All across the country, students are studying for Advanced Placement exams coming in the middle of May. Students in AP Economics are taught with Krugman’s Economics for AP by Margaret Ray and David A. Anderson, adapted from Paul Krugman and Robin Wells’ Economics (Second Edition). Our public education system is supposedly one without bias, a place where any student can come and learn without any form of partisanship. Instead, our classrooms are slowly becoming political lecture halls with teachers being pawns to further the doctrine of liberalism and “equality.”
Throughout the entire textbook, there are historical, factual, and statistical distortions. For example, Chapter 36 (“The modern macroeconomic consensus”) contains 16 sweeping generalizations such as: “Nearly all macroeconomists now agree… There is now a broad consensus… Today, most macroeconomists believe… Almost all macroeconomists now accept…” (pp. 355-58). None of these assertions are backed up with even a single citation. If a student were to submit an essay with such disregard for basic evidence, it would ensure a failing grade.
I find it troubling Krugman’s Economics for AP concludes that Reagan’s “supply-side economics is generally dismissed by economic researchers. The main reason for this dismissal is lack of evidence.” Referring to economic growth and output, our textbook goes on to state there was “no sign of an acceleration in growth after the Reagan tax cuts.”
Unfortunately, most of my classmates accept what’s in our textbooks as the “truth” and are unaware of other points of view such as the Cato Institute’s conclusion: “By the end of the Reagan years, the American economy was almost one-third larger than it was when they began.” Real median family income went up $4000 during the Reagan administration. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate declined from 7% in 1980 to 5.4% in 1988. There was a net job increase of about 21 million from the signing of the 1981 tax cut to 1988.
An objective textbook would have pointed out that there are many economists who support supply-side theory. For instance, the influences of Robert Mundell and Arthur Laffer are represented in economic theories all across the world. Dr. Stuart Butler from the Heritage Foundation has supported lower taxes and regulatory relief in order to spur economic growth.
This economics book is only a microcosm of the indoctrination children are receiving in today’s public schools, as unionized teachers push a liberal-leaning agenda. Many textbooks fail to present students with both sides of an issue. Students are being pushed toward an education that demonizes free enterprise while advocating top-down government, deficit spending and class warfare. The continuation of this propaganda will create a youth so misinformed and clueless that they will have no choice but to turn to the government. And that is exactly what the liberals want.
Charlie Kirk is a high school senior and will be attending Baylor University in the fall. He is the Co-Founder of SOS Liberty.