How our [European] schools teach economics: Of acquisitiveness and exploitation

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IT IS A BABLEFISH TRANSLATION. I HOPE YOU ARE ABLE TO UNDERSTAND IT. THE TEXT I

How our schools teach economics

Of acquisitiveness and exploitation

By Stefan Theil



20 January 2008

It is a bromide: The Germans become queasy with market and capitalism. Half of the citizens admits itself according to all brook inquiry to socialist ideals. The term free-market economy goes to the few without the protection word "socially" over the lips. Since still so small reforms fail to decades, with which the suspicion exists, they could expose humans of politics and welfare state abnabeln and to the cold forces of market and direct responsibility. In order to fathom all this, we can endeavor, about the striking lap of left Klassenduenkel and right community convicition speak Bismarck and Weimar or about the keeping in power of the political class by the welfare state dependence of the citizens.

Or however we ask, like these tradierten attitudes to market and state from generation to generation to be passed on completely concretely, for example in the school. There a society teaches not only vintages and letters, but transported also identity, historical picture and values its children. It is good that German children learn today no more the same over humans of other countries, skin colors or religions like still before 70 years. Which is located in German school books over the national socialism or the GDR dictatorship, is rightfully of large interest. Strange to say the question, like economic connections to be taught, is located hardly in the center of debate and research, although economic ideology is coining/shaping not less for personal decisions and political preferences, at the end even for restaurant economics, choice exits and concrete policy.

How does economics in the school occur? With a scholarship of the German Mars-resound find in Washington I curricula and approximately twenty school books examined and compared, what pupils in Germany, France and in the United States over market, capitalism, employers and globalization to learn. The results are illustrative; a representative study is almost impossible in view of the immense number at training works.
To the topic

    * A privatschule as starting UP enterprises
    * Attack on the German High School

Better, if the country stagnates

It is taught to French children why it is better, if their country stagnates. Economic growth "forces a hectic life-style, which to revision, stress, and, then one, even cancer says nervous depressions, heart cycle diseases leads", writes Histoire you XXe siècle, a historical text, which is considered as Bible during the exam preparations to French universities like the Science Po. Capitalism appears brutally "," wildly "and" American "with the adjectives". Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher appear as dangerous extremists, who fell their countries by market-radical reforms into the ruin. The world is at the beginning 21. Century in "per finds a Malaise", to which only with a "new world-wide adjustment" can be met. Is taught an also in this country well-known soziopolitischer discourse over economics, to which with concrete economic reality quite little has to do.

Other French texts are not so flatly politisiert. But already the default of the topics by the curricula shows a clear Voraburteil. The one year's Lycée course Sciences of économiques et sociales, which is considered as introduction to the economic, dedicates two thirds of the topics the effects of economic acting. In abstract sociologist French topics are processed there as for example "inequalities and social Kluften", "poverty and Ausgrenzung" or "social conflicts and mobilization". Even the first third of the course, in which it is to concern the economic bases, concerns itself in far parts with trade unions, national economic control and the borders as well as dangers of growth.

"Draufgaengeri enterprises" with "undefined perspectives"

With the topic technology and innovation occur not successful entrepreneurs. Instead long papers over the question appear whether technical progress destroys jobs. Globalization appears to all facts to the defiance as dangerous excrescence of an uncontrolled capitalism. Pupils are warned forwards "la mcdonaldisation you moons" and learn "alternatives" for globalization as rave in expensive for example on capital traffic. This discourse is limited thus not at all to Alt-68er-Reservate like "Le of moons Diplomatique", but been obligatory part of the national curriculum.

One can paint oneself the culture shock, which young Frenchmen experience, if they begin their job in an enterprise with this preparation. Because material entrepreneurs or founder do not occur in the school as well as, but and often negatively are abstractly described. start ups, so Histoire you XXe siècle, are "draufgaengerische enterprises" with "undefined perspectives", which need a "corresponding financing". A reisserischer text over InterNet speculation blister, stock exchange collapse, assumption battles as well as mass redundancies follows this devaluing definition with enterprises such as IBM. One thinks of Joseph Schumpeters description of capitalism as "creative destruction" - however with the clear stress on "destruction".
German and French children learn to distrust to the market

German and French children learn to distrust to the market

Anti-capitalistic of resentment

For Germany the evaluation is more difficult with 16 Lands of the Federal Republic and at least 4 school types. In the examined curricula of the secondary school 1 economic connections emerge only in social customer or politics and with this strange view are taught. In the curricula economiceconomics topics appear as central: the differences between social free-market economy and free free-market economy; the topic labor disputes and conflict in wage negotiations weighted very strongly in German texts and curricula; as well as national adjustment of the economy.

With such defaults it requires already one expressed ambitioesen teacher or text book author, in order to arouse interest in the fascinating interaction of demand and supply - finally the basis of our economic system -.

The whole range of the anti-capitalistic resentment emerges in the examined school books. Free free-market economy, so the text book "team" from the Schoeningh publishing house, only accompanies with a "night watchman state". The caricature of the capitalistic Plutokraten is still popular in the needle strip suit. In a diagram for income distribution in a further Schoeningh work book appears the fat realms with flower in the mouth opposite a sweating worker. Faithfully after Marx entrepreneurs and realms work thus not, but possess only. In FACT, one in Brandenburg (and in amended version also in other Lands of the Federal Republic) assigned text from the Cornelsen publishing house, the Cartoon capitalist is pleased that the European Union entry countries help him to abolish German social standards. That is not Poland agitation in the boulevard sheet, but German school book.

From the view of the future established one

There it hardly surprises that an investigation of the employer initiative found junior out project in Cologne in the year 2003 that entrepreneurs in North-Rhine/Westphalian school books in the context appear from kinderarbeit, garbage mountains, InterNet craze, alcoholism, unfair wages and unemployment.

Like most books FACT from the view of the future established one with work council agency is written or the future client of the welfare state. In the chapter "which do against unemployment" describe FACT not, how enterprises create jobs, but call groups of self-helps, on Mondays demonstrations as well as national programs. Then it is taught that employers with the threat of work locking press the wages. An excerpt follows from the program of the DGB, word for word, with the entire failed Voodoo economics of 30-Stunden-Woche, pension with 60 and allocation of full time in partial time jobs, so that everyone abbekommt a piece of the fixed cake. An alternative from the material world does not describe FACT. As reasons for unemployment FACT calls computers and robot, a popular Topos in the German books. In another text PC and InterNet destroy communication and make employees the "anonymous code".

Enterprises remain a "Black box"

If one distinguishes the German curricula and school books, then the extreme weighting of interests of group, social classes and work conflict. Economic acting arranged in the traditional social-democratic universe of employer and employee, those in an institutionalized network of collective bargaining and industrial law. Even if some books represent employers and employees completely in equal numbers and neutrally with their respective protections of interests - the concentration or reduction on employee and interests of employer and their institutionalizing are hardly suitable to explain economic connections and incentives. Instead of learning more understandings for it, what induces the baker to bake me my rolls in the morning and as for example taxes and deliveries change its and my incentives, pupils are socialized by the concentration on employer employee categories and the welfare state early in distribution-political regarding of economic acting.

In most examined German school books remain the enterprises a "Black box", in which business is made somehow. The details remain usually unclear; important roles seem to play advertisement and "the konsumgesellschaft". The enterprises are embedded in the "economic circulation", a keynesianischen thing from tubes and pumps and flowing money.

One recommends to pupils to inform with Attac

In this abstractly macro-economic world one looks usually in vain for Portraits of successful entrepreneurs. Germany with its enormous economic founder phases supplies the richest entrepreneur narration outside of the United States. It does not occur nearly. On the basis the enormously successful German Mittelstaendler pupils could also learn, how globalization functions. Instead they learn a being afraid. In the section "social free-market economy and globalization" of a politics policy of Klett are located the headings "the daily fight", "capital replace work" and "modern trend slavery".

In a manual about globalization of the Cornelsen publishing house kapitelueberschriften are located like "return of the Middle Ages", "return of Manchester capitalism" and "Brasilianisierung Europe". India and China are successful, so the Cornelsen text, because they practice to state property and protectionism, while the poorest countries of Africa have free market managing. One recommends to pupils to inform with the Anti-G-8-Protestgruppe Attac. A source per globalization does not call Cornelsen.

In of Americas school books the entrepreneur is rather welcome

All this is far from what American children learn. There the entrepreneurs, who developed the country and its economics with, are part of the national Geschichtsnarrativs. In the historical text American Anthem appears for example the following definition: "the entrepreneur is to be set welcomely as someone, which is received risks and his money and talent for it uses, new enterprises in course." The texts tell very much more strongly a history oriented by persons and examples in place of the abstract soziopolitischen discourse, which dominates the French historical texts. Poverty faded out, they will not become only separately treated and as such not accused the conflicts with the trade unions and early fruehindustrielle to the enterprises. American odyssey asks the pupils to discuss what the inventor and entrepreneur Thomas Edison probably learned from his early failed entrepreneur attempts - an intellectual concept, which one looks for in vain in German and French books.

