Drinking with El Doctor again...

I was drinking with El Doctor again watching the game. After the game I told him about the guy at the dog park and his statement of "that aint right!"
El Doctor got angry and gave me the following speech. "It is not a questions of wrong or right. It is not a question of how things should be.. It is a question how things are..."
That was followed with how he dislikes Republicans who moralize economics in their speeches while ignoring most basic economic rules. He pointed out these people usually talk about frugality and paying for what one uses. Yet at they don't see the immorality of borrowing and passing the bill to the next generation. He pointed out that most of these Republican Economist don't understand Scarcity. I am a moderate republican and an economist, and I have to say he is right. Actually I have written about this on September 2.

"It aint right that comparative something or another"

I have been talking with some older people down at the dog park. I made the mistake of letting them know that I teach economics, and got dragged into is outsourcing good or bad, and is trade good or bad? I explained the concept of comparative advantage and they understood specialization. They accepted the economics of trade and how it makes us better off. One gentleman actually said "that is true! We are much better off then back in the 1970(the year he got married). You know we had more room but... “
Another gentleman jumped in with "that is because of the Arabs and the inflation."
But then one of them said: "what he says makes sense and I've seen it like you (the guy talking about 70s) but there is something wrong with loosing your livelihood." and with a look of disgust "it aint right to be told what you did is done more Comparatively something or another somewhere else."
I was surprised to hear this in Orange County from a guy who has a Bush sticker and other Republican memorabilia on his car.

Got an atta-boy for my syllabus

I got an atta-boy today for my syllabus today. I had never thought of it as anything special but it seems that my syllabi have an impact. The praise I received has to do with the visuals in my syllabus. I use Microsoft Puplisher to create my syllabi. This is the program used to make brochures and pamphlets. I know there is an Apple version of this program called iWork .
I include lots of pictures in my syllabi to capture the students' attention.
But the real reason I am writing this post is that someone noticed my brilliance before I did! Being recognized felt good and now I have a smile on my face.

Fed Blog

Interesting post on this site regarding money and the idea of money.

Visual, Auditory, Kinesthetic

Sunday afternoon at Barnes and Nobel looking at various titles, reading a bit here, reading a bit there, hoping to find an interesting book. Nothing new in the economics, business, marketing, how to make a million section, so I started going down isles at random. I looked at some travel books, but decided against it, and moved on to the psychology/ Self help section. I picked up a book titled: "how to make people like you in 90 seconds or less".
The authors thesis was that people decide if they like you and thereby listen to you or hate you and not listen to you in the first 90 seconds of your meeting.
I thought to myself I could use some of this in class, so I read more. He had the standard copy the body language of whoever you want to communicate with and other standard self help stuff.
He covered the idea of different people thinking differently because they communicate using different senses. He broke them down into 3 groups Visual, Auditory, and Kinesthetic. The author advised the reader to create a message tailored to the target. I was familiar with this concept, but he had a way of figuring out anyone in a few second, which I like to test.
The following is his method of classifying people into one of the three groups:

1. Visual people Speak fast are sharp dressers. Visuals are very meticulous and impatient with long explanations that Kinesthetic people tend to provide.
2. Kinesthetic people speak slow. They try to explain feelings which they fail at and tend to drive visual people nuts. They dress for comfort in loose fitting clothing. Most Kinesthetic men have facial hair.
3. Auditory people speak in a moderate speed and change the tone and speed of their voice to fit the situation. They try to make a statement in the way they dress but they don't always succeed.

He also had a long written test, I came out somewhere between Visual and Kinesthetic. I have not an ounce of Auditory in me! I fit the profile I like to dress up and look good but deep down I am a slob when it comes to dressing. When talking about something that requires logic I am ultra visual and draw maps in my mind, but when it comes to any kind of relationships I rely more on my feelings and intuition.

