Dear SEP Families,
Students in Session 3 developed a clear, precise understanding of the limitations on models and narrative-based thinking. They were quick to move toward more flexible ways of thinking whenever presented with a paradigm that failed to completely describe a situation. While some of these shifts were a stretch, the class began to ask the right questions more quickly as the session continued, bringing ethical thinking into policy concerns and considering alternatives to popular narratives.
Clarity of articulation varied across the class, but overall I was impressed; we were frequently working in fields that admit more of tacit knowledge than explicit processes of reasoning, and giving a full account of something that seems as natural as breathing is surprisingly difficult. Students usually did a fine job of helping each other refine both ideas and treatments of ideas, and the body of examples the class produced helped to ground some of the high abstraction.
Unsurprisingly, we saw the most clear and effective discussion of issues with a strong lean toward economics, as this is the field in which most of the underlying principles available to high school students are about the same. Consequently, students were able to treat the economic side of Brexit quickly and fairly efficiently. Issues with a skew toward either ethics or disparity of policy aims were a bit tougher, but--and this places the class well above much contemporary discourse--students remained civil with one another even when engaging potentially divisive topics, and their maturity did them credit.
I had a great time working with your students, I hope they enjoy this last stretch of summer.
Students in Session 3 developed a clear, precise understanding of the limitations on models and narrative-based thinking. They were quick to move toward more flexible ways of thinking whenever presented with a paradigm that failed to completely describe a situation. While some of these shifts were a stretch, the class began to ask the right questions more quickly as the session continued, bringing ethical thinking into policy concerns and considering alternatives to popular narratives.
Clarity of articulation varied across the class, but overall I was impressed; we were frequently working in fields that admit more of tacit knowledge than explicit processes of reasoning, and giving a full account of something that seems as natural as breathing is surprisingly difficult. Students usually did a fine job of helping each other refine both ideas and treatments of ideas, and the body of examples the class produced helped to ground some of the high abstraction.
Unsurprisingly, we saw the most clear and effective discussion of issues with a strong lean toward economics, as this is the field in which most of the underlying principles available to high school students are about the same. Consequently, students were able to treat the economic side of Brexit quickly and fairly efficiently. Issues with a skew toward either ethics or disparity of policy aims were a bit tougher, but--and this places the class well above much contemporary discourse--students remained civil with one another even when engaging potentially divisive topics, and their maturity did them credit.
I had a great time working with your students, I hope they enjoy this last stretch of summer.
Resources for Continued Learning
Books:
Cross-applied economics
Websites:
Thank you for being a part of SEP 2016 Session 3!
Cross-applied economics
- Ori Brafman and Rom Brafman, Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior
- Nassim Nicholas Taleb, The Black Swan
- Stephen J. Dubner and Steven Levitt, Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
- Christopher Booker, The Seven Basic Plots
- Arthur Koestler, Darkness at Noon
- Frederic Bastiat, The Law
- Friedrich Hayek, The Constitution of Liberty
- Robert Heinlein, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
- Russell Kirk, Prospects for Conservatives
- Irving Kristol, Neoconservatism: Autobiography of an Idea
- C.S. Lewis, The Abolition of Man
- Alisdair MacIntyre, After Virtue
- John Rawls, A Theory of Justice
- Richard Rorty, Achieving Our Country
Websites:
- aeaweb.org/resources/students/what-is-economics (American Economics Association)
- forbes.com
- reuters.com
- tvtropes.org (crowd-sourced encyclopedia of literary tropes)
Thank you for being a part of SEP 2016 Session 3!
