Wealth and Inequality

The purpose of this course is to teach students the nature of wealth and inequality and the causes of such inequality. Furthermore, the necessity of inequality, and the benefits that such inequality brings to society, will be the two key themes emphasized within this course. This approach completely contradicts most classes taught on this subject, but it is precisely for this reason that this class is so valuable.

This 32-week course consists of four eight-week quarters. Each quarter students will be assigned a weekly recorded lecture, reading appropriate for the week, relevant reading questions, a weekly 1-hour live recitation, one 500-700-word essay, and a quarterly exam. In the course of the year, the students will read all the texts listed below, will have listened to 32 lectures, written four essays and attended at least 90 percent of live recitations to discuss the texts in Socratic fashion.

This class is offered for grades 7-12, but for 7th and 8th-grade students, it is best if the student is gifted or an honors-level student. This course is being offered for a wide range of students because of the unique nature of the course content. As far as grading is concerned, I will take into consideration students' grade levels when tabulating grades.

Course Objectives:

1. To become proficient in the conversational approach to learning: close readings, interpretative questions, and Socratic discussions of the texts.
2. To gain a grasp of the key ideas of wealth and inequality.
3. To develop lateral thinking skills by analyzing and synthesizing themes and motifs.
4. To cultivate an appetite for learning as a way of life (the life of the mind).
5. To be able to think Christianly and write persuasively about perennial human questions.

Texts:

The selected works of the authors listed below will be provided electronically when possible. However, it will be helpful for this program to order the entire 2nd edition of the Great Books of the Western World through Logos Bible Software, though it is NOT A REQUIREMENT to order the Great Books series through Logos as it can be expensive.

• Aristophanes, Wealth
• Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics
• Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations
• Karl Marx, The Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital
• Thorstein Veblen, The Theory of the Leisure Class
• R. H. Tawney, The Acquisitive Society
• John Maynard Keynes, The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money
• Jean-Jacques Rousseau, A Discourse on the Origin of Inequality
• Jean-Jacques Rousseau, A Discourse on Political Economy
• Plato, Republic
• Frederic Bastiat, The Law (Available through http://bastiat.org/en/the_law.html)
• The Holy Bible (KJV)

In this course, the primary texts will be Wealth by Aristophanes, The Law by Frederic Bastiat, and The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, with the other above-mentioned texts playing a supporting role.