Social Studies

The organization and argument of this paper on the status of economic education in American schools today are essentially summarized in four observations. They are that: (1) the current emphasis of economic education is overwhelmingly cognitive and focuses on increasing student knowledge and understanding of our economic system; (2) available evidence on the impact of cognitively oriented approaches to economic education suggests that they have no educationally significant influence on students ' economic related attitudes, values, norms, dispositions, etc.; (3) it is increasingly apparent that attitudes and dispositions related to economic life are of importance to personal economic success, system maintenance, and vitality; and (4) if the above observations are correct, then one may conclude that there is a gaping hole at the heart of economic education that needs concerned attention. The body of the pape