The Treatment of Economic Issues in High School Government, Sociology, U.S. History and World History Texts

Abstract

Most people who receive any formal instruction in economics at all will receive it at the precollege level. Since the majority of high schools do not have separate courses in economics, students will be exposed to the subject in such courses as history and government. The treatment of economic facts and concepts in the textbooks used in these courses thus becomes a matter of concern to economic educators. In 1973 the Joint Council published a four-volume report entitled Economics in Social Studies Textbooks. This report, based upon studies by several committees made up of economists and educators, concluded that most texts were deficient in their treatment of economics. Robert Main's article describes a more recent examination of textbooks and also concludes that there are errors of fact and of interpretation in high school textbooks.