Familiar fairy tales often have solid economic messages in their story lines. Not many people realize the allegoric connections with the Wizard of Oz but most of your bedtime memories from childhood were laced with basic fundamental concepts that would serve you well. Click on the link above to reconnect with your youth and find out how informed you really were.
Making choices is always a conflicting basis for protagonists in fairy tales (or in any story for that matter), and hey, isn't that what economics is partly about? I'm not sure why the author of this article (Edward L. Glaeser) wanted to teach his toddlers about economics. A supply and demand episode of Charlie Brown or whatever cartoon might help children learn about some basis of economics...but seriously, children are supposed to be learning morales and good ethnic rules mainly portrayed by these fairy tale stories. Children are going to be ignorant of any economic message there might be in any of these fairy tales anyway, they may notice the situation but won't connect it with it being an economic based idea. Let children be children and learn for themselves about economics when their times comes to making REAL decisions and caring about their environment, honestly.
ReplyDeleteOrelia Elkaim
period 5
I think the article was a little facetious. The children who listen to these fairy tales are not old enough to grasp the undertones of economic ideas that are present in the stories. Even if they did somehow manage to see the latent economic content hidden by outrageous plotlines, the children aren't mature or old enough to make economic decisions that would change their lives. At this early stage in their lives children shouldn't worry about heavy economic choices...I mean what are parents for? They are always telling us what's good for us. I think it would be stupid to ignore the free advice.
ReplyDeleteCharlie Vilmar
Period 3