To think that the learning of economics should be compulsory in school for at least two years

[Flashbangandgone]

My formal education consisted of absolutely no economics whatsoever... even though I have studied to post-grad level.

I always recognised there was a gap there, but the EU referendum reinforced that. When trying to grapple with this issues, I realized my understanding was woefully inadequate, even on the basics.

It seems a very many people are in my position... What's worse is that in many cases, many people's knowledge is so lacking that they have no awareness of little they know (and until recently I would count myself in this number). They are as confident of their "facts" as a 3 year-old is of Santa's existence.

Given the importance of economics to our prosperity and wellbeing, surely our education system needs to give us a better grounding in this area. How can we be expected to exercise our democratic rights responsibly without it? It's a bit like asking a four year old to choose his/her school based on a selection of Ofsted reports made available to them!

In my opinion, this ignorance was very likely a major contributing factor to the Brexit....

I did Economic History for the Leaving Cert (Irish version of A levels). It was a fascinating subject and gave you good context for critical thinking around pure economic theory. So for example it would give you pure marx/engels market theory and then explore how it applied and functioned in real terms. I enjoyed it alot.

It did give me a perspective on 'labour' that I think is missing in the ref debate. The EU is still fundamentally an economic construct and it doesn't really view people as people or immigrants or anything really. It only sees them as part of the goods, money, trade calculation. That's why free movement is so wedded to the free market. People are a crucial cog in the machine and not much more.

The youngest voters were most likely to vote remain; the oldest ones voted for leave. So on that basis YABU, it seems the current education system is working just fine.

My parents for instance, degree-educated retired professionals, wouldn't understand economics or critical thinking if it bit them on the arse. They take everything they read in the paper as gospel.

Agree that the micro econ is more complex; still useful though (an understanding would avoid any future 'holiday companies shouldn't be allowed to charge extra in school holidays' threads at least )

YANBU. Basic macroeconomics is not hard and it is essential in seeing through lies in politics and understanding cause/effect for a country's future.

If everyone was taught the basics, political discourse would have to be upgraded overnight.

I agree with Soren - media analysis or similar would go a long way in this country. It was part of the English and history curricula when I was at school in South Africa, and was really valuable.

My eldest is in his second year of Secondary in Scotland and gets 50 minutes a week of "business education" which covers basic economic theory such as demand and supply along with more practical matters like profit and loss, reading balance sheets and Fairtrade.

I did economics to Higher level back in the day and don't remember it being very maths-dependent, yes there were lots of graphs which you had to interpret but not much in the way of calculation.

Geography and history touch on some aspects (push and pull factors in migration in geography. Hyperinflation and interpretation of media -or sources- in history) this could be expanded with an exploration of basic vat interest rates taxes etc in maths and then info about benefits and pensions and tax rates in pse. But there's so many conflicting educational requirements it would be hard to coordinate it.

I think something more akin to Civics would be more beneficial. We had to do a course where I went to school which was not exam-focused, just one hour a week for our knowledge. IIRC it covered how the government works, elections, economics, the media and other useful info. Trusty Wikipedia describes Civics as the " study of the theoretical and practical aspects of citizenship, its rights and duties; the duties of citizens to each other as members of a political body and to the government." - I think a lot of people could do with a Civics lesson at the moment!!