Teaching the Federal Budget, National Debt, and Budget Deficit: Findings from High School Teachers

Abstract

The issues surrounding the federal budget, national debt, and budget deficit are complex, but not beyond the reach of young students. This study finds scant treatment of the federal budget, national debt, and budget deficit in high schools today. It is hardly surprising that high school teachers spend so little time discussing these topics in their classrooms, another finding of this study. As bleak as we found the current state of education about these topics, we also found significant opportunities to teach them in high school classrooms. Specifically, we discuss four recommendations for teachers to infuse the federal budget, national debt, and budget deficit into high school social studies courses.

Keywords:

• teachers
• economics
• debt
• deficit
• budget
• public policy

Notes

This work was generous supported by a grant from the Peter G. Peterson Foundation to Anand R. Marri. The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not represent the views of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation.