EFFECT OF VITAMINS C AND E INTAKE ON BLOOD ... - EuroJournals

International Research Journal of Finance and Economics – Volume 2, Number I (2006)
According to Sumansky (1986), the search for a core of basic economic concepts that would
have to be taught in secondary education as well as the discussion on other ideas relative to economic
education began in the USA in 1946, with the legislative act on employment (Employment Act, US
Congress). This legislative enactment permitted Congress “to coordinate and exploit all available
resources with a view to creating and maintaining the greatest work force, production and purchasing
power”. One of the results of this enactment was the establishment of an economic council (President's
Council of Economic Advisors), of which Edwin Nourse was named the head. Nourse stressed the
need for the economic education of citizens and to this day, his ideas continue to influence the progress
of economic education in the USA.
As Sumansky (1986:50) mentions, the following proposals are stated in Nourse’s papers with
regard to economics and economic education:
• Economics is a life skill.
• Economics has value not only for knowledge for its own sake, but also because of what it can
contribute to the lives of people.
• Economics, indeed, must be taught to those who do not go on to college.
• Teachers must be helped to teach economics to students.
• Economics must be simplified and made meaningful to life.
• Economic reasoning is important.
• Economic knowledge can contribute to an enlightened citizenry.
Under the influence of these proposals, the National Task Force on Economic Education was formed in
1960, consisting of distinguished economists in those days, which unanimously supported the
introduction of economics in pre-college level because it is for students’ and society’s own good and
its provision should not be left to the mechanisms of the market (Sumansky, 1986:52). The report of
the committee, along with two directives that were published within the framework of the program
DEEP (Developmental Economic Education Program), drafted 135 economic concepts.
These documents consist of the original edition of A Framework for Teaching Economics:
Basic Concepts that was published in 1977 (Hansen et al, 1977) and revised in 1984 (Saunders et al,
1984) and in 1995 (Saunders and Gilliard, 1995). The framework is limited to 24 concepts that are
considered essential for the development of well-thought-out economic ideas. Also within the
framework, the idea of rational decision-making is fully developed and a model of six steps is
proposed: determination of the problem, identification of objectives, search for alternative solutions,
identification of essential concepts, analysis of the consequences of each alternative solution,
evaluation to identify the best solution. What is not explained in the framework is the method with
which these concepts will be taught.
The list of concepts, as presented in the Framework of 1977 (Hansen et al, 1977:9) is the following:
• The basic economic problem
1. Economic wants
2. Productive resources
3. Scarcity and choices
4. Opportunity costs and trade-offs
5. Marginalism and equilibrium
• Economic systems
6. Nature and types of economic systems
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