5 decades of bringing 'dismal science' to life

It was the early 1960s and newly minted teacher Richard Berge was eager to teach high school history. But the school needed an economics teacher, a subject that he'd barely studied. Lucky for Berge, a fledgling group of educators, businessmen and economists had recently formed the Minnesota Council on Economic Education to train teachers about the dismal science. The group feared that a generation of young people with little understanding of how our economy works would threaten our democracy during the Cold War.

As the Minnesota Council on Economic Education kicks off its 50th anniversary celebration, the threats facing our economy are very different. But understanding how the economy works is as important as ever.

"Instead of inheriting a world of boundless plenty, our kids will be facing all kinds of restraints in the future that prior generations have never faced," Tim Bodin, a Cargill economist and council board member remarked last week during the council's annual EconFest. Kids who don't understand the global economy will be ill-equipped to deal with diminishing natural resources and gaping budget deficits, he argues, and will make ill-informed decisions about careers, personal finances and public policy.

But how can teachers excite the average high school student, who tends to dismiss economics as dull and irrelevant? Oftentimes, the teachers aren't too excited about the subject either.

That's where the council comes in. "If we can get the teachers confident and feeling comfortable and knowledgeable about the materials, they'll do a very good job," Claudia Parliament, the council's executive director said. "But we've got to hook them first because when they first get their licensure, economics is not the priority."

Kari Kidman wasn't sure how she was going to teach economics to her first-graders. She had a limited grasp on the subject herself, despite having taken a class in college. Then she stumbled upon a course offered by the council, where she learned how to bring economics down to her students' level. While high school used to be the council's focus, programs geared toward younger students have increased as a growing body of research shows that quality early childhood education is critical.

In a segment designed to teach students about wants and needs, Kidman, who teaches at RTR Elementary School in southwestern Minnesota, read the book "Arthur's TV Trouble." It chronicles Arthur the Aardvark's misadventures after purchasing an expensive gadget he saw on TV. Students took images cut from magazines and made a collage separating wants and needs. When a parent came up to Kidman at her church and told her about how her son was lecturing her about purchasing decisions, she realized that the training she had received through the council was working. She won an award at EconFest for her lesson.

The nonprofit is supported by grants, relationships with colleges and universities, and donations from corporations such as Cargill, 3M and Thrivent. The financial crisis has only helped to increase support for its training camps and courses, which are constantly evolving, responding to current events whenever possible. It has ramped up its personal finance work in recent years in response to demand. A spring workshop will teach educators about bringing federal deficit issues into the classroom. During the 2009 school year, 410 teachers took advantage of the council's programs.

The council also has developed contests to motivate students. The council's economics challenge, which originated here, has developed into a national competition. Minnesota was one of the first states to offer a personal finance challenge too. State teams routinely come out on top.

And while teaching Minnesota's educators about economics is always at the core of the council's mission, it is not stingy about sharing its expertise elsewhere. When it realized that many low- and moderate-income Minnesotans lacked a basic understanding of economics and personal finance, the council worked to bring financial education programs to the community. It also jumped at the chance to send Minnesota economics teachers on study tours to South Africa, Russia and Paraguay. They train foreign educators and return to the classroom with compelling lessons about the global economy.

While our state is far better off thanks to the council, there's only so much it can do. In Minnesota, economics and personal finance education is contained within the social studies standards, but stand-alone courses in either subject aren't required. The standards will be reviewed this year. I think it's time for Minnesota to join the 21 states that require an economics course in high school and the 13 that require a class in personal finance.

Don't we owe it to the next generation?

Kara McGuire • 612-673-7293 or kmcguire@startribune.com. Read her blog: www.startribune.com/kablog.