How disturbed should I be? (Econ/history)

[jon_leonard]

I was discussing market excesses (current events!) with a retired history teacher today, and we started discussing historical precedents. However, he got totally lost when I started talking about tulip bulbs. (That was the first speculative bubble

Comments

yep

[robszewczyk]

I'm not sure how it worked here, but in my experience (especially at the grammar and high school level) history boiled down to history of culture, art, military, and maybe social issues. History of trade and financial system has played relatively minor role history lessons in socialist Poland. History is sufficiently broad an area that even crucial origins of important institutions may escape many practitioners.

Rob

[porfinn]

I think the tulip bubble would be a great introduction to economics, because it is about something most kids can comprehend: flowers. Most children find flowers attractive, and it would make sense to a child to want flowers (or to have so many that you don't need any more. I don't think you are being unrealistic, but until there is more incentive for the "best and the brightest" to teach in public schools you might have to hold that thought for awhile.