Did you hear about this book last year? I can't think of a more analytical examination of the lack of compromise and polarized, partisan politics than this book. While I don't ask my kids to know about it in detail, we do spend a brief time examining the basic concepts. But in order to do that, I have to do some ground work. 1. What are we all expected to do? as citizens? We start by reading an excerpt from Robert Bellah's Habits of the Heart. The kids really get thrown for a loop on this one, because it seems so out of place. He is a sociologist, and talks about the importance of civic life and private life. He uses lexicon from old westerns to prove his point; I turn to Bruce Wayne from the Batman series. BW: hyper private, but connected to the community. All of this spirals back to selflessness vs selfishness... a keystone point in the excerpt. We started asking what we need to do all of these things, and came up with five themes.
They are needed for society and the economy to function. So, which is the most at risk? Well, in this scenario, it's compromise. Students watched a short video on PBS that explains the work in broad strokes, but here is a more detailed interview. You have to explain some of the history, like Obamacare's link to the Republican party in 1993 and the filibuster of today... but they get it. Here are some great questions to sum up their experience... Do you think that the government of today is fulfilling the promise of the Preamble; the stated purpose of the government? It is well accepted that the government should provide for societal equality (race, religion, gender), however, is it the role of the government to provide economic equality?
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Jen's bookshelf: nerdcation
I want to start by thanking Mr. Snowden and Mr. Greenwald for their uncompromising dedication to giving the NSA violations air time and transparency.
I wanted to share some of the most important things I have learned from this book bef...
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nerdcation
tagged:
nerdcation and to-read
tagged:
nerdcation and to-read
tagged:
nerdcation and to-read
AuthorI lovgov. LOVE IT! I love teaching government, learning about it, debating, discussing, asking questions about government. And not the standard boiler plate questions, but the hard ones that are NOT in the books. Archives
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