Economics for Canadians

As we move into 2017 I would like to wish everyone a healthy and prosperous new year. Thank you for using the book and please pass on word of it to other economics teachers when you have a chance. While it is coming up on 5 years old, it remains, sadly, quite current as we remain mired in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis.

Besides teaching and publishing economics textbooks, I am also a regular columnist with the Pembroke Daily Observer and the Mises.ca website. If you would like to read my columns, please go here.

I am sorry I have not published an update in so many months, but since the revised curriculum was released last summer the only news has been additional school orders.

As well, I was pleased to learn of a curriculum review now taking place in British Columbia which seems likely to result in a ‘big question’ approach to the subject which, I think, would be interesting for students. Anything that may encourage more students to take up economics is a positive development.

One new development is that the books (both the student book and teachers’ guide) are now available on Amazon.ca, albeit at a slightly higher price. If your school or board’s purchasing policies make it easier to order from Amazon than to order books directly, I invite you to do so.

Thank you for your continued support and all the best for a great year ahead.

I am pleased that so many teachers requested inspection sets of the book in response to the postcards sent in August. I am even more pleased that a few school boards are piloting use of the book for board-wide adoption and that the Ministry of Education in PEI has made additional orders this year that are much larger than in previous years.

If you still have not seen a copy of the book, a list of the inspection copies distributed throughout Ontario is available here:

http://croecko.com/blog/2015-update/

If a school in your board is listed as having received an inspection copy, you should be able to have them share the book with you.

On the same page, please also find the document listing the new CIA4U curriculum’s learning objectives against the lessons found in the book and a list of the schools which have already ordered class sets for student use.

I was happy to learn of the release of the updated senior Canada and World Studies curriculum a couple of weeks ago and am very happy to announce that the book covers everything in the updated CIA4U course.

Below please find a document listing the expectations for the course against the lessons in the book which satisfy them.

2015 CIA4U Curriculum Objectives and Corresponding Lessons in Economics for Canadians

All the best for the remainder of your summer holidays.

I came across a news item a couple of weeks ago about a lawsuit that is working its way up the court system that really piqued my interest. The Committee for Economic and Monetary Reform is suing the Government and Bank of Canada over the Bank’s abandonment of its traditional role (as still spelled out in its charter) to provide low-interest loans to Canadian governments for infrastructure and human resource development.

I recommend you have a look at the following article to learn more:

Liberate the Bank of Canada

I also commented on this lawsuit in my own article, published this past Saturday in the Pembroke Daily Observer, which you can see here:

http://www.thedailyobserver.ca/2015/04/27/usury-once-in-control-will-wreck-any-nation

Wow – I hadn’t realized it had been so long since I had last posted an update! I am still waiting for the updated Ontario CIA4U curriculum to be released to see if Economics for Canadians will continue to be a good fit for the course. When I do see the curriculum, I will let you know whether the book covers the required 85% of curricular objectives or whether it will need updating, which could take the form of an additional booklet that would ship with the books or perhaps an entirely new edition. At this point, it is all conjecture.

In other news, I am pleased that additional schools continue to adopt the book for their students. I am also pleased that many teachers who currently have single copies of the student book and teachers’ guide are looking forward to adopting the book once they learn more about the new course. I was touched to receive the following email from a teacher in Burlington:

Hello, I LOVE your book for CIA4U.  You explain concepts so thoroughly.  And further more, your chapters are appealing and written in a language that students can comprehend!  I am looking forward to the changing of the curriculum so that we can order your text.

For the most recent list of schools using the book, please click on the appropriate link above.

Lastly, I would like to share my most recent articles (written for publication in the Pembroke Daily Observer) from this past December and February. Hold the Frankincense and Myrrh was picked up by the Mises Canada website while Time For Some Mattress Padding was picked up by both Mises Canada and Zerohedge.

All the best as we move into spring and towards the summer holidays.

I came across this creative re-imagining of the graphic found inside the front cover of Economics for Canadians today and felt compelled to share it. The artist is WilliamBanzai7.

I am still waiting for the new senior Canada and World Studies curriculum to be released. As soon as it is made public I will line up the new curricular objectives with the lessons in the book. I remain confident that Economics for Canadians will continue to be suitable for the CIA4U course.

As well, over the holidays I will be adding resources to the website as I have created a number of new ones recently. I will also create solution keys for some of the tests and post them on the Canadian Teachers of Economics resource sharing site hosted on Schoology.com (for more details about this site, please refer to the post from this past May).

All the best for a great end of term and happy holidays.

I just finished reading the following article describing the tenure of William McChesney Martin, Jr. (who famously said that the job of central bankers was to take the punch bowl away just as the party got going) as Chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve Board from 1951 until 1970. It is an interesting read and points to how our current economic mess is directly related to the tendency of central banks to, over time, be captured by political and financial interests.

The power to control a nation’s money needs to be exercised by highly competent and incorruptible public officials. Sadly, that probably hasn’t been the case for at least 27 years (since Paul Volcker resigned).

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-09-21/fed-then-and-now-%E2%80%93-remembering-william-mcchesney-martin-jr

I have been eagerly anticipating the release of the updated grade 11/12 Canada and World Studies curriculum so as to check the new CIA 4U course against Economics for Canadians.

While the initial release date for the curriculum was a couple of years ago, I have been informed by the ministry that the curriculum is almost ready and will be released sometime over the next few months.

So, please check back on the website when you receive the new curriculum as I will be posting a document while will map the objectives of the course against the lessons in the book. I am fairly certain that the book will continue to be a good match as, according to my sources, the main thrust of the new course will be to strengthen the ability of students to apply what they are learning in class to ‘real-world’ events.

Putting such speculation aside, if you are planning on ordering copies for the 2014-15 school year, I would ask you to send in your requests by the end of next week as I am off to work in the Middle East after the middle of August. While I have contracted with a distributor to ship orders on my behalf in my absence, I would prefer to fill orders myself if possible. The ordering procedure, though, will remain unchanged- simply send an email to bryce@croecko.com stating the number of copies you would like, the address to which you would like them sent and your preferred method of payment.

Thank you and best wishes for an enjoyable month of August.

Last week it was my pleasure to present at the Ontario Business Educators Association spring conference. During the presentation we discussed how it is usual for economics teachers to be the only teacher of the subject at their schools.