8th Grade Regional Studies: September 2006 Archives

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September 27, 2006

Wednesday, September 27th: African Debt Relief and Exam Review

Today we finished our academic controversy on African Debt Relief. While we did not solve how and what should be done with African Debt, we at least know more about it.

Homework
Your exam is tomorrow. Here are some things to keep in mind for writing a successful essay:

-You should answer the question in the thesis statement.
-Your paragraphs should follow the order of your thesis statements.
-In your paragraphs, tell the reader how the evidence you used helps answer the question.
-You do not need to be creative, just answer the question as clearly and accurately as possible using evidence from class to justify your answer.
-Your closing should bring your essay full circle and answer any opinion parts of the question that remain unanswered.

So, looking at the question we answered today, here is a sample outline (remember this question is NOT on the test).

Question: How do the need for infrastructure and loan repayments contribute to African debt? What do you think should be done with outstanding African Debt? Justify your response.

Thesis Statement: The massive costs of building infrastructure and the burden of interest payments associated with loan repayments significantly increase African debt. Despite these problems, African debt should not be forgiven because loan forgiveness promotes fiscal irresponsibility.

Paragraph 1- The need for infrastructure increases African Debt because some African countries need World Bank loans in order to develop it. Justify with supporting evidence.

Paragraph 2- The interest payments associated with loans from wealthy countries, the IMF and the World Bank are often so large that African countries cannot make these payments or can only make these interest payments but cannot pay down their actual debt. Consequently, the interest payments often create more debt for African countries. Justify with supporting evidence.

Paragraph 3- African Debt should not be forgiven because it does not promote fiscal responsibility for nations. Evidence- US concerns about loss of ability to apply democratic change pressure (IMF HIPC Fact Sheet), not in US budget (from BBC Article- UK pushing for African Debt plan), debt forgiveness upsets IMF plan (IMF Threat On G8 Proposal of Debt Cancellation article)

Closing- Tie everything together.

You will also have a multiple-choice test tomorrow. Here are some things that you should study for the exam. This list isn't exhaustive, but it should help you focus your studying.

Frantz Fanon
Kenneth Kaunda
Somalia
Conditions in Somalia prior to Operation Restore Hope
Justification for U.S. involvement in Somalia
The different goals of the mission in Somalia
Reasons for U.S. withdrawal from Somalia
Warlords
Operation Restore Hope
George Bush
Bill Clinton
Mission Creep
Nation-building
Aidid
PDD 25
Guidelines in PDD 25
Impacts of PDD 25
Rwanda
Conditions before colonization
Belgian colonial policies
Post independence policies
Events leading up to the genocide
How the genocide began and was carried out
International knowledge of what was going on in Rwanda
International response to Rwanda
Quota system
Scapegoat
Rwandan Patriotic Front
Hutu Power Movement
Arusha Accords
UNAMIR
Genocide Fax
Interhamwe
Dellaire
AIDS
Causes of the crisis
Proof that the crisis is a serious problem
Solutions to the crisis
PEPFAR – How it works, How it’s funded
Global Fund – How it works, How it’s funded
Nelson Mandela
Yoweri Museveni
AIDS crisis in South Africa
AIDS crisis in Uganda
Mbeki
Stigma
ABC program
Debt Relief

Posted by kmurr at 10:01 AM | Comments (0)

September 26, 2006

Tuesday, September 26th: Debt Relief in Africa

Today we talked about countries and their debt. We looked at institutions like the World Bank and IMF. Feel free to check out their websites- www.worldbank.org and www.imf.org if you want more information on these organizations.

Homework

Tomorrow we are going to have an academic controversy on this topic. An academic controversy is like a small debate. We will talk about this more before the exercise. The question we will look at is should African debt be forgiven? So, you will need some more background information for Wednesday. Please read the following articles:

Factsheet: The World Bank: Hazardous to Africa’s Health
IMF Threat on G8 Proposal of Debt Cancellation

The articles are short. Take notes as you read them. Ask yourself when you are reading the articles, what are the main points of these articles? What information can I use to debate why African debt should not be forgiven? What information can I use to debate why African debt should be forgiven? Come to class with these ideas written down.

If you are a little confused about debt relief, feel free to skim the articles linked below. They have some helpful background information about the current proposals.

Q&A African Debt Relief
UK Pushing for Africa Africa Debt Plan

The homework seems long but it should take no longer than 30 minutes.

After we finish talking about African debt, we will review for the exam. Remember that the exam is Thursday. Here are the essay questions again.

Posted by kmurr at 9:51 AM | Comments (0)

September 25, 2006

Fourth Block Proposals and Comment Area

This is where I will paste the fourth block proposals. If you are in fourth block, make your comments here. If you are in second block, scroll down and make your comment in the second block area. Remember, your comments must be five sentences and must answer one of the following questions:

-Which of the solutions will be most effective and why?
-Are there factors that contribute to the AIDS crisis (poverty, misconceptions, etc.) that groups are failing to address in their solutions?
-What is most difficult about developing a solution to the AIDS crisis?
-Which of the solutions is most realistic?
-Which of the solutions would get the most support from the American people? Why is this important?

Feel free to respond to other people's ideas. This is supposed to be an online discussion. Your comment must be made by the start of class tomorrow.

In order to post a comment, click on the “comments” link. Then scroll to the bottom of the page. Put your first name and last initial in the “name” box and your email address in the “email address” box. You can skip the URL box. Write your comment in the “comments” box and hit “Post.” You are done!!

Proposal One

Which Countries?

We are choosing to target South Africa, India, United States, Mozambique, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Tanzania, Kenya because these all are nations with 1,000,000 cases or more of HIV/AIDS. We are hoping to create awareness and prevention groups by bringing this topic to the surface in these countries. With creating awareness we hope to decrease the amount of new cases in these countries. With getting political leaders involved in prevention this will create a sense of national awareness. With these numbers decreasing we hope that number of people with AIDS will drop in these countries. We also hope that supplying drugs to those infected will help the people who cannot afford them in these countries

Timeframe

Our plan is that by the year 2010, we will have distributed proper medicines for HIV/AIDS to 5 million people in the world, such as the triple cocktail to extend lives and AZT for pregnant women. We also hope that by the year 2010 at least 10 million people around the world will learn about HIV/AIDS, and how to prevent getting it by urging political leaders to promote the knowledge of the disease. Unlike others, we want to promote abstinence and safer sex, not just abstinence. By doing this, we hope that in 25 years there will be less than 75 million people infected with HIV/AIDS.

Goals

Our goals for the prevention of AIDS start with awareness and condoms. We want to educate people about how to make sure you don’t get AIDS, through abstinence, loyalty, and condoms. By doing this, people are less likely to be involved in activities that will spread AIDS, so it will slow the progress of the virus. We will also provide AZT so that the virus isn’t spread to children and babies. The more children that survive without AIDS in their life, the more people there are to work and lessen poverty. We will set up support groups that people can join to get the necessary items and knowledge to not get AIDS. It is important for people to support each other and to talk about the problem. For those who have AIDS, we will provide treatment, but our main goal is prevention. Those who already have AIDS will not get cured, and we need to focus on making sure that no one else gets it.

Who will implement?

Those who implement the plan will be Africans. People don’t like to listen to us because we don’t really know how they feel. If they hear the facts from their own people, they will be more likely to listen and take it to heart. We may need Americans to teach the African volunteers first, and then they can go and help their people. If they need it, we can send in Americans to help out.

Funding

In order to help the AIDS crisis, evidently money needs to be involved. We have a complex plan to help AIDS that involves providing many things to many people, including treatment and education. We need funding for all of this. PEPRAR will be a great source, because it has already pledged 15 billion dollars to AIDS funding. I am certain PEPFAR will help and will be happy with our prevention goals. We will get congress’s approval for this by stressing our abstinence and prevention. We cannot just survive on funding from PEPFAR. It would be very helpful to use the Global Fund for AIDS. This is because they share our goal of sending some treatments, but mostly prevention, including counseling, education, and support. But, PEPFAR may run out by 2008, so we will also need more funding after that, so then we will turn to the Global Fund more, and also we will make our own donation program that will encourage donations nationwide.

Proposal Two

The goal of this plan is to help prevent, treat, and educate about HIV and AIDS. We will help to educate about HIV and AIDS because there are many misconceptions about this illness including rumors of washing after sex to help prevent this, that HIV and AIDS are not connected, and that this is not a serious illness. Also, we will not pour money into the idea of abstinence. We will not put money into this not because it is not a good idea, but because it does not work. Instead we will be marketing towards practicing safe sex with a condom. More money will be put into treatment obviously because so many people are not receiving the much needed antiretrovirals.

We hope to accomplish our solution by the end of 2008. This is when George Bush has to give up office, and all that he’s done for the Aids crisis might be changed by the next president. If we accomplish our task by the end of 2008, then we can still use Bush’s program PEPFAR (his program to solve AIDS) for money, since he is giving 15 Billion to them for the AIDS crisis. We can also use congress for money and the Global Funds that we can take out of for AIDS. It will take a lot of money, but there are enough deposits that we can take out of to do it.

The U.S. is going to implement this proposal. The U.S. is going to implement it because we have the money and if we implement it we will know where the money goes. Also if we carry out this plan ourselves we know that our plan is being carried out exactly how we want it to be carried out. If somebody like Mbeki received all this money he may not put it to its best use. Aids is spreading almost everywhere and it is getting even worse than it already is in Africa. Mbeki also said that H.I.V. no connection to aids and he got rid of the drugs to help you live longer with the disease.

Proposal Three

The goals of the program are to prevent a rapid increase in the number of AIDS cases in the world by educating the people about AIDS and how it is spread and offering antiretroviral drugs to those already infected. We will have volunteering and medical help available to the public for low costs due to poverty and low paying labor and jobs. These things are very good for the people and the country because it will greatly help create the correct conditions for a world where AIDS is no longer an issue. The main problem is the need for funding, which we will hopefully lessen by focusing primarily on countries other health organizations are ignoring.

The countries which our plan will target are the countries in which we will be able to do the most good and make the most significant change through preventing a rapid rise in AIDS cases in that country and treating the current cases.. The three countries which we will plan to aid are China, India, and the United States. With almost every other AIDS organization focusing primarily on Africa, more attention on countries already receiving help would not be as beneficial as helping a country that has been previously ignored in the AIDS crisis; that is why we will focus on helping China and the United States. In China and India, the number of AIDS infections is just waiting to go through the roof, and the United States, although we think that we can handle the AIDS crisis just by using our current healthcare system, needs to focus on getting AIDS completely under control before we can dedicate ourselves to helping others.

We will fund our proposal through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation because the way that they use their funds to battle AIDS agrees better with our policy than PEPFAR, the Global Fund, and the World Bank, and they have an even spread of prevention and treatment. Because we are going to focus just on three countries, the Global Fund would not agree with our plan, seeing as how it gives aid to every country in need. PEPFAR would cause too many ties to the government and would require that our proposal get through congress, which would mean that we would have to include things such as abstinence-based education classes. Finally, the World Bank focuses mainly on countries that don’t have a stable healthcare, which the countries we want to focus on do.

The people who will be carrying out the AIDS program will be partly the work of the United States and partly the work of the governments of the involved countries as well as the people of the specific countries we are working on. As shown by Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, direct help from the government of the involved country is very effective. The reason we are avoiding Africa is because so many organizations are basing all of their relief efforts there.

Posted by kmurr at 8:03 PM | Comments (16)

Second Block Proposals and Comment Area

This is where I will paste the second block proposals. If you are in second block, make your comments here. Remember, your comments must be five sentences and must answer one of the following questions:

Feel free to respond to other people's ideas. This is supposed to be an online discussion. Your comment must be made by the start of class tomorrow.

Proposal One

The goal of our program is to treat and prevent AIDs. Even if we treat people infected with AIDs, we are only prolonging their lives not actually curing them. If we teach people about prevention then we are potentially saving their lives. AIDs is a death sentence to anyone who is infected, the only thing we can do is prolong their lives and stop other people from getting AIDs.

Our plan would give 6 billion dollars to the Global Fund and 7 billion to individual countries. We think that the Global Fund does a good job of giving money to individual countries but we think that the Global Fund is focused too much on treatment and not enough money on prevention. The money that would be given to individual countries would total 15 billion. We wouldn’t give money to the governments of these individual countries because we believe that if the government doesn’t support the education of people about AIDs then they might do something else with the money. We would instead give the money to private hospitals, including church hospitals.

Even if you treat someone with AIDs they will eventually die of AIDs, so if we focus on prevention in countries where AIDs has not infected as many people, then we can stop AIDs from becoming an even bigger concern. In some Asian and Middle Eastern countries and a few other countries, AIDs isn’t a huge problem so we would spend more money on prevention and less on treatment. We would spend about 30 percent of the money on treatment and 70 percent of the money on treatment. Spending more money on prevention would help keep the number of AIDs cases at a minimum.

India and countries located in Africa, where the need for treatment is greater, we would spend 40 percent of our money on treatment and 60 percent on prevention. We think that in these countries it’s more important to treat the people who are infected because there are so many of them. If we only focused on prevention in countries that have such high cases of AIDs, we wouldn’t have much of an impact because so many people would die quickly because they already have AIDs.

The method in which we would try to educate people about AIDs and the prevention of AIDs would be similar to the method that was used in Uganda. People in Uganda actually went out to the small towns and talked directly to the people in a friendly but educational manner. The volunteers told Ugandans about the ABC plan. The ABC plan is to be abstinent, be faithful, or use condoms. This method worked well because people learned about how to prevent AIDs but they didn’t feel that people were looking down on them. We would try the same method, because we think that the key to stop AIDs from becoming an even bigger pandemic that prevention is key.

We would fund our proposal by asking major companies for donations. We would especially target companies with bad reputations (drug and cigarette companies), by pressuring them and showing them how generous donations would improve their reputations. We would also put up moneyboxes in public places and stores that people often visit, asking people to donate money to our proposal. We would try to enlist celebrities, like Bono, who could donate money and tell people about the cause.

We think that the best way to implement our plan would have the Africans carry out our proposal. If Africans carried out the plan then they wouldn’t feel that we were looking down on them and it would prevent the U.S. from getting in a difficult situation, like having to choose between the governments that don’t really want our help and the people who do.

We think that best way to prevent AIDs and treat AIDs would be with a long term plan. That way we won’t burn out all of the money really fast in five or two years but rather continue and constantly support countries over a period of eight or seven years.

We hope that by the year 2014 the percentage of people living with AIDs in the countries that money was given would be under 7 percent. Ideally the number of people living with AIDs would be 0, but it isn’t and probably won’t be for a long time, so the best we can do for now is educate people about the prevention of AIDs and treat people who already have the disease.

Proposal Two

In our program solve the AIDS crisis, we decided to focus on both treatment and prevention of AIDS. To prevent it from spreading, we will educate both the people and the government. In order for us to go into the country and educate the people within about