Abstract
This article explores the problem of values embedded in the present economics curriculum. Such values are manifested through the assertion that economics is a value-free positive science. However, epistemologically, science is not unrelated to subjectivity and beliefs. Recent rhetorical study of economics also shows that economics, as a science, is a conversation among the intellectuals, rather than a mechanical procedure. Values are also implanted by the selection and omissions in the curriculum. Our present economics curriculum resembles its counterparts in the western universities so much that it is heavily biased towards neoclassical economics. Even the concepts approach itself is not immunized from value inculcation because the way in which the terms and concepts are defined is restricted to the neoclassical line of argument. Thus, economics education has degenerated to the dissemination and reception of a set of predetermined values and thoughts. It does not train independent thinking as it should. Since many colonies have turned into soft states after independence, characterized by money-politics and the dominance of giant capitalist enterprises, mainstream economics and its partial analysis might be manipulated to help justify undesirable measures. In view of this, teaching the criticism of economics, raising the teachers' awareness of their roles, and reforming the examination requirements are deemed essential to foster pluralistic thinking.
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