Thinking critically about trade

A Level students at Exeter College have been exploring issues of trade.

In one workshop, students had to consider whether free trade benefits the world's poor. Andrew Bell, project co-ordinator for the Global News project, took on the role of 'free trade advocate' and presented some of the arguments in favour of free trade and how free trade can/will lift people out of poverty.

Students then had to think critically about the arguments presented in favour of free trade and develop counter arguments, based on their own existing knowledge and citing information from various sources that they were presented with.

Researching arguments for and against free trade

In particular they were provided with information on the Trade Justice Movement and about Fair Trade and arguments for how this benefits the poor.

Putting Fair Trade chocolate and biscuits to the test!

At the end of the session, and having heard the case for free trade and researched the case against, a vote was taken on whether free trade could benefit the world's poor. The majority of students didn't believe, on balance, that free trade could/would benefit the world's poor and that Fair Trade was far more likely to do so.