"A background in the economic debates and literature of the past 20 years and how those debates have shaped what we as a profession believe; a solid training in the models which they will be beaching to undergraduates; a knowledge of economic institutions and the role institutions play in the economy; an ability to communicate the central ideas conveyed in introductory and intermediate micro and macro [courses]; knowledge of the alternative approaches in economics and an ability to compare and contrast different approaches; and a knowledge of econometrics, and limits of econometric testing."

The petitioners warn they will structure their "hiring practices to favor students who have trained in those areas and skills that are most useful in teaching undergraduates." The signers, some who have contributed teaching ideas to "The Grapevine," are from a cross section of undergraduate colleges including some of the best--Amherst, Bates, Davidson, Middlebury, Smith, Washington and Lee, Wesleyan, and Wellesley. Whether this "Magna Carta" has any effect on graduate instruction remains to be seen, but it's an interesting development and one to follow.

About two-thirds of the responding departments employ at least one assessment method beyond student evaluations, such as classroom visits by faculty, videotaping, or statements of teaching philosophy. Professor White sorted departments into three groups based on the quality of the Ph.D. program: the top 20, 21 through 50, and below 50; then he looked for any link between program quality and the use of teaching assessment tools. Only 27% of departments in the top 20 used something beyond student ratings, compared to 59% of the 21 through 50 group and 76% of the bottom group. For example, none of the top 20 departments used a classroom visit, but one-third of other departments did.

White concluded that most Ph.D.-granting departments are devoting more time and resources to assessing teacher effectiveness, despite their uncertainties about the validity of their evaluation systems. Also, the higher the quality of the Ph.D. program, the less likely the department sought feedback beyond that provided by student evaluations. This latter issue may ties back into the problems stated by the petitioners troubled about teachers preparation.

1. Focus on matters of substance; do not test for trivia. If test questions hinge on the specific wording of a definition, then students will prepare for tests by memorizing definitions.
2. The questions stem should present a clear, concise reflection of the problem and should contain a verb. Avoid distracting clutter in the stem.
3. The question stem should contain as much of the question as possible; include in the stem any words that would otherwise have to be included in each of the alternatives.
4. Make sure the question has one "correct," or "best," answer and let students know whether it is the "correct" answer you seek or the "best" answer. Avoid using throw-away distracters or obviously wrong distracters.
5. Avoid providing clues to the right answer through giveaways such as the length of an option (the longest is often correct), verbal cues, grammatical phrasing (such as parallel constructions), or use of words such as "always" or "never."
6. Avoid negative statements in the stem; if you must pose the question in a negative way, bold-face or underline the negative word. Avoid the use of double negative when combining the stem and option.
7. Use only sparingly the options "All of the above," "None of the above," and subset alternatives (such as "A and B"). With "All of the above," students sometimes select option A, the first correct answer, then go to the next question.
8. Mix up the location of the correct answer from question to question. Avoid patterns even if they are just the result of your random selection process.
9. Rather than providing graphs on the exam, ask questions that require students to know the necessary graphs. I tell my students beforehand that the exam will supply no graphs even though there will be questions that require an understanding of graphs.
10. Mix up the type of questions asked and the level of difficulty. Some questions should challenge your best students.

Above all, remember that you are testing students' knowledge of economics, not their verbal skills. Foreign students have particular problems untangling the wording of needlessly complicated multiple-choice exams. During the exam, you want students to think about economics, not try to divine sentence construction.

• If, at the outset of the first class of the term, we try to get students' attention by yelling over the din, we are establishing a pattern that will require us to do that every class thereafter. As an alternative, simply stand poised, ready to speak, and wait until students quiet. They may be slow to respond at first, but they will quiet down more quickly each time after that. So wait for the quiet; don't try to force it. Remember, for better or worse, from the outset we train students how to behave.

• Students are always looking for better ways to review for exams. I tell them to spend extra time with the graphs. They can review the graphs and read the accompanying captions. Students should get tot he point where they can draw each graph, label it, and explain what would change the equilibrium values.

• According to the college acceptance rates listed in the U.S. News 1994 College Guide only 102, or 7% of the 1370 accredited colleges surveyed, reject more than half their applicants. Some 120 colleges accept 95% or more, and 45 colleges accept all applicants.

• "Without complete understanding, what is there to teach?"
  
  Thomas Aquinas

  "You can observe a lot by watching."
  

  Yogi Berra

  "It is the province of knowledge to speak and it is the privilege of wisdom to listen."
  

  Oliver Wendell Holmes

  "Excellence is to do common things in an uncommon way."
  

  Booker T. Washington

  "Happiness lies in the job of achievement and the thrill of creative effort."
  

  Franklin D. Roosevelt

  In terms of teaching styles, subscribe to Voltaire's dictum: "All styles are good save the tiresome kind."

  "The great difficulty of education is to get experience out of ideas."
  

  George Santayana

  "Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do."
  

  John Wooden

  "The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing . . . Never lose a holy curiosity."
  

  Albert Einstein.

• The world's twenty highest-paid athletes in 1993, according to Forbes (20 Dec. 1993), included four boxers, four auto racers, four tennis players, three basketball players, two football players, two golfers, and one baseball player. Note that the representation tends to be highest among athletes who compete individually rather than as members of teams. Earnings for the top twenty average $13.8 million. Half the group earned more from product endorsements than from pay. Michael Jordan had the highest total income, with a salary of $4 million and endorsements of $32 million. His recent retirement will not likely affect his revenue from endorsements, at least not for a few years, and this may have influenced his decision to retire and ultimately forego a salary that represented only one-ninth of his total income.

• The United States accounts for seven of the world's top ten family fortunes, according to Forbes listing of the world's billionaires. The greatest fortune, an estimated $25.3 billion, is owned by the Walton family. Over one-third of the world's 311 billionaires live in the United States. I calculated that if the U.S. government expropriated and liquidated all the wealth of the nation's billionaires, the proceeds would just about cover the federal deficit for fiscal year 1993.

• U.S. inflation in 1993, at 2.7%, was a seven-year low. The GDP implicit price deflator has increased tenfold since 1929. Here are some prices taken from an A&P supermarket ad that appeared in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle on October 24, 1929: Campbell's Tomato Soup, 7 cents per can; Camel or Lucky Strike cigarettes, $1.19 per carton; Kellogg's Rice Krispies, 12 cents per box; Jell-O, 3 cents per box; Eight O'Clock Coffee, 39 cents per pound; butter, 53 cents per pound; and roasting chicken, 38 cents per pound. I recently checked prices for these same products at my local A&P. Generally, prices for processed products increased more than other products. For example, Rice Krispies and cigarettes each increased by a factor of 19 and Jello increased by a factor of 17. The price of coffee and soup increased by a factor of five, but butter only tripled in price and chicken merely doubled.

• The lecture circuit can be quite lucrative. Here is the asking price for some well know economists as reported by a special issue of Forbes called FYI: Alan Greenspan, $25,000; Martin Feldstein, $25,000; Milton Friedman, $20,000 (but he accepts no engagements outside of San Francisco); John Kenneth Galbraith, $17,500; and Arthur Laffer, $10,000. Expenses for travel and accommodations are extra.