Malthus, Gluts and Keynes

Reading the article in Wikipidia, I ran across the following:

"Here, he developed a theory of demand supply mismatches which he called gluts. Considered ridiculous at the time, his theory was later confirmed by the Great Depression and works of John Maynard Keynes."

I am rusty on my economic history. I have to check this out!

Keeping It Real

Previously I had thought about the fact that each class needs a theme that one comes back to over and over again.
For Micro the "theme" is cost benefit analysis and welfare maximization. It all comes down to Marginal cost Marginal benefit.
For Macro I was not sure what could be a theme.
As I was teaching the Social Security debate and clarifying the difference between financial problems and the real demographic problems, it hit me!
The idea (theme) that I was looking for is: "Keep it Real"
Both economist and students tend to forget the ultimate scarcity. We use technical vocabulary to describe it: Long Run Aggregate Supply and the Production Possibility Frontier.
believe when we talk about Real output we should stress the reality of the Real. We should stress that Nominal numbers are just that Nominal. We should talk actual standards of living (real) in a way that fits their (students) experiences.
If and when the discussion turns to distribution of income it should be connected to Real per capita output and distribution of real output!
I think this will answer the question most asked by the average student: "Who Gives a Da..?"

Anger

Today I became very angry and had to physicaly bite my tongue. A student in my 10:30 class received a call on his cell phone and he answered it. I looked at him shocked but he just raised his voice. I gave him an awful stare and bit my tongue so I would not use the m...f... word and much worst on him. He calmly stood up and anounced to the class that he has to get to work.
I finished my lecture and got ready for my class at noon. The Dean came to evaluate my noon class and I was still shook up. I think I did allright but I know I was not spectacular (there is too many I in that sentence).
I believe there is something wrong with this student, he is the same student I wrote about on September 16 . He lacks impulse control. I have not seen anything like him since I left my job as a special education teacher in LAUSD.
I have to break out my special education teacher training and explain this young man that his behavior will not be tolerated in my class.

OJ simpson and Teaching

Watching PBS again! O.J. The Verdict on Frontline topic got me thinking. The main thesis of the show was that African Americans viewed the trial differently from how the white population viewed the trial.
Most African Americans believed that O.J. was framed by the police and thereby had reasonable doubt.
White viewers, not having experienced police brutality saw him as guilty.
This made me think about how an economic lecture is viewed by people with different backgrounds. How can this be used to create a classroom discussion? Or is this an obstacle to learning? Do white students see things differently then let say a Hispanic student? Does a well to do student have more difficulty with Scarcity than a less fortunate student?

It is not the Economics but the Vocabulary

Today I gave one of my midterms. The midterm contained Multiple choice questions, Short answers and Graphing problems. My multiple choice questions come from the text book publishers. The students tend to read the textbook if they know the questions are written by the author. Also I find it difficult to create the wrong answers for multiple choice questions. Before using any question I go through and edit them for accuracy. I create my own short answer and graphing questions based on what was covered in class.
I had known that some students have difficulty with the English language, but I did not know the extent. Today a few students asked me the meaning of the following words:

zeal

unexpected

(they knew expected, it was the Un that confused them!)

ambiguous

repeal

and the one that really hurt my feelings:

Dismal

Note: My English grammar is not that great either.

Scary October 5, 2005 Talk of the nation

I am scared by the "so called" conservatives in Washington. These ideological yahoos do not think about the consequences of their actions. These guys are not conservative but radicals. I have posted my opinion on this topic back on June 2 posting !
Here is a link to the NPR show Talk of Nation where they discussed the following topic:

Republicans in Congress are calling for an Academic Bill of Rights that would
require dissenting viewpoints be heard in college classrooms. They say it
would correct a long-standing lean to the left on American college
campuses.

Quotes

The following are Galbraith Quotes.
I should look into how I can incorporate famous quotes into my lectures.
"The enemy of the conventional wisdom is not ideas but the march of events."
"In any great organization it is far, far safer to be wrong with the majority than to be right alone."
"Meetings are indispensable when you don't want to do anything."