorize and regurgitate facts very well, they by and large not instructed in logic and critical thinking and very few of them receive any instruction in writing research papers anymore.
Not surprisingly, they are getting shortchanged as well regarding economic reality. While there are, I think, increasing numbers of economics classes being taught, they either are not sound or not pervasive enough to counter disastrous economic thinking on the part of the masses.
Today's illustration of this dismal state of affairs comes to us by Jack Chambless, Professor of Economics at Valencia College in Florida. He is interviewed about an essay about the American dream he asks his introductory economics students to write.
Although this is not necessarily a scientific survey of all principles of microeconomics students, it is a revealing picture of how well we have trained our youth to embrace the entitlement culture. It is no longer considered wrong to live off someone else. Such a world-view, of course, is contrary to the Christian ethic of property and rejects Paul's admonition that we should do honest work with own own hands, so that we may provide for our own families and also have something to share with others in need (Ephesians 4:28; 1 Timothy 5:8).
My thanks to Steven Yates for alerting me to this interview.
Holy cow.
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