"We sometimes get all the information, but we refuse to get the message." (Cullen Hightower)

This quote by Cullen Hightower emphasises the difference between accepting and understanding. It shows the importance of teaching and how human perception can lead us to miss the key issue in many situations.

Often in classes we get many worksheets and have a detailed textbook. We have all the resources and information available for us but many of us refuse to learn and absorb the messages given in the handouts. This could be due to laziness or lack of understanding. Sometimes it is easier just to remember a fact or equation than actually finding out how it was derived. People refuse to try to understand so that they don't confuse themselves.

This actually shows the importance of teaching and helping people learn. Without teaching many would be forced to give up. Even though they have all the information, they refuse to get the message because it is too hard. This quote links to how a build up of knowledge is needed along with encouragement and support.

This quote also emphasises how sometimes our own perception can distort the message or we even force ourselves to ignore the truth. An example is stereotypes and racism. Even though statistics show certain countries to be very innovative and beneficial to society, many often refuse to acknowledge this because of past experiences and stereotypes of the race. These are some of the ideas which can be raised from this quote.

What sorts of 'knowledge' and/or 'truths' does economics convey?

I studied this subject for GCSE and I am currently taking it at standard level. This subject has particularly different sorts of knowledge and truths because a lot of it is based on logic and ideas. Much of the theory is propositional knowledge as taking a practical or experiential approach is impossible since theories such as a free market economy are ideals and do not exist.

Also taking an experiential approach to knowledge and learning could cause drastic effects to the world's economy. For example removing government involvement to test whether the theories of a neo-classical aggregate supply diagram were true would cause many deaths as chaos would results when someone tries to take power. Many companies would withdraw all investments in that country in fear of losing money and so the whole country would be put into a recession.

For this reason it can be argued that economics has no actual 'truths.' All the ideas are based on assumptions of people’s reactions. Often it is said that "if you give ten economists a problem and put them in a room, they will come out with 11 different solutions." Anything can be argued from another point of view as knowledge can be applied in different ways. So there are no actual 'truths' in economics. This is seen to be true in the real world. Though often the theories are correct, there are always situations where unexpected things can happen, like in the stock market.

Laurence