Economics Department Economics was introduced as a subject option at SACS in 2009, making 2011 a particularly exciting year as we have our first Matric class. The subject is largely theoretical but the learners have tackled the subject matter with vigour as virtually all the topics can be related to current affairs. Given the economic crisis the world is currently battling its way out of it has been a particularly stimulating experience for the boys.

Being able to relate the subject matter to what is happening in the world today is what makes the subject particularly relevant. Broadly speaking the topics covered in the first term are of a Macroeconomic nature and include the problem of scarcity, the circular flow diagram and business cycles. In the second term we focus on Microeconomic topics like supply and demand diagrams. These are vitally important topics that lay the foundation for the subject. A thorough understanding of them is important as we continue to build on them through to Matric and even onto University level of study.

In the third term the focus shifts to the stages of Economic pursuits and economic development in broad historical context, and then how this relates to South Africa. This includes the history of money and banking in South Africa as well as the reconstruction of the South African economy after 1994. In the forth term we cover current affairs issues like unemployment and the various approaches to solve it, the South African labour market and the impact of HIV/AIDS.

The boy’s results thus far have been pleasing with the only slight concern being that the learners tend to gloss over some of the content and not get a deep enough understanding of topics, especially the important ones we covered in the first two terms. This is a real concern and show up in their results, which are not quite as good as they could be, especially in the longer assay questions. This deeper understanding of the subject and how to answer the long questions will hopefully come with time. In this regard I encourage boys and parents to take an interest in economic issues by listening to the news, reading newspapers, internet and magazines. 

Mr Graeme Wepener.