THE NEED FOR PLURALISM IN MACROECONOMICS IN STATE UNIVERSITY OF MEDAN

The economics taught and applied in Indonesia are monistic, and the same thing is applied in almost all universities in the world since the Second World War. The economics is also taught and applied at Medan State University by referring to Paul Samuelson's book entitled “Economics: An Introductory Analysis”. The book emphasizes the dogmatic orthodox economics theory by teaching classical and neoclassical perspectives. If economics is only taught from one perspective it is very contradictory when tested using empirical evidence because it will only touch aspects of the introduction of knowledge, values and theories of economic orthodoxy that are far from the real world economy. Monistic learning processes such as this, of course, have not been able to increase active involvement and arouse students' critical attitudes; thus, limit students to developed skills, and to understand economic and social issues more broadly. Therefore, it is necessary to use appropriate pedagogy in teaching macroeconomics to students.