Word: ec
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...three week section on "alternavties to capitalism" that used to come during reading period, right after the course had developed micro-economic theory and applied it to American capitalism. (It was the critique's final and most specific charge that socialism receives only "confusing attention" now in Ec...
...history of economic theory is Gill's special interest, but he says that "personal predilections" only partly explain how Ricardo and Arkwright found their way into an introductory economics course. The first month of Ec 1 is designed, says Gill, "to convey the relativity of present economic conditions to institutions and ideas of the past, to relate economics to the rest of the social sciences...
Behind the criticisms of Ec 1's historical material and behind last month's critique as well is the conviction that the course would be better if it were more political. "This is the only course most people take in economics," says a section man, "so there ought to be more time on present problems and less on economic tools." Kelman's call for more "controversy" in Economics I was based on a similar idea--the course should be constantly examining both sides of economic questions instead of trying to develop an objective economic theory first...
...critique's vision of an issues-oriented introductory course is not a new idea. In the late '50's and early '60's Harvard had a Gen Ed course called "Economics of the Citizen" which tried this approach. It never became as popular as the more rigorous Ec 1. Eventually it gained the reputation of being a gut of little substance that the self-respecting avoided. Gill argues that talking explicitly about controversy isn't always the best way to equip students to talk about political problems--"you can't just describe economics--you've got to get down...
Gill's 1959 plan changed the structure of Ec 1 as well as the material it covers. In the old days Ec 1 lectures were strictly a star show-each of the Department's great men mounted the podium once and talked for an hour to the crowds below. Though continuity may still be lacking, the lectures under Gill's regime have a function. They come in blocks instead of being scattered sporadically throughout the term and the blocks give the course more structure than it once had by forcing section men to keep pace with upcoming lectures...