In a capitalist environment, the study of economics is vital to understanding how society functions and necessary for a variety of career paths and academic fields. 

Despite this, the school has recently pared down its economics offerings to two introductory-level courses. Higher-level classes with real-world applications such as “Economics and Inequality” and “Environmental Economics” are not being offered this year. This has caused frustration among students who intended to take those classes. 

Sahil Annamaneni ’24, who wants to major in Economics or Business, planned on taking “Honors Environmental Economics” this year, but was unable to, as it is not being offered. Annamaneni said, “The lack of access to Economics classes, especiallly Honors courses, limits our exposure to this really important subject. Economics offers a better understanding of the world and increases students’ ability to engage in discussions about global issues.” 

Mr. Adam Lang, instructor in economics, provides valuable context. Mr. Lang said, “Without Dr. Aly Blakeney, who taught here while I was on sabbatical, and Mr. Jarrod Sisk, who returned to the Math department, we have fewer people available to teach courses in the discipline this year. It’s just me teaching economics now to over 70 students.” Mr. Lang currently teaches five sections and cannot take on more students while maintaining the quality of his teaching. 

We, as students, are privileged to have an economics program with a dedicated instructor. We should celebrate the current program’s quality and engage with other electives such as Honors National Security, Honors International Relations, Honors History of Anti-Blackness, and Honors Constitution & Supreme Court in US, instead. 

While it’d be great to have additional economics courses, our community must be grateful for the diverse and unique courses that we have. This does not have to be a loss. Instead, it can be an opportunity to explore the plethora of Humanities subjects available to us that we might not have otherwise.