The problem of this study was to determine the numbers and percentages of first semester freshmen at Texas A&M University-Commerce who could correctly identify the individuals who are generally considered to be the "fathers" of communism and capitalism. A questionnaire was administered to all entering freshmen students enrolled in a business computing systems course. Of those students surveyed, 26.6 percent were able to identify Adam Smith as the "father" of capitalism, while 37.2 percent were able to identify Karl Marx as the "father" of communism.
Introduction
The free enterprise economic system is now operational in most of the world -- even the last remaining avowed communist nations such as China, Cuba and North Vietnam have incorporated free enterprise segments into their economies. Having had such a widespread and profound impact on the worlds' economies, what is the level of awareness of the founder or the synthesizer of the free enterprise system? Previous studies have indicated that American freshmen college students were much more aware that Karl Marx was the founder of communism than that Adam Smith was the founding father of the free enterprise system. (Manton and English, 1984 and 1988)
There is a need for Americans to raise their level of economic understanding. In the state of Texas, as well as other states, it is the obligation and responsibility of the public school system to teach students about our economic system. In 1973, the Texas Legislature mandated that all public high schools provide instruction in the "essentials of the free enterprise system." Subsequently, the State Board of Education amended school accreditation standards to require that all schools: (a) offer an elective free enterprise, course to all high school students, (b) incorporate the study of the free enterprise system into the required high school social studies courses, and (c) correlate free enterprise education instruction with the elementary curriculum. (Texas Education Agency 1979, 1) The Economic Education Act of 1977 gave the State Board of Education power to expand the scope of free enterprise education and listed deadlines for the implementation of economic education in Texas public schools. Adopted measures for grades 10-12 were implemented by the 1978-1979 school year. (Texas Education Agency 1979, 1)
It was decided to survey the college freshmen class of 1998 to see what, if anything, had changed since the prior studies that were conducted in 1984 and 1989. This knowledge had been described in the previous studies as a "measure of students knowledge of economic heritage."
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this study was to determine the number of first semester freshmen, at Texas A&M University-Commerce, who could correctly identify the individuals who are generally considered to be the "fathers" or founders of communism and of capitalism. The researchers also investigated the effect that a high school economics/free enterprise course, in the state of Texas, has upon the ability to correctly identify the founders of the respective economic systems.
Procedures
A questionnaire was administered to all entering freshmen students enrolled in GBus 128, Business Computer Systems in the fall 1998, to gather the data for this study. This is a required course that is usually taken by prospective business majors during the first semester of college enrollment. Thus, the sample would be composed primarily of recent high school graduates. The questionnaire contained nine questions. These questions were of the multiple response and "yes/no" type. There were two key questions asked. One was, "Which of the following persons is generally considered to be the `father' of communism?" Respondents were asked to select one of five persons listed. The choices were: (a) Josef Stalin, (b) Leon Trotsky, (c) Karl Marx, (d) Lenin, and (e) Mao Tse Tung. The other key question was, "Which of the following persons is generally considered to be the `father' of the free enterprise system?" The persons listed were: (a) George Washington, (b) Adam Smith, (c) Thomas Jefferson, (d) Benjamin Franklin, and (e) John Paul Jones.
Other parts of the questionnaire included demographic data and background questions. One question inquired as to whether the respondent had an economic/free enterprise course in high school and another question was concerned with whether the respondent was in his or her first semester in college.
The questionnaires were administered to all daytime sections of GBus 128 during the first class meeting. A total of 106 students were enrolled in four daytime sections of the course. However, ten of the respondents were sophomores and two were juniors; therefore, these questionnaires were eliminated resulting in 94 usable responses.
Findings and Analysis
Table 1, page 5 presents the responses to the question of "Who is the Father of Free Enterprise System?" Only 26.6% of the students were able to correctly identify Adam Smith.
Table 1 Who is the Father of the Free Enterprise System?
Response Number of Responses Percentages of Responses
George Washington 7 7.5
Adam Smith 25 26.6
Thomas Jefferson 37 39.4
Benjamin Franklin 15 15.9
John Paul Jones 6 6.4
No Response 4 4.2
TOTAL 94 100.0
In Table 2, below, it can be seen that 37.2% of the respondents correctly identified Karl Marx as the Founder of Communism. Thus, about 10% more of the students were able to correctly identify Marx than were able to identify Smith.
Table 2 Who is the Father of Communism?
Response Number of Responses Percentage of Responses
Josef Stalin 37 39.3
Leon Trotsky 3 3.2
Karl Marx 35 37.2
Nikolai Lenin 11 11.7
Mao Tse Tung 7 10.6
No response 1 1.0
TOTAL 94 100.0
In a previous study conducted in 1984, 69.3% of the first time freshmen correctly identified Karl Marx, while only 22% were able to identify Adam Smith as the founder of free enterprise. (Manton and English, 1984) In a follow up study conducted in 1989, the corresponding figures were 66.9% for Marx and 33.8% for Smith. (Manton and English, 1988)
Table 3, page 6 indicates the differences in the correct responses of those freshmen who had taken a high school economics or free enterprise course versus those who did not have such a course. It would appear that having had a high school course in economics or the free enterprise system did not have much effect on correctly identifying the respective economic systems' founders. A slightly higher percentage of students who had completed an economic or free enterprise course was able to identify Adam Smith -- 29.2% vs 22.2%. It is disturbing that such a low percentage of students who have been exposed to a high school economics/free enterprise course were able to identify Adam Smith. A lower percentage of those who had the course correctly identified Marx than those students who did not have the course -- 36.5 vs 42.1 percent. In both categories of students, however, a higher percentage of students correctly identified Marx than did those who selected Smith.
Table 3 Comparison of Those Students Having An Economic/Free Enterprise Class to Those Not Having Had a Course
Had Course Did Not Have Course
Correctly Chose Karl Marx 36.5 42.1
Correctly Chose Adam Smith 29.2 22.2
Conclusion
After 20 years of Texas' attempt to introduce students to economic concepts, it is disappointing that only 37.2 percent of the students could identify Karl Marx as the founder of communism, and most disappointing that only 26.6 percent of these same students could identify Adam Smith as the founder of the free enterprise system. The latter is quite a disturbing finding since the impact of Smith certainly is at least as profound, widespread and influential as that of Marx. It is even more disturbing when considering the young people of this country have been living under a free enterprise system described and espoused by Smith and have reaped the benefits of the implementation of his economic theories, but still cannot identify him.
Why are more students able to identify Marx than Smith? Do we spend more time in our classes discussing Marx? Do students hear Marx's name mentioned more on radio and television and see it more frequently in print? It appears that more time should be spent at the high school level exposing students to the name of Adam Smith as well as his ideas and concepts. American college students should be able to identify the founder of the economic system under which they live.
References
Coyne, Thomas J., ed., Readings in Managerial Economics (Piano, Texas: Business Publications, Inc., 1985), pp. 51-52.
Manton, Edgar J. and English, Donald E., "College Students' Awareness of Economic Heritage: Adam Smith vs. Karl Marx." Texas Business Educator, Spring, 1984, p. 12.
Manton, Edgar J. and English, Donald E., "The Ability of First Semester College Freshmen to Identify the Founding Fathers of Capitalism and Communism." The College Student Journal, Winter 1988, pp. 363-366.
Texas Education Agency, Economics Education: A Statewide Assessment in Texas (Austin, Texas: 1979), 1.
EDGAR MANTON DONALD ENGLISH Department of General Business and Systemd Management Teaxs A&M University-Commerce Commerce, Texas 75429