I went to an English private school. At my school the Economics teacher used to tell the History teacher that Economics was a "proper subject" and History wasn't. "At least I am teaching a proper scientific subject", he would boast. He read the Financial Times every day. He was known for his bad temper and he was quite right-wing in his politics. To the lifelong annoyance of my mother, he told her that my brother "did not have the intellect to go to Cambridge." My brother soon went on to receive a double-first from Cambridge. I think he was wrong about other things as well.
The History teacher was rather posh, but had a charmingly wistful demeanour. He was a traditionalist, but with a very easy-going and tolerant streak, but who seemed to have been made rather melancholy by studying all the many follies of mankind, or perhaps it was also a little bit of Welsh ancestry. As far as I know, he never replied to the accusation of not really teaching a proper subject.
At the time as a teenager, I wasn't entirely sure who I agreed with in the dispute between Economics and History, though I definitely preferred History.
I am quite sure now. Economics is not really a "proper subject" and certainly not really a science, but History I think is a "proper subject", if of course not necessarily a science.
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The History teacher was rather posh, but had a charmingly wistful demeanour. He was a traditionalist, but with a very easy-going and tolerant streak, but who seemed to have been made rather melancholy by studying all the many follies of mankind, or perhaps it was also a little bit of Welsh ancestry. As far as I know, he never replied to the accusation of not really teaching a proper subject.
At the time as a teenager, I wasn't entirely sure who I agreed with in the dispute between Economics and History, though I definitely preferred History.
I am quite sure now. Economics is not really a "proper subject" and certainly not really a science, but History I think is a "proper subject", if of course not necessarily a science.
...........