Just when you thought social justice warriors on campus couldn’t get any more strange and obnoxious, students at a well-known Massachusetts university are now about to transform the economics curriculum to involve unrelated subjects.
When you take Economics 101 in college, you learn about supply and demand, profit margins, the business cycle, scarcity of resources and other related topics. But queerness, feminism, and the evils of profit? That’s what could happen at Tufts University if outraged, petulant children get their way.
Writing in an op-ed in Tufts Observer, tetchy students bemoaned the “capitalist ideologies” being taught in the school’s Economics Department. They argued that economics professors are indoctrinating pupils into accepting capitalism – you know, an economic system that has lifted billions of people out of poverty over the last century – and they will not accept this any longer.
Ugh. You know you have made a total fool of yourself when mainstream economics and Keynesian economist Paul Krugman appear to be a lot saner than the average college student these days.
Moving Beyond Capitalism? No Thanks!
Tufts University students Gabriela Bonfiglio and Kyle Lui published an op-ed entitled “Moving Beyond Capitalism” late last month. The entire premise of the opinion piece was to object to the lessons being presented to students who wish to understand rudimentary economics. But they believe that there is a nefarious plot to comprehending marginal utility, opportunity cost, and elasticity: brainwashing.
Ostensibly, economics professors were too focused on profit and not enough on social justice.
The authors quoted student Alex Kowalick Allen, who grumbled that her introductory economics class emphasized “profit, profit, profit,” adding that the students “got so disconnected from the social side of it—that our economic system is supposed to benefit society.” Alex, along with other students (three?), were distressed that the Economics Department was “simultaneously created and reinforced by a lack of ideological diversity.” How ironic in the leftist movement these days.
There was also a benign incident that they deemed was sexist.
Let’s have the modern-day Edward R. Morrows highlight the remarks for us:
“She recalled her introductory economics professor’s lecture on luxury goods as one event contributing to this mindset; the professor said something along the lines of ‘any self-respecting woman has a nice handbag,’ and proceeded to ask the women in the class for ballpark handbag prices, and the men in the class for the price of the newest Lamborghini. Kowalick-Allen recalls looking around the classroom to see if anyone else was shocked, and instead overhearing a group of guys laughing about ‘b----es and their handbags.’ This incident illustrates how sexism on the part of the professor can reinforce more blatant offenses among students.”
One of the most ridiculous parts of the op-ed was the claim that free-market capitalism is racist because it “created industries that directly [profit] off and [benefit] from the tearing apart of livelihoods and families of color through its legacy of racism.”
Bonfiglio and Lui were not yet finished. They were further displeased with the lecture style and the building where the Economics Department is stationed – Baker Hall.
Moving forward, students want the economics professors to concentrate less on profit and free markets and apply more of their resources on feminism, queerness and gay marriage.
Unfortunately, according to Campus Reform, the Global Development and Environment Institute at Tufts is beginning to surrender, devising a lesson plan that emphasizes “socially and environmentally just and sustainable development.”
Oy vey!
A Lesson for Economics Students
Let’s dissect a couple of their grievances, shall we?
First, they present the idea that profit does not serve society. If they were taught basic economics, then they would realize that profit is the greatest method of serving society. Why? Two things: profit allows a business to find out if it is satisfying the consuming public and profit helps a business determine if it is using scarce resources in a value-productive way, not wasting the elements they’re producing.
If a company is not profitable, then it needs to take another look at its business model – why isn’t the public purchasing our goods and services? Moreover, if an enterprise is not turning a profit, the entrepreneurs will need to modify its output.
Second, free market capitalism is the least racist system known to man.
Whether you’re a buyer or a seller in the free market, you’re indifferent to skin color – so is money. You, the customer, want the best product for the lowest cost. You, the merchant, want as many customers as possible. Indeed, both parties couldn’t care less if you’re black or white.
Should race play a factor for the shopper or business owner, then they will pay a racist premium. For instance, if consumers refuse to dine at a restaurant because there is a black server, who is competent, efficient and friendly, and the owners capitulate and hire a white server, who is incompetent, inefficient and uncouth, then both sides will inevitably suffer. The patrons will have lousy service and the owner will suffer a decline in revenues because customers will no longer frequent the diner – a rival restaurant will poach that black server and post an uptick in the bottom line.
Third, it’s because of free market capitalism that they can spend their days whining about social justice, queerness, and feminism. If we didn’t have such a rich society, stemming from capitalism, then they wouldn’t be contemplating inane ideas like gender as a social construct. They would instead toil in the fields ten hours a day, searching for food, or spending their free time scrubbing laundry on washboards.
The level of craziness on college campuses today is truly remarkable. Who knows what will become of universities and colleges moving forward? Not only are these adult students (they are adults, aren’t they?) demanding safe spaces and trigger warnings, they are now attempting to dictate what is and what is not taught.
What’s next? Teaching Tupac over Johann Sebastian Bach in classical music studies because of race?
If the university does not concede, the student body behaves like the cartoon character Caillou, throwing temper tantrums if they don’t get their way and becoming extremely unlikable.
To slightly adjust Lawrence O’Donnell’s recent tirade: stop the madness!
Do you think economics classes should teach feminism? Let us know in the comments section!
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