That Higher Education Bubble is About to Burst
This is beyond all parody:
The following letter was sent to Greg Mankiw by the organizers of today’s Economics 10 walkout.
Wednesday November 2, 2011
Dear Professor Mankiw—
Today, we are walking out of your class, Economics 10, in order to express our discontent with the bias inherent in this introductory economics course. We are deeply concerned about the way that this bias affects students, the University, and our greater society.
As Harvard undergraduates, we enrolled in Economics 10 hoping to gain a broad and introductory foundation of economic theory that would assist us in our various intellectual pursuits and diverse disciplines, which range from Economics, to Government, to Environmental Sciences and Public Policy, and beyond. Instead, we found a course that espouses a specific—and limited—view of economics that we believe perpetuates problematic and inefficient systems of economic inequality in our society today.
A legitimate academic study of economics must include a critical discussion of both the benefits and flaws of different economic simplifying models. As your class does not include primary sources and rarely features articles from academic journals, we have very little access to alternative approaches to economics. There is no justification for presenting Adam Smith’s economic theories as more fundamental or basic than, for example, Keynesian theory. ...
We are walking out today to join a Boston-wide march protesting the corporatization of higher education as part of the global Occupy movement. Since the biased nature of Economics 10 contributes to and symbolizes the increasing economic inequality in America, we are walking out of your class today both to protest your inadequate discussion of basic economic theory and to lend our support to a movement that is changing American discourse on economic injustice. Professor Mankiw, we ask that you take our concerns and our walk-out seriously.
Sincerely,
Concerned students of Economics 10
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Comments:
Sep '10
Re: That Higher Education Bubble is About to Burst
I'd like to be the first journalist to get a first hand interview on Marx's view of the ashcan of herstory.
Jul '10
Re: That Higher Education Bubble is About to Burst
Halfwits of the world unite!
Re: That Higher Education Bubble is About to Burst
My high school forced us to take Econ to graduate- which of course, on the face of it, makes a lot of sense. On the other hand, the class starred none other than John Maynard Keynes.
This was a public school- substitute Keynes and Econ with the Bible and any class, and people would shiver at the sight of our theocracy. I don't mean to start an argument about evolution- but I just had to get that off my chest.
I'm shocked that Harvard isn't as predisposed to teaching Keynesian theory as my high school was.
Edited on November 3, 2011 at 3:42pmJun '10
Re: That Higher Education Bubble is About to Burst
Professor Mankiw's response:
If you had though about market forces prior to now, you would've skipped Harvard and kept your 200 grand.
Feb '11
Re: That Higher Education Bubble is About to Burst
I don’t understand what is beyond parody about this, or even, honestly, why I shouldn’t sympathize with the students. I’m a conservative, but I attended one very, very left-wing graduate school. While I was there, I had a class that presented a one-sidedly Leftist view of history, which made no use of primary sources. The indoctrinator of the course had very unkind words for anyone who might want a measure of balance, or even a recognition that there might be something wrong with his view of history.
Does Professor Mankiw have a similar style? I have no idea. But if he does, I can certainly respect the decision of the students to walk out. The fact that they are joining the Occupy Movement suggests to me that their own ideology is sufficiently problematic that it needs to be fought against vigorously. But the simple fact that the Occupy Movement is a movement — that it has as many supporters as it does — suggests that their ideology needs to be fought with well-grounded arguments, and arguments that respect their intelligence and capacity to reason.
Re: That Higher Education Bubble is About to Burst
Perhaps this does need a bit more explaining.
This is Greg Mankiw.
Aug '10
Re: That Higher Education Bubble is About to Burst
To quote Milton Friedman, those students were "Free To Choose", and now they are complaining about their choice. There are so many risible statements in the letter, but perhaps my favorite is, "[W]e have very little access to alternative approaches to economics." Really? In countries with oppressive political systems, some people risk their lives gaining access to forbidden texts. Yet at a premier educational institution within a free society, with all the technological and financial advantages stemming therefrom, these poor little dears have "very little access"?
Apr '11
Re: That Higher Education Bubble is About to Burst
It sounds like a fine day for Prof. Mankiw to take roll for purposes of factoring attendance into the final grade.
Sep '10
Re: That Higher Education Bubble is About to Burst
Well, its clear after reading Greg Mankiw's entire article and his bio, that this is all George Bush's fault.
Claire Berlinski, Ed.: Perhaps this does need a bit more explaining.
This is Greg Mankiw. · Nov 3 at 7:45am
May '10
Re: That Higher Education Bubble is About to Burst
Yes. It seems the real protest here is not that Professor Mankiw is an advocate of the free market (He's actually Keynesian), but that he dared to mention Adam Smith--that he dared to withhold his Keynesian indoctrination until the second semester.
How dare he. I thought this was Harvard after all.
Edited on November 3, 2011 at 4:02pmMay '10
Re: That Higher Education Bubble is About to Burst
Economics is akin to a religion. There seems to be a dozen or more denominations all chock full unprovable "truths." If it truly were a science would we not all be prosperous by now?
Jun '10
Re: That Higher Education Bubble is About to Burst
You are a racist for even doubting for a second that everything you see around you is Bush's fault. Come on Kitty.
Apr '11
Re: That Higher Education Bubble is About to Burst
Great point. Harvard is ranked by US News & World Report as the best university and the Princeton Review ranks Harvard's library as the best university library ... yet these best-of-the-best students can't find any additional subject matter outside of the assigned course materials. I'd hate to see how these kids respond to a ... research paper.
Oct '10
Re: That Higher Education Bubble is About to Burst
The audacity of incompetence...
First off let's set the context. These are undergraduate college students in an introductory economics course boycotting the teacher because in their esteemed and enlightened opinion, he is wrong in his teaching of economics. Now I am not one to just blindly believe someone because there are some letters behind their name. However, there is some academic standard and scrutiny he had to meet in order to progress through his career. Secondly, I assume that economics is similar to science so far as theories cannot be proven but only supported. Therefore any theories with standing justification are legitimate to consider even if they are contrary to a degree. Lastly, if one seeks truth, they must take seriously contrary views to test their own. This is nonsense.
May '10
Re: That Higher Education Bubble is About to Burst
Boy, if I were a donor to Harvard's financial aid programs, I'd be cheesed off if they all didn't lose their financial aid and let the kids who applied there, and were turned down, to take their place.
Aug '10
Re: That Higher Education Bubble is About to Burst
I think the math students should walk out in protest that the alternative view that pi=3 isn't taught.
May '11
Re: That Higher Education Bubble is About to Burst
Have you ever tried making an argument to a lefty that respects their intelligence and capacity to reason? Some lefties have those attributes, but they are compartmentalized in a section of their mind that is walled off from their ideology.
I have a better idea. Let Occupy Oakland have its way. I would like to see all the banks and grocery stores and businesses close. And stay closed. Nobody works. Nobody has a job. Nobody can go to the ATM and access their bank account. No food. Just fence off the city and let them have it. Evacuate the 1%, of course, so there will be nobody around to "oppress" them. Let the world see what the Occupation wants to create. It would be glorious.
And if there happen to be any people with intelligence or capacity to reason out there, they will figure it out all on their own.
Edited on November 3, 2011 at 4:15pmAug '10
Re: That Higher Education Bubble is About to Burst
After all, who knows more about economics than a bunch of freshmen who haven't even completed their very first economics course?
Clearly, THEY should be teaching the class!
Re: That Higher Education Bubble is About to Burst
Hmm. Adam Smith isn't any more fundamental than John Maynard Keynes? That's like trying to understand Einstein before you understand Newton. How about asking these kids if they'd argue Adam Smith isn't any more fundamental than Milton Friedman?
What these kids are asking for is a purely liberal education with no reference to any other non-socialist teachings. Please. All they have to do is look around for the effect of Keynesian economic policy. We're living it right now. And how's that working for you?
Jan '11
Re: That Higher Education Bubble is About to Burst
It seems to me that these students, or, more likely, the senior author of the letter along with a bunch of useful idiots, were seeking affirmation of their thinking rather than a formal exploration of economic theory. Any survey course will explore a spectrum of the specific discipline; the problem is not what to teach, but what can rationally be excluded. In my day, that was left to the professor to decide. It is also up to the professor to illuminate the pros and cons of dogmas, and economics is nothing but doggedly settled theory in a rational world in which all theories are unsettled. I suppose that's why it's called the dismal science.
My life was, and to a lesser degree still is, involved with the biological sciences, and those on which it depends. In surveys we never spent a lot of time on Lamarck, but it was mentioned in passing to support Mendelian genetics and evolution theory. I can only imagine my response if I received such a letter decrying the insufficient study of Lamarck's wacky ideas. Not altogether different from Keynes, now that I think of it.