Think of your kitchen pantry as a nation's economy – full of various ingredients representing resources and products needed for survival and growth. Now imagine someone coming in and replacing all those food items with an entirely new set of ingredients you've never seen before, claiming they're better. That’s the situation our university economics departments find themselves in today.

The movement known as Rethinking Economics has gained significant traction since the 2008 financial crisis, aiming to revolutionize economic education by introducing a heavy bias towards progressive theories that may or may not have been tested under real-world conditions. The fear is these new theories might undermine the solid economic principles we've relied on for decades.

Back in my teaching days, I always emphasized understanding the basics before moving onto complex concepts. This is what worries me now: students are being taught with an incomplete toolkit of knowledge – like sending a carpenter to build a house without proper nails and wood.

Take inflation for example; imagine your weekly grocery bill suddenly costing twice as much every month. This sudden shift would devastate many families already struggling to make ends meet, yet the new theories seem less concerned with practical solutions than ideological purity.

I remember my late husband saying that economics isn't about picking sides – it's about finding what works and adapting when things don’t. But now we’re being asked to throw out time-tested economic strategies simply because they don’t fit within a narrow worldview.

My worry isn't just for today’s students, but also for their future families. What kind of world are we preparing them for if the lessons they learn aren’t grounded in reality?

Last night, I stayed up thinking about this – wondering how our economy will fare when it's run by people who were taught using ideas with little basis in practical experience.

So here’s my plea: take a moment to understand what Rethinking Economics truly means. It isn’t just about changing theories; it’s about the long-term effects on our nation's prosperity and stability.