burblings

[reproduced below: you can find it in full at it's original source, the Harvard Political Review]

The following letter was sent to Greg Mankiw by the organizers of today’s Economics 10 walkout.

Wednesday November 2, 2011

Dear Professor Mankiw—

Today, we are walking out of your class, Economics 10, in order to express our discontent with the bias inherent in this introductory economics course. We are deeply concerned about the way that this bias affects students, the University, and our greater society.

As Harvard undergraduates, we enrolled in Economics 10 hoping to gain a broad and introductory foundation of economic theory that would assist us in our various intellectual pursuits and diverse disciplines, which range from Economics, to Government, to Environmental Sciences and Public Policy, and beyond. Instead, we found a course that espouses a specific—and limited—view of economics that we believe perpetuates problematic and inefficient systems of economic inequality in our society today.

A legitimate academic study of economics must include a critical discussion of both the benefits and flaws of different economic simplifying models. As your class does not include primary sources and rarely features articles from academic journals, we have very little access to alternative approaches to economics. There is no justification for presenting Adam Smith’s economic theories as more fundamental or basic than, for example, Keynesian theory.

Care in presenting an unbiased perspective on economics is particularly important for an introductory course of 700 students that nominally provides a sound foundation for further study in economics. Many Harvard students do not have the ability to opt out of Economics 10. This class is required for Economics and Environmental Science and Public Policy concentrators, while Social Studies concentrators must take an introductory economics course—and the only other eligible class, Professor Steven Margolin’s class Critical Perspectives on Economics, is only offered every other year (and not this year).  Many other students simply desire an analytic understanding of economics as part of a quality liberal arts education. Furthermore, Economics 10 makes it difficult for subsequent economics courses to teach effectively as it offers only one heavily skewed perspective rather than a solid grounding on which other courses can expand. Students should not be expected to avoid this class—or the whole discipline of economics—as a method of expressing discontent.

Harvard graduates play major roles in the financial institutions and in shaping public policy around the world. If Harvard fails to equip its students with a broad and critical understanding of economics, their actions are likely to harm the global financial system. The last five years of economic turmoil have been proof enough of this.

We are walking out today to join a Boston-wide march protesting the corporatization of higher education as part of the global Occupy movement. Since the biased nature of Economics 10 contributes to and symbolizes the increasing economic inequality in America, we are walking out of your class today both to protest your inadequate discussion of basic economic theory and to lend our support to a movement that is changing American discourse on economic injustice. Professor Mankiw, we ask that you take our concerns and our walk-out seriously.

Sincerely,

best. tickbox. ever.

and it's not a joke.  oh no :)

“Far out!” say friends and loved ones.

  aimee ‘oh dear, her again’ whitcroft and Dane ‘finn’ Foster are, it would appear, going to be undertaking the legendarily ludicrous Mongol Rally next year.

Naming themselves ‘Lemur Attack Force’, they will be powering (slowly) across 16,000km – 1/3 of the earth’s surface - in a car one would be worried about driving very far outside of Wellington From London in the west to Ulan Bator (capital of Mongolia) in the east, the pair are hoping that their luck will hold out and they will return, triumphant, filthy and no doubt very much sick of the sight of each other, somewhere around this time next year.

The Rally – it’s to be noted that it’s not a race – had its inaugural race in 2004 and begins in July of each year, with some teams covering the distance in 3 weeks, and others in over 3 months.  The time it takes having, of course, as much to do with luck as it does to do with camels, border guards, boulders the size of small cars and, no doubt, variously large amounts of dust.

It’s not all fun and games, however:  the event is primarily a fund-raising initiative. Each team has to pledge a minimum of £1000, of which half goes to educational initiatives in Mongolia, and the other half to a charity picked by the team raising the dosh. 

Look out for LAF all over New Zealand as they and their appropriately stripey hair** tackle the trauma of long drives in small cars with no means of escape from each other.  Breakdowns, while optional, are highly likely, so please be willing to help with a thump/kick on the appropriate bit of the car.

Of course, the two are looking for sponsorship*** – feel free to contact them, personal or corporate alike, to find out how you can help to raise money for charity (and perhaps contribute to their success).

*The city in which Lemur Attack Force has its lair/nest.

** Provided by the excellent folks at Wildilocks (Cuba St) - get in touch for awesome hairstyles!