The Treatment of Economic Issues in High School Government, Sociology, U. S. History and World History Texts

Abstract

It is often argued that the declining support of free institutions which we have observed in our recent history is, in part, a result of economic illiteracy. That is, ignorance and misinformation about the workings of a voluntary exchange system and about the deleterious effects of governmental interference in that system lead to support of increased government intervention in the economy. The particular version with which this paper deals argues that we get many of our views about the economy from our social studies classes and, specifically, from our textbooks. Those views, in turn, influence the way we vote on the issues which relate to the economy. If this view of the process is correct, then it is important to examine how effectively the voluntary exchange system and the effects of government intervention are being treated in these texts. If most texts are doing a good job in these areas, then one must look elsewhere for an explanation for the declining support for free instructions. If, on the other hand, social studies texts are in general doing a poor job in conveying an accurate understanding of the workings of voluntary exchange systems and government intervention in them, then this suggests that some improvements can be made by changing the way in which such texts are written. This paper is a condensed version of a report on the findings of four separate studies which were prepared under a grant from the Foundation for Research in Economics and Education. They critically analyze the economic content of leading high school texts in World History, U.S. History, Sociology, and Government. The Worid History study was performed by C. W. Baird; the U.S. History study was performed by L. F. Saft, with assistance from Baird; the Sociology study was done by G. J. Santoni, with assistance from J. W. Ashley; and the Government study was performed by C. C. Stone.1 Each report assesses the economic issues discussed in the books, presents the correct economic analysis of each issue, and compares this analysis with that found in the books. This brief summary is intended to touch on some of the highlights of the longer reports and to point out some of the key areas in which important errors of economic analysis occur. Each of the four reports documents different errors. Some errors are of a technical nature. Others reflect a more profound misunderstanding of the way in which markets operate. Because of space limitations, this paper will deal largely with the latter. In addition, limitations on space prevent us from reporducing the quotations found in the longer version of this paper and in the reports. Labor Markets The most numerous and serious errors occurred in the discussions of labor markets. Most of the texts (15 out of 17) have some discussion which reveals their authors' views of how labor markets work. Of those 15, all but one make serious errors of fact or analysis regarding the workings of labor markets and of interventions in them. The most common mistakes were in the area of historical facts. All four U.S...

Development of an Instrument to Measure High School Students’ Global Awareness and Attitudes: Looking Through the Lens of Social Sciences

“…History and economics was the most commonly offered subjects. A few researchers even discussed that they should be taught together (Duff, 1971;Main, 1978). Most research delineated the importance of both history and economics in the life of the students present and future including transfer effects of cognitive skills (Chizmar, McCarney, Halinski, & Racich, 1985;Short, 1994).…”