Imagine, you have finally made it. You graduated from Harvard University and you are on your way to becoming a successful lawyer. You have prepared all your life for this defining moment where you prove everyone in your family wrong.

But guess what? Coronavirus hits America hard and you do not know what to do. Your credit plummets, your debt rises, and you are spending all of your paychecks from your nine to five job on movie rentals and partying with friends from college. Within the week you are back to living and playing videogames in your parent’s basement and your aspirations of becoming a District Attorney have vanished.

Why does this happen? Is the individual to blame because they did not know enough about the world of economics? Or is the school and state to blame for not giving an economics course enough attention?

In today’s world mathematics, sciences, English, and writing have all been the main focuses of schools and education. Due to this oversight, many college graduates are having currency crises because economics was never a key focus in their youth during high school and college.

Professor of Business and Economics Mike Moffat explains in his article at ThoughtCo.com, “First of all, economics isn’t a single topic, but rather many topics. It’s an approach that lends itself to many different fields, from microeconomics to industrial organization, government, econometrics, game theory, and dozens of other fields.”

In other words, economics contributes to our society. Several areas where economics influences our society include real estate and sales, advertising, and marketing — even politics.

“With an economics degree, you can work in a variety of different fields from finance and banking to public policy, sales and marketing, civil service (government departments, the Federal Reserve, etc.), insurance and actuarial work,” adds Moffat.

The world today is one of the sales and numbers of economics.  It is the foundation for our currency, house mortgage, the gas bill, our own business, restaurants, politics, and real estate. Those are just a few of the infinite ways economics is present in our lives.

“I do think that every student in America should take an economy class.  It is so important for a young person to understand how to earn, save, and spend money.  Many young people get into financial trouble because they do not understand basic Econ principles.  They also make bad decisions based on ignorance of these concepts,” Air Academy High School geography teacher Lee Routsong explains.

Routsong’s point is that often students will ignore the fact our society lives off of economics and therefore their lives are harder to control and live when one doesn’t know how to manage their own money. Routsong refers to this as “ignorance.”

Aside from ignorance and financial crisis, Routsong continues, “A basic Econ class will better prepare a student to manage their own money when they are living on their own.  It will also help them understand how they fit into our complex economy.  This knowledge will help them become financially independent from their parents.”

Economics is also considered a very dry and difficult course to grasp due to its variety of terms and numbers.

“Econ is a very complex field of study.  Macroeconomics with all the difficult models and equations is not essential for their future success unless they are going into international business. Microeconomics and personal finance will help them manage their own money and make good economic choices,” said Routsong.

Moffat goes on to elaborate on the few topics one would learn in a course like economics.

“When pursuing a degree in economics, you’ll learn a lot of skills and knowledge that you can apply to other jobs or to your personal life. Learning about interest rates, exchange rates, economic indicators, and equity markets can help you make better decisions about investing and obtaining mortgages,” said Moffat.

“This can help you make better decisions about your personal life and make you more valuable to (a) business,” Moffat ends.

When asked about the most important concept of economics, an expert in finance and advertising, Daryl Hiro, responds, “Microeconomics and basic knowledge of how to run a small business.”

Hiro also explains that students will be better prepared for the world having studied economics in high school most significantly because “students coming out of school are familiar with both macro and micro-economics for a start.”

In a world of advertising, marketing, trade, and sales along with real estate and politics, would it be a grave mistake to ignore the wisdom that economics can provide? Aside from the unfortunate consequences of ignoring such a subject, how are students entering the real world after college supposed to understand the way the economy and country work if they have no idea what it is made of? Should the schools continue to ignore this topic or are we stable where we are now?

Routsong leaves us with this: “Econ is not a glamorous class.  Many people do not value it as much as math or science or English. I think it is essential for a person’s success as an independent adult and as a successful American citizen participating in our economy.”