Deborah Fitzgerald is the Dean of the School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences. At the beginning of the MIT150 Symposia, she made the following comment on MIT students and economics.
Economics is one of the 10 departments of school of Humanities Arts and Social Sciences. It is the largest department and it has the most faculties, the largest of graduates, and has the largest number of graduate students. It also has the most Nobel Prize winners of all the departments in my school. All 10 department of the school are dictated to the education of MIT students. Each student at MIT under graduate is required to take 8 classes in their fields in Humanities Arts and Social Science which is quite high by pier standards we see a lot of under graduates in our school. From all fields across the board the under MIT graduates tend to gravitate to Economics Department drawn by illustrious faculty as well as by rigor of the classes they encounter. MIT students in my experience tend to scoff at materials that are not very difficult. They find in economics more than adequate challenge to their considerable abilities.
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This may be an outcome of students not understanding the material so they tend to scoff at materials that are not very difficult. Economists is definitely, in my opinion, a challenging subject to try to comprehend.
ReplyDeleteI think the students at MIT are extremely gifted in the first place so a lot of material they will scoff at because of their intelligence. Economy classes teach about how the world has been run and what is new and up to date with the money of the nation. Not only is it a difficult subject, but it is very informative.
ReplyDeleteEconomics is defined as the branch of knowledge concerned with the production, consumption, and transfer of wealth (Wikipedia). Unlike English, Math, and Science courses, students are only introduced to economincs in their later highschool and college years. Its easy to "scoff" at a course or assignment you've become so familiar with, but economics is constantly changing, growing, and evolving. Even MIT students may find themselves scratching their heads.. there's an overwhelming amount of variables! Needless to say, economics is plenty of a challenge to me!
ReplyDeleteEconomics is a course that benefits everyone, regardless of your major. Economics can teach you how to handle your resources and why things cost as much as they do. By understanding economics concepts, you are one step closer to the real world. MIT students of any department I am sure can handle those such classes. It is a challenging subject for anyone to comprehend. Many people underestimate how much of a challenge economics really is.
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