SHS in the News

Economics Forum at Sheffield High

In these hard times it would seem that people are beginning to seek answers in economic theory. It is easy to see the convoluted long winded text books of scientific theory as being rather difficult to digest but actually Economics can often answer some of the most perplexing of questions. Have you ever wondered ‘Why are some milk cartons round whereas others are square?’ or ‘Why are DVD cases a different size to CD cases despite CDs and DVDs being of the same size?’

In a bid to raise the profile of Economics in the Sheffield secondary education system a group of schools with the support of the city university have embarked on a series of events that will hopefully at the very least raise the interest in the subject at GCSE & Advanced level. Sheffield High hosted the first of these events in its sixth form centre on July 3. Sheffield University lecturer Dr Jolian McHardy kindly volunteered to deliver a talk on the kinds of careers students might pursue with an Economics degree. The lecture was attended by around fifty sixth form students from King Edwards, Tapton and Birkdale schools. He also brought with him three post-graduate students to help give the A-level students a flavour of life at University as an Economics student. Attendees were given the opportunity to ask questions on entry requirements and to grill the students on the ever important question of how fun university life is outside the lecture theatre?

As a group of schools we hope to run many more informative forums during the next academic year. Finally in answer to the above milk carton and DVD posers I am afraid you will need to seek the answers in Robert H Frank’s ‘The Economic Naturalist – Why Economics explains almost everything’ suffice to say however storage costs and the size of VHS videos might help unravel the mystery with a sprinkling of Economic theory.

(D.El-Hoss HOD Economics and Business Studies Department Sheffield High School)