REPORT #10
ECONOMIC EDUCATION WORKSHOP IN TOKYO
Date: March 14 (Sat), 2009
Place: Economics Department, Nihon University, Tokyo
A one-day workshop on economic education mainly for middle school teachers, organized by Network for Economic Education and sponsored by Keizai Kiho Center and Chiyoda-ku Kyoiku Iinkai, was held at Nihon University in Tokyo on March 14, 2009. There were about 20 participants, including not only middle school but also high school teachers, university professors, publishers, businesspersons, etc.
After an opening address by Mr. Akira Arai (Tokyo Nishi High), Mr.
Shoichi Shinohara (Doshisha Univ.) gave a keynote lecture on
"Understanding Economic Mechanism, " where he emphasized "division of
labor" and "exchange" as the basics of the economy, and the importance
of the "firm" to understand the mechanism of production and its
relation with the rest of the economy including employment, labor,
consumption, finance and government.
Next, Mr. Toshita Saegusa (Meguro Chuo Middle School) presented a
teaching material to help understand the relationship between the firm
and the economy as a whole, based on Mr. Shinohara's argument.
Mr. Saegusa suggested that after a two-hour exercise of the "Beef Rice
Bowl Simulation" is conducted and reviewed, a new simulation "How to
Expand Beef Rice Bowl Shop" should be tried to help pupils understand
the mechanism of the firm further and its relations with the economy
and society at large. If time permits, the next step might be to
simulate "New Business Start-up" with the help of outside guests from
the business world. Finally, a simulation exercise regarding the
relationship between the firm and consumer/government would be
desirable, if possible.
A free discussion among the participants on the above presentations
was conducted by moderator, Mr. Issei Kato (Nihon Univ.) for about an
hour. There were various comments and arguments, including the basic
viewpoint such as "efficiency" and "equity" to evaluate the mechanism
of the firm as well as the economy as a whole, in relation with Mr.
Shinohara's presentation, and the limitations and possible
modifications of the simple "Beef Rice Bowl Simulation" such as the
employment factor, in relation with Mr. Saegusa's presentation.
Toward the end, a participant from the business world raised a
fundamental question about the traditional economic approach that was
emphasized at this workshop, and suggested that a brand new approach
should be considered to address the issues of the current financial
crisis and basic value changes in the global economy. As a result, the
discussion was carried over to the networking party after the workshop.
Overall, the main theme might have been a little too much to deal with at a one-day (one-afternoon) workshop, but all the participants could clearly understand the purpose, meanings and remaining problems with this important theme. In this sense, the workshop was a success as a first step toward further activities along this line in the future.
For a Japanese version of this report with photos, see:
http://miyao-blog.blog.so-net.ne.jp/archive/20090314