Separation of School and State What I Learned at AP Economics Teacher-Training

1. Separation of School and StateWhat I Learned at AP EconomicsTeacher-Training Austrian Scholars Conference Ludwig von Mises Institute Auburn, AL March 12, 2010 Paul T. Prentice, Ph.D. paul@PikesPeakEconomicsClub.com www.PikesPeakEconomicsClub.com

2. Economics Training is Critical to Maintaining a Free Society For too long, the study of economics has been ignored in the U.S. educational system. It is no longer required in most high schools, nor for most college degrees. Economic ignorance is at the root of many of the world�s problems.

3. Economic IgnoranceNational Council on Economic Education �Why Johnny Can�t Choose: Economic Illiteracy in America� (2005): http://www.bsu.edu/mcobwin/majb/?p=154 �The American economy is the eighth wonder of the world; the ninth wonder is the economic ignorance of American people.� - Arthur Levitt, Former Chairman, AMEX An �Economic Literacy� survey by the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis showed that only 44% of the public has taken a course in economics: http://www.minneapolisfed.org/publications_papers/pub_display.cfm?id=3579 High School students� average score on the Economics Quiz is 53% (�F� grade). 60% of high school students get an �F�.

4. Chicago Tribune (1934)

5. Animated Cartoon Produced by Harding College (late 1950�s)�Make Mine Freedom� �To create a deeper understanding of what has made America the finest place in the world to live.� http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=WB6p5QPVhPI

6. Some Hope (2009 cartoon)

7. New Push for AP Economics Education in High Schools Parents like AP because students get �free� college credit. AP courses bump up GPA�s for entrance into college. Administrators like AP because they are judged on the # of courses, and the # of students enrolled. BUT: They are not judged on the # of students who actually pass.

8. So, more economics teaching Is a good thing, right? Wrong. �There are two kinds of economists. There are good economists and bad economists. Good economists know that there is no such thing as a free lunch.� - Walter Williams In order to pass the National AP Macroeconomics exam, students must be taught that there is a free lunch, and that it is provided by government.

9. In order to pass the AP test, high school students must prove: Printing more paper money creates more real income and wealth (�monetary policy�). Inflation is caused by too many people working (the �Philips Curve� tradeoff between inflation and unemployment). Taking money from the private sector and giving it to the government sector creates more real income and wealth (the �balanced budget multiplier� of fiscal policy). A weak dollar relative to foreign currencies creates more real income and wealth. The economy is inherently unstable, and can only be stabilized by government policy.

10. When I asked about competing economic theories and different schools of thought, I was told: It doesn�t matter. The Keynesian answer is the only correct answer. If your students want to pass the exam, they have to give the Keynesian answer.

11. The AP College Board Controls the economic �standards� that have to be taught in order for students to pass. It consists of college professors, high school teachers, government education bureaucrats, and textbook publishers.

12. AP Economics Textbooks For many years market-oriented and supply-side economic policies dominated the real world. The AP textbook of choice was N. Gregory Mankiw�s �Principles of Economics�. Now that markets are out of fashion, the AP textbook of choice is Paul Krugman�s �Economics� (2009)

13. Paul KrugmanPrinceton UniversityNobel Economist (2008) Op-ed columnist and economics blogger for the New York Times. �The Conscience of a Liberal� http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/ Deficits saved the world (July 15, 2009): �Government deficits � are the only thing that have saved us from a second great depression.� A trillion dollar bargain (July 14, 2009): Socialized medicine will result in lower health care costs. Betraying the Planet (June 28, 2009): Global warming deniers are committing �treason against the planet�.

14. �The current stimulus is too low and too slow. We need a second stimulus.� � Paul Krugman The top Keynesian economists are near unanimous in their belief that there must be a second stimulus. http://abcnews.go.com/ThisWeek/Politics/story?id=7966402&page=1

15. The �best and brightest� high school students are being taught free-lunch economics. "The education of all children, from the moment that they can get along without a mother's care, shall be in state institutions at state expense." - Karl Marx, The Communist Manifesto "Give me four years to teach the children and the seed I have sown will never be uprooted." - Vladimir Lenin "Education is a weapon, whose effect depends on who holds it in his hands and at whom it is aimed." - Josef Stalin "It is the State which educates its citizens in civic virtue, gives them a consciousness of their mission, and welds them into unity." - Benito Mussolini 

16. Separation of School and State " 'Parent choice' proceeds from the belief that the purpose of education is to provide individual students with an education. In fact, educating the individual is but a means to the true end of education, which is to create a viable social order to which individuals contribute and by which they are sustained. 'Family choice' is, therefore, basically selfish and anti-social in that it focuses on the 'wants' of a single family rather than the 'needs' of society."-- Association of California School Administrators