The economics of education - also referred to as
educational economics - is an interdisciplinary field which crosses educational studies and economics. Economists study:
"how individuals, organizations, and societies employ time, money, and effort. In the case of education, economists are interested in how society organizes and uses scarce resources to produce various types of knowledge and skills through formal schooling, and how these types of knowledge and skills are distributed to various groups in society. This broad definition means that many social and political issues and topics can fall under the purview of economics." (Brewer et al, 2010, p. 193)
The use of the phrase "scarce resources" in the above definition is purposeful as education is generally speaking a resource intensive pursuit which requires considerable investments in person power (e.g., students, teachers, and administrators), capital (e.g., school buildings, curriculum supplies, and textbooks), planning, and student assessment, among other requirements.
As a university student, you have a personal insight into the costs of education, both in terms of money (i.e., tuition fees) and time (i.e., the multiple years you are devoting to earning a university degree).
Formal education - including both K-12 and higher education - also rely on considerable public funding. (The public financing of elementary and secondary education was briefly overviewed in
Week 4 of the course.) Therefore, both governments (in investing in public education on behalf of its citizenry) and individuals (in investing in education in support of one's personal goals) are understandably concerned with how best to manage formal education in order to maximize its economic benefits.
As a university student, you exercised this judgement in choosing which university program(s) to apply to and which university to attend. Perhaps you made your choice to pursue teaching on the basis of a passion for teaching kindergarten or high school physics. Maybe you considered the future employment prospects for new teachers in Ontario, recognizing that many older teachers are likely to retire in the coming years. Perhaps you chose the university you are attending based on a recommendation from a friend or for financial reasons (e.g., to avoid the expenses associated with moving away from home). Or perhaps you have a passion for your subject area and teaching is a 'back up' profession (in case you don't secure direct employment in your discipline). All are valid goal-driven reasons for making economic investment choices in your education.
Generally speaking, economics presumes that governments, individuals, and other education-related stakeholders (including school boards and universities), make decisions based on
rationality that are purpose-driven, systematically thought out, and goal-oriented. From an economic point of view, the overriding goal is to maximize the benefits derived from economic investments in education - in other words, to get the most 'bang' for the 'buck'.
An example of this rational decision-making process can be found on the
"20th Century Developments in Ontario Secondary Education" topic page for this week, in terms of the decisions successive Ontario governments have made to reorganize secondary schools and proscribe the required number of core credits high school students must obtain in order to graduate. It is no coincidence that during a time of fiscal restraint, beginning in the 1970s, the Ontario government reduced the number of elective courses in high schools, a decision which resulted in significant budgetary savings. In making this decision, the Ontario government
optimized its educational investments in its striving for educational efficiency.
