Vindication

For years I've been frustrated that my students lack the historical and political context that makes economics so interesting. Hard to get them worked up about supply-side versus Keynesian theories when they have no memory of the Reagan years; hard to talk about financial crises when 2008 is the only experience they have (and that only vaguely). So this semester I took matters into my own hands and taught an introductory-level course on economic issues, 1962-2010. The course essentially covered my lifetime in economics. It was billed as a rollicking mid-life crisis of a course. From the beginning, however, it was plagued with problems. There were only five students (perhaps the goofy title - "Talkin' 'Bout My Generation", a reference to a song that I think none of them was familiar with, had something to do with this). I had a hard time coming up with readings that were broad and accessible, with the result that I resorted to my patented method of "just-in-time reading assignments," aka the "living syllabus." That is, Thursday of this week I'll tell you what next week's readings are. I took a lot of grief from my colleagues about the ad hoc nature of the course, especially the frequent films (Eyes on the Prize, Commanding Heights) and use of Youtube videos (how are students to understand the depravity of the 1970s if they've never seen Captain and Tennille singing "Muskrat Love"?). But my course evaluations vindicate me. I'm going to put this one on the syllabus next time:

"It's the only class I've found on campus that even remotely touches recent American poltiical history. Everyone just assumes we know all about the country from 1960-now... not true! They don't teach it in high school so why should I be expected to tell you what Richard Nixon did that was so evil if I've never been taught about him? This class starts to fill that gap!"

Thank you, students. The checks are in the mail.