Economic Democracy Curriculum · Teacher Routines
Every class opens with a quick-write or forced choice that pulls out what students already think, and closes with an exit ticket that checks what landed and takes the room's temperature. A zero-prep set of universal routines, plus a tuned warm-up and exit ticket for every concept in the library.
Drop these onto any concept on any day. Print them once and keep them by the projector. The reform-test closer (bottom right) is the curriculum's signature exit ticket — it works after almost any lesson.
Warm-Ups · open the class
Forced Choice
More good or more harmful?
"Today's idea is [X]. On balance, is it more good or more harmful for ordinary people?" Pick a side, write one sentence of defense. Reveal the split, then teach into the disagreement.
Quick-Write
What do you already know?
"Write everything you think you know about [X] in 2 minutes — even guesses." Surfaces prior knowledge and misconceptions you can build on or correct.
Quick-Write
Where have you seen it?
"Where have you run into [X] in your own life, the news, or online?" Anchors an abstract idea to something concrete before you name it.
Forced Choice
Agree or disagree
Offer a provocative one-sentence claim about today's concept. "Agree or disagree, and why?" Take a quick standing vote, then begin.
Quick-Write
Who benefits, who pays?
"When you hear the phrase [X], who do you imagine benefits, and who pays?" Primes the distribution lens the curriculum returns to constantly.
Forced Choice
Gut call
Pose the lesson's central tension as a binary before students have the tools. They'll revisit their gut answer at the exit ticket — and see if learning moved them.
Exit Tickets · close the class
Temperature Check
One thing + one question
"Name one thing you understand now that you didn't at the start — and one question you still have." Fast read of what landed and what's foggy.
Reform Test
The smallest reform
"What's the smallest change you'd make to what we studied that would grow the economy while expanding democracy — and what would it cost?" The signature closer; works after nearly any lesson.
Temperature Check
Confidence dial (1–5)
"Rate 1–5 how well you could explain [X] to a friend, and write the one part you'd stumble on." A number plus a target for tomorrow.
Quick-Write
Did your mind move?
"You took a side at the start. Are you in the same place now? What, if anything, moved you?" Pairs with any forced-choice warm-up.
Quick-Write
Explain it to a 10-year-old
"In two sentences, no jargon, explain today's concept to a 10-year-old." Forces real understanding into plain language.
Quick-Write
Steelman the other side
"Give the single best argument for the view you disagree with." Checks whether students can hold both sides — the core habit of the course.
A tuned warm-up and exit ticket for each primer. Find your concept, grab the pair. Forced-choice openers are marked; the rest are quick-writes.
| Concept | Warm-up (open) | Exit ticket (close) |
|---|---|---|
| Scarcity | Quick-writeName something you wanted this week but couldn't have. What had to be given up to get something else? | If everything were free and unlimited, would we still need economics? Explain in two sentences. |
| Opportunity Cost | Forced choiceYou have a free hour: earn $15, or study for a test. Pick one — then name exactly what you gave up. | Describe one real choice you made today and the true cost of it (what you gave up, not what you paid). |
| Incentives | Quick-writeDescribe a time a reward or punishment changed your behavior. Did it work the way it was meant to? | Give one example of an incentive that backfired — produced the opposite of what was intended. Why? |
| Concept | Warm-up (open) | Exit ticket (close) |
|---|---|---|
| Profit Motive | Forced choiceIs the desire for profit mostly a force for good or for harm in society? Pick one, defend in a sentence. | Name one thing the profit motive does well and one thing it does badly. Did your opening view hold? |
| Compounding | Forced choiceA penny doubled daily for 30 days, or $1 million today? Pick — then we'll check. | Explain in one sentence why compounding is called the most powerful force in finance — for wealth and debt. |
| Competition | Quick-writeName a business you love. Who are its competitors — and how does that rivalry affect you? | When does competition help the customer, and when can it stop helping? Give one example of each. |
| Productivity | Quick-writeIf a worker produces twice as much per hour as last year, who should get the gains? Write your gut answer. | Productivity rose for decades but typical wages lagged. Who got the difference — and is that a problem? |
| Creative Destruction | Quick-writeName a product or job that barely exists anymore. What replaced it, and who won and lost? | Is the constant destruction of old industries a price worth paying for progress? Defend your view. |
