Teaching economics as political and ethical choices

October 14, 2020 00:37:00
Teaching economics as political and ethical choices
Ethical Schools
Teaching economics as political and ethical choices

Oct 14 2020 | 00:37:00

/

Show Notes

We welcome back Lev Moscow of the Beacon School to discuss his approach to teaching political economy, which actually applies to any social science. It’s not primarily about the numbers but about the human choices behind them. How do we determine who gets paid what and who gets to spend 80,000 hours in a lifetime engaged in meaningful work? Also, how our mantra of continuous economic growth will end life as we know it. 

Overview

00:00-00:39 Intros

00:39-02:25 Why teach economics

02:25-08:55 “What Money Can’t Buy”: When are markets corrupted; ethics of markets

08:55-12:34 “Political economy” as distinguished from “economics”

12:34-18:09 Consequences of using increasing growth as metric of healthy economy

18:09-22:43 Ethical questions of teaching from textbooks that don’t correspond to how things work

22:43-26:20 Education for democracy vs education for workforce preparation

26:20-30:36 “80,000 Hours”: Encouraging students to think of maximizing the potential usefulness of their work lives

30:36-32:43 Grades as part of the economic system

32:43-35:37 Supporting young women to become economists

35:37-37:00 Outro

Transcript

Click here to see the full transcription of this episode. 

References

Soundtrack by Podington Bear

Photo by Thomas De Luze 

Other Episodes

Episode 0

March 25, 2021 00:43:30
Episode Cover

Exacerbating inequality: Private money in public schools

We speak with Dr. Sue Winton of York University in Toronto about the effects of private money–much of it from parents–that replaces decreased public...

Listen

Episode 0

July 22, 2020 00:27:30
Episode Cover

Police and metal detectors in schools: Student perspectives

Nia Morgan and Anahi Ortiz Fierros of Urban Youth Collaborative describe how police and metal detectors humiliate and traumatize students. The story of the...

Listen

Episode 0

June 03, 2021 00:51:43
Episode Cover

Black men as teachers: Recruitment, retention, development, empowerment

We speak with Dr. Daman Harris and Dr. Inger Swimpson of Building Our Network of Diversity, the BOND Project, in Montgomery County MD,  which...

Listen