The Farmville herald. (Farmville, Va.) 1957-current, 1963-03-08

dress: "We shall deal with our
economic system as it is and as
it may be modified, not as it
might be if we had a clean
sheet Of paper to write upon.
and step by step we shall make
it what it should be-.
I should teach economics with
in framework of history, and
particularly American history
The experiences reflected in the
ideas Of the Founding Fathers
are meaningful to me. The fact
that America was a republic
would be important to teach.
The fact that democracy is not
an end in itself but is a bastion
Of freedom is significant. The
fact that democracy is the most
expensive and cumbersome form
government man has ever de-
vised and yet is the best that
man has ever devised is basic.
Human nature and the foibles
of man must be interviewer with
economies. for man is greedy.
Man has a lust for power. In
whatever governmental moulds
or in whatever economic frame
work he has his being, these hui
man traits of man are there and
must be weighed. The fact that
we had a division of powers in
our Federal Government was
brought about because this thirst
of man for power was not to be
trusted. I should not list these
to my pupils in drill sergeant
fashion in the fifth grade, but
should weave them in and
weave them in again, and at the
conclusion of my course during
their high school period l should
require them to repeat them to
me on paper as being the over
( riding environment within which
any economic system has to
function and within which man
has the necessity of making a
choice.
If I were teaching economics
in the primary grades, I should
start with very simple concepts.
One would be that the better
tools people have, the better Job
they can do. l should illustrate
the difference in tools by using
a piece of paper as an eraser
on the blackboard and then by
using a good eraser | should
point out as l observe my boys
trading candy bars how that act
was illustrative of long. long ago
when the cobbler traded his ex-
ira pair Of shoes to the miller
for barrel Of flour. I should be
inclined to take them to a bak-
cry and show them that when
mother bought a loaf of bread
she was hiring all the people in
the bakery and the farmer who
grew the wheat They can early
learn basic economic truth
that the customer is king; the
customer is the real employer.
If the bread is not too good.
then the people who work in the
bakery do not have Jobs.
In the first two grades I have
presumed that the child has es-
tablished himself and increas-
ingly found his place in the
home and in the school. In the
third and fourth grades the
child can develop aWareness
that the community in which he
lives is dependent upon the pum-
chase of the products of his
town by the people of other
communities. Richmond sup
ports Detroit by buying automo-
blles; Detroit ports Rich
mond by buying cigarettes. He
then has learned the basic truth
of profound modern economic
evolution, namely. the Common
Market Of Europe. l would at
this point introduce the concept
OF how all members of a COM
munlty are dependent on one an
other. At this stage it seems
wise to point out how thrift en-
ables one to invest in tools and
put those tools to use. Practic-
ing thrift enables the family to
have better tools. Money is
earned by providing something
people want. All children can
understand what wants are.
AS we move into the fifth,
sixth, and seventh grades, where
assume American history and
Virginia history are going to be
taught, the child has begun to
hear at home and to understand