UNIT 5 DISTANCE LEARNING ASSIGNMENTS:
PENNINO EMAIL: apennino@shufsd.org
All work for this class will be now posted on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Complete the following assignments at your own pace.
BOOK RETURNS:
Periods 3 and 8: return 1984 and Brave New World at WW when you return all books for classes, any weekday 6/1-12, 8:AM to 2:PM. Book drop off is at the PAC entrance.
CLASS PARTICIPATION: After you read or watch videos, email me questions or comments. I hope to hear from you.
6. POSTED 6/4
following up on the last post, here are recent clips providing views from the left and right about what's going on.
The following videos are older and can provide context about how people interpret recent events very differently.
From the left:
From the right:
Here are articles on studies about crime and police use of force. I tried to avoid biased sources:
realclearpolitics.com is doing a great job, in my opinion, of providing perspectives from opposing views onthe crisis going on right now. I hope you continue to check in on this source.
THERE WILL BE NO TEST FOR THIS UNIT. Your assessment, if you choose to do it, is for extra credit due by 6/9. Assessment: email me or post a doc to google classroom discussing your thoughts on any of the following:
A. the differences between left and right in America.
B. the social and political ramifications of government responses to COVID 19.
C. the current crisis: police, race, crime, and protests.
There will be no more assignments. I will post some a few concluding words Friday or Monday.
S/H
P
5. POSTED 6/2
Seniors. We are living through historic and very troubling times. I hope I can help you understand all of this a little better. We are ultimately in control of how we act and how we think. Getting all the relevant facts before coming to conclusions is as important as ever. As you keep informed on current events, please always remember one of my most important lessons: get different perspectives. Try to understand opposing points of view.
The killing of George Floyd by now- former officer Derek Chauvin was an abomination. Chauvin acted contrary to his training: no officer should ever endanger an arrested person's neck, and Floyd was already in handcuffs and subdued, so any further use of force would be wrong even if it was harmless. The anger and protests that resulted are supported by politicians and media on both the left and the right. Both sides asked how this could happen, why the other three officers stood by and failed to save Floyd, and why it took several days to arrest Chauvin. But now division overshadows unity. Three groups can now be seen in city streets across the country: peaceful protesters, looters, and violent radical extremists. Most on the left seem to be downplaying or even justifying the second two groups, while some on the left are claiming the radicals are actually white supremacists. Most on the right are supporting peaceful protest but condeming the violent elements and the looters, and demand stronger efforts to restore law and order.
Both the left and the right agree that racism is evil, poverty must be combated, and police must not abuse their power. But the left and right have very different views on the long term causes of the riots you are now watching on the news. There is a sense of hopelessness and injustice among many in minority and lower income American urban communities. The left sees systemic or institutional racism as the top problem for "black and brown people" in America, explaining racial income and employment gaps, divergent rates of arrest based on race, and police brutality. The right sees urban minority cultures that promote the breakdown of the family, especially of responsible fatherhood, as the main causes of disproportionate poverty, crime, and hopelessness in those communities.
TASKS: Review page 13 in your Unit 5 Notes. Then watch these recent short videos on the crisis in our cities. Thursday I will post some other videos to provide more background.
4. WORK POSTED 5/28:
Review pages 10-11 in your Unit 5 Notes. Next let's look at short videos to highlight differences over equality, and over the size and role of government. Notice how these questions relate back to differences over responsibility.
EQUALITY DEBATES:
For the Sowell videos I recommend you fast forward to the minute noted.
Equality debates closer look: the minimum wage debate:
SIZE OF GOVERNMENT Opposing views:
3. WORK POSTED TUESDAY 5/26:
Review pages 4,5,and 9 in your Unit 5 Notes. The divide on so many issues can be understood in the context of responsibility. Gun debates? Conservatives talk about the right to bear arms in the context of taking personal responsibility for one's own safety and freedom; liberals emphasize that this is mostly society's responsibility, that's why we have police. Poverty? Conservatives emphasize the opportunities that are out there (except during covid shutdowns!) if one is detetermined to succeed in life; liberals stress the difficulties of finding high income work and the need for government to do more to help.
Here are a few videos to show how different attitudes about responsibility are often at the heart of left - right debates:
This next video gets the Pennino Purple Award for presenting both sides fairly. Notice the debate over government paid college tuition also has a responsibility aspect: should society pay for everyone's college tuition, or should that be our own responsibility?
Always remember that liberals and conservatives usually agree on the problems: crime is bad, safety is important, good paying jobs and a strong economy are important, education is important, college is too expensive. But they usually have different views on the solutions, and even on the causes of the problems...
2. WORK POSTED THURSDAY 5/21:
Carefully read and think about:
The big takeaways:
1. Trying to understand liberals as always favoring change and conservatives as defending the status quo does not work for contemporary American politics.
2. The most important premise or foundation for left-right differences in America is probably the degree to which one believes in mostly taking personal responsibility for one's life, or one believes that society / government should take more responsibility for one's life. What is the most important factor determining your place in life in America today: is it things outside your control, or is it the choices you make? If it's things outside your ability to control, then society / government should be more involved to help. If it's the choices you make, like what you want to do in life and how hard you try, then government should protect your rights and then get out of your way...
3. The next most important premise that divides left and right is what equality should mean. Are unequal outcomes in education, jobs, wealth, and status mostly the results of an unfair system, or are they mostly the results of different choices and abilities of individuals, or the result of reality, and therefor fair? How equal should we be, and in what ways should we be equal?
It's advised that you write your own notes on looseleaf or type on a Word Document, but this is not required. At the end of the unit you can email me these annotations for extra credit.
1. WORK POSTED TUESDAY 5/19:
Unit intro: take a survey. Old school style: Read the suvery statements, and score each one with a rating of 1 through 5. The more points you give, the more you agree; the lower the score, the less you agree. Write your score for each on a piece of paper (or record them however you want). When done with the survey, add up your score, then check to see what your score means.
Flip a coin!
Don't look until you're done!
After youre done, take the other survey, or at least read it, you will see it is the mirror opposite. The twin surveys, along with the coin flipping, is an effort to be fair (and the survey results were meant to be funny). It's possible your score might not be exactly opposite if you take both surveys; the way surveys are worded can change their results. No survey is perfect. Never fully trust any survey! However this task will give you a reasonable idea of your basic leanings as we start the unit...