economics 101

Sitting in my living room with my good friend Laura Koch – a sophomore economics major here at K – the Denver Nuggets NBA playoffs game against the Los Angeles Lakers was on the muted television screen. Glancing at the score every now and again, I asked her to help me understand the causes of the current economic situation that everyone has been frenzied about since my return to the U.S. this past March. “I dunno. Umm… I feel really dumb that I’m an econ major and can’t give you an exact answer, but…. All I’ve really gathered from my econ classes is…. Well… I guess just the inherent properties of capitalism played a big part in our country’s economic downfall, and in a few blips on TV I’ve heard something about the auto industry going bankrupt or doing really bad, I really don’t even know though… sorry I can’t explain it better, I’m just not sure.” Concerned, I persist in pestering her for an explanation. She pauses to reconsider. “I’m sorry. I really only investigate or read up on topics I have to understand for assignments. With homework, extra-curriculars and my job, I’m just not motivated to research that kind of stuff.” She sighs. “It’s unfortunate… because I’m sure it affects me somehow… I guess.”

When adolescents leave home to go to college, one of two things can happen; First, new college freshman can become so detached from “the real world” without their parents around to cue them in on current events, that when asked their opinions on the issues that adorn the front pages of newspapers and are thoroughly discussed on every channel of the five-o-clock news, their minds draw blanks. Luckily, this transition away from home can also serve as an opportunity for young adults to formulate their own civic engagement behaviors that could become part of a routine for the rest of their lives.

Each year, the students in Kiran Cunningham’s research methods class – a foundation course required for Anthropology/Sociology (Ansoc) and Human Development & Social Relations (HDSR) majors – choose a topic relevant to the Kalamazoo College campus community, and devise a set of questions which are then used by the students during interviews with one hundred K College students selected at random in order to learn how to collect and analyze data. This year, the class was curious as to how in tune a particularly affluent college community would be, assuming that the majority of students wouldn’t be inclined to read up on the situation during their own time unless they were studying economics and were required to understand the unfortunate phenomenon. The results were surprising to say the least. Some questions were raised about how effective the liberal arts “K-plan” has been in preparing students for life after college.

Across the board, there was a clear difference between men and women and the nature of their responses to the interview questions as well as the sources from which they learned about the causes of the economic crisis. When asked what they perceived to be the causes of the economic crisis, 35 out of the 50 males interviewed, gave a confident response with answers ranging from Owen Willis’s explanation, “the housing market collapsed, the extent to which the banks and accreditors are tied together through duties of securitized loans, and overall a general lack of understanding and responsibility at all levels,” to Alex Grabko’s response “George Bush f’ed up.” 12 males gave a wavering response, chocked full of “umm…’s, I’m not really sure but I think……..’s, and well I think I heard someone say that…” while only five openly admitted to having no idea what the causes of the economic crisis were.

In comparison with the level of confidence in the responses of the 50 females interviewed, only 15 showed signs of certainty in their answer, while a whopping 27 doubted their understanding of the situation, even if what they perceived to be the causes was indeed, an educated or “correct” answer, and the final 12 women had no idea. Of the 12 women who had no answer, 7 of them referred to themselves “stupid” or “dumb,” and one even called herself “worthless” for not having an answer.

Furthermore, when the interviews came to the questions “How important do you consider K College’s involvement with the larger Kalamazoo community?” And, “Are you involved?” the difference in responses between the genders again was shocking. 36 females reported that they are actively involved in the community through programs like Woodward PALS, habitat for humanity, and building blocks, while only 18 males in the sample value reaching out to the community and “popping the K bubble.” For those in the sample survey who aren’t involved in the community and don’t consider it a priority, some explanations include “I don’t know, personally I just keep to myself and am too focused on my academics and athletics” says a sophomore history major who wishes to remain anonymous, or junior economics major Matt Remsen provided this blunt response, “honestly, I don’t care enough. Pursuing my goals is much more important than helping others.”

In the research method’s class, Junior Andrew Grayson suggested that the significant difference in nature of the collective responses from each gender could be in relation to the fact that the economics majors are majority male, and that majors in humanities are majority females, but after sifting through the interviews once more, I discovered there were only 12 economics majors interviewed, eight of them being male, and only 7 HDSR/Ansoc majors were interviewed, five of them female.

When asked about the discrepancy in the male to female ratios of both the Economics and Ansoc/HDSR majors, professor Cunningham confirmed that for the past ten years, both Ansoc and HDSR majors have only been 10% male. “It’s been changing though, each year the number of males in the departments has increased.” And she’s absolutely right. This year, out of 18 HDSR majors, there are 2 males. That’s 11.1%. While information revealing an exact percentage of males and females in the Economics department was not easily accessible, each of the 12 economics majors interviewed confirmed that there was a noticeable male majority in every economics class they’d taken thus far.

Now, there’s nothing wrong with this obvious imbalance between genders and choice in majors. Every student at Kalamazoo College has the freedom to select whichever major they choose, but what’s wrong with this picture? With the way things are in our economy and society in general, shouldn’t all educated college students, regardless of gender, be concerned and informed about what’s going on outside of K college? At times K can feel more like a nine-month-long rigorous summer camp for learning, paid for by mommy & daddy, and complete with cabin monitors on every floor of every dorm. This is a big problem since evidently the current state of the world outside our tiny campus isn’t as high of a priority in the curriculum as we would like to believe.