Educating Economics: Observation or Dictation

There is nobody living today that does not think about the economy. You can be a student, a fishmonger, a parent, a businessman, or a salesman; but you’ll never be someone that is free from the overwhelming effects of the economy because at the heart of economics is survival. Every time we are given a paycheck, we think of whether we can still provide for little Abdi in school and his future education in university. We think about whether the pocket money father gave yesterday will be sufficient for our month in college. With those powerful effects in decision making being omnipresent, economics becomes an omnipotent influence in voting. That is why the economy has always been brought up as an issue in every election. The question that begs to be answered then is, are we making the correct choices? Are we choosing with the knowledge of what is true or what was told to us to be true? Meaning, since the people’s knowledge of economics comes mostly from public schools and universities, is the study of economics as factual as empirical observation or is it just a self-fulfilling dictation?