| Business Cycles | Forced choiceA recession is: (a) the system failing, or (b) the system correcting. Pick one before we start. | If a downturn clears out excess and renews the economy, why does it still matter who bears the cost? |
| Concept | Warm-up (open) | Exit ticket (close) |
|---|---|---|
| Monopoly | Forced choiceOne company controls a thing you need. Good (it's efficient) or bad (it's powerful)? Pick. | Name one way a monopoly can help customers and one way it can harm them. Which usually wins? |
| Network Effects | Quick-writeWhy do you use the apps you use? How much is it because everyone else does? | Explain why "the best product" and "the one everyone uses" aren't always the same thing. |
| Economies of Scale | Quick-writeWhy can a giant store sell cheaper than a corner shop? List every reason you can think of. | If bigger means cheaper, what's the danger of letting the biggest firms keep getting bigger? |
| Rent-Seeking | Forced choiceTwo ways to get rich: build something valuable, or capture value others made. Which describes most fortunes? | Give one example of creating value and one of capturing it. How would you tell them apart in the news? |
| Sovereignty | Quick-writeName something you depend on that you don't control. What power does that give whoever provides it? | "More self-sufficient" usually means "poorer but freer." Where would you set that dial, and why? |
| The Trust | Quick-writeShould someone be able to control money they don't own, on behalf of someone else? When is that good? | The same structure protects a child and entrenches a dynasty. What real difference could the law key on? |
| Concept | Warm-up (open) | Exit ticket (close) |
|---|---|---|
| The Commons | Quick-writeName something everyone shares and no one owns. What keeps it from being wrecked — or doesn't? | Is a shared resource doomed without private owners, or can a community govern it? Give your reasoning. |
| Predistribution | Forced choiceTo fix inequality: broaden who owns assets, or tax-and-transfer after? Pick one before we start. | Making people owners gives a stake but hands them risk. When is that better than a cash transfer? |
| Labor | Quick-writeIs your labor "just a commodity" like anything else bought and sold? Write your first reaction. | One unemployment number hides three kinds (frictional, structural, cyclical). Why does telling them apart matter? |
| Concept | Warm-up (open) | Exit ticket (close) |
|---|---|---|
| Ownership & Equity | Quick-writeWhat's the difference between using something and owning it? Why might owning matter more over time? | Explain why two people earning the same wage can end up with very different wealth. |
| Inflation | Quick-writeIf prices and your pay both doubled, are you better off, worse off, or the same? Think it through. | Inflation quietly moves wealth between people. Who tends to win from it, and who loses? |
| Wages & Assets | Forced choiceWhich builds more wealth over a life: a high salary, or owning appreciating assets? Pick. | Why has "work hard and earn a good wage" stopped guaranteeing wealth the way it once did? |
| Wealth of Nations | Quick-writeWhat actually makes one country richer than another? List your best guesses. | Name one thing that genuinely grows a nation's wealth — and one thing that just moves it around. |
| Wealth of the Nation | Quick-writeIf a country's total wealth grew, would you assume everyone got richer? Why or why not? | A rising national total can hide who actually gained. What would you want to look at underneath it? |
| Data | Forced choiceThe data you generate online: yours, or the platform's? Pick a side and defend it. | Your data is nearly worthless alone but immensely valuable in bulk. Who should capture that value? |
| Cryptocurrency | Quick-writeWhat makes a dollar in your pocket actually worth anything? Write your honest theory. | If all money runs on shared belief, what makes a national currency more stable than most crypto? |
| The Corporation | Quick-writeThe law treats a company as a "person." What's useful about that — and what's strange? | A corporation can be built for shareholders, members, or a mission. Who do you think it should serve? |
| P&L vs. Balance Sheet | Forced choiceFriend A earns a lot but owns nothing; Friend B earns little but owns a home. Who's "doing fine"? | Explain how a company can be profitable and going bankrupt at the same time. |
| Credit | Quick-writeIs borrowing money smart or dangerous? Write the case for your gut answer. | The same loan can build wealth or bury someone. What decides which it does? |
| Debt | Quick-writeWhen someone can't repay a debt, who should bear the loss — and does the scale change your answer? | A debt is fixed while the world changes. Explain how that shifts risk onto the borrower. |
| Banking & Central Banks | Forced choiceWhere does most money come from: (a) the government prints it, or (b) banks create it by lending? Guess. | If banks create money when they lend, who benefits from being closest to that new money? |