BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – While the current recession is causing financial woes, it is offering an opportunity for economics and business administration professors at Illinois Wesleyan University to connect with students.
“As they say in academia, this is a great teaching moment,” said Chair of the Economics Department Diego Mendez-Carbajo. “It is providing a wealth of real-life examples of what we have been teaching all along.”
Teaching about unemployment and inflation can be difficult in an economically successful country, said Mendez-Carbajo. “When you try to teach to our students that inflation is a problem, but the economy has been going for 10 consecutive years with low levels of inflation, no one believes you,” he said. “It’s ironic, but a recession can be perceived as a blessing for teaching economics because it can put things into perspective.”
The lessons being taught in classes have not changed, but the economic downturn is providing students with a new awareness. “I’ve always talked about the ups and downs of the business cycle,” said Professor of Business Administration Bill Walsh, who teaches courses on management and human resources. “The only difference now is that students aren’t thinking of these cycles in terms of history anymore.”