Beyond that about half of the American pupils occupies one term economics in 12. School year, mostly following classical restaurant customer. The curriculum of Texas prescribes that pupils become acquainted with the advantages of the free economic system as well as the meaning of entrepreneurs for the local economy. Restaurant instruction in the State of New York was arranged together with economists of the issuing bank and junior Achievement, a private donation for the promotion of pupil enterprises. Is that young Americans in the school learn, small Bill Gates to be become most improbable. However they are confronted or conditioned not with prejudices and distrust opposite markets and managers on the alleged dangers and negative effects of economic acting such as children in France and in Germany.

Intensity and awkwardness

Here only a continental-European tradition in a scholarly manner with other values than beyond the Atlantiks? It is surely no surprise, if German and French school books are social-democratic and more budgetistic. The surprise is the intensity and awkwardness of the market aversion as well as in Germany nearly already before-modern holding to group identity and interests of collective. Thereby the dominance of distribution and zero-sum thinking in the public debate as well as the strongly underdeveloped understanding for the dynamics of the market become the more understandable.

Against the thesis, the social-democratic and state-fixed world view taught in the schools fits simply better Europe, speaks also the results of the luck research. It showed that countries with larger economic liberty enjoy not only smaller unemployment and integrate its immigrants better. Their citizens regard themselves also tendentious as luckier. Personal attitudes to economics play beyond that a role under-exposed so far with the actual economic achievement. Prejudices over economics affect career and life decisions, like the legendary adjustment of French graduates of university on the government service. Only approximately 40 per cent of the Germans and the Frenchman would be gladly their own boss, compared with 60 per cent of the Americans.

Twice as many Germans like Americans say, one is not to start an enterprise, if the risk exists to fail. That German children learn, the market is a dangerous jungle, promotes not necessarily their entrepreneur spirit. In the United States more than half of all jobs in enterprises are created, which are younger than five years. Also in Germany the large-scale enterprises, on which school books fix themselves like political debates, develop jobs rather off as.

Germany and France blocked the study

The loss at economic dynamics by missing entrepreneur spirit is not only seizable, but also measurably. One the outrider of this topic is Edmund Phelps, Nobelpreistraeger and restaurant economics to the Columbia University in New York. It found out that survey data correlate many more directly to the attitudes to work and economics with growth than that, on which economists normally concentrate like control items or simplicity of a foundation of a firm. Phelps concludes that attitudes and mentalities are to be regarded also as basic conditions for the economy. Some brake economic achievement, other one make possible it.

The OECD with a kind employers Pisa wanted to examine this connection, which includes the attitudes of the population apart from the usual economic basic conditions also. According to an involved one Germany and France blocked the study, probably because they were afraid of faring badly. The Danish government finally financed a nine-land study without German and French participation in the single-handed attempt. The researchers examined 31 factors and their correlation to performance data such as establishment of an enterprise rate and growth.

To become rich avowed cultural factors like the answer to the question, whether it is legitimate, as entrepreneurs, 40 per cent of the achievement variation. Denmark draws from the results the conclusion to bring on the one hand the topic entrepreneur spirit more strongly into the schools on the other hand over a reform of the insolvency law the stigma of the business failure too lindern. Also Poland introduced in the meantime the bases of employers as obligation topic at the high schools. Other European states such as Norway and Ireland pull tight. If Germany and France of more entrepreneurs want, they should look perhaps times, what their children to learn.

More consciousness for costs and use

It does not concern by any means to ignore the role of the state to maintain the confidence in functioning and Fairness of the market. If however market and at the market acting entrepreneur is explained in particular tendentious as uncanny or even dangerously, the state however as an abstract nature of protection, omnipotence and reason, then exists the risk, to be blind for the economic and moral advantages of the market as also for the fallibleness of bureaucracy and politics.

It concerns thus not to condemn a market-sceptical attitude but around it, to make a balanced and less resentment-loaded view possible into consideration from market and state, security and risk, in consciousness from costs and use of the respective position. For or against the tradierte religion of the restaurant fear the young people could decide if they are of age.

The author is European Economics editor of the American magazine Newsweek.


SOURCE: http://www.faz.net/s/Rub0E9EEF84AC1E4A389A8DC6C23161FE44/Doc~E76F5E90BABA4496EACDACC57DD763257~ATpl~Ecommon~Scontent.html