In a bold new move to broaden the SPA’s curriculum, the History Department is looking to revive the Economics history elective. Gauging student interest, hiring someone to teach the class and reworking the curriculum are the next orders of business.

Ben Bollinger Danielson, the Upper School History and Social Studies Department Chair, believes economics will be a popular elective. “We know that economics is a major that a lot of our students pursue, so we think it fits as something that they should be exposed to in high school,” he said.

Among other things, Bollinger Danielson teaches world history and predicts a natural segue to an economics course: “There are economic underpinnings to most things we study in history, so I think to focus on economics like we do with all sorts of things in other electives should be something that we offer,” he said.

Because world history and economics connect so well, the History Department is looking to hire someone who can teach both: “We have a position open for teaching world history, so it would be just perfect if they could also teach economics,” Bollinger Danielson said.

The economics elective was previously taught by Nan Dreher but dissolved once she left SPA. The course centered around the classic macroeconomic and microeconomic units with lessons about personal finance sprinkled in. A highlight of the class was the stock market simulation.

While Bollinger Danielson has no intention to teach economics, he has a few ideas for the course: “I would hope that one would take a global approach to economics and not just have classic Western approaches, but have other forms of economics that appear in world history.”

The History Department is confident that economics will be making a comeback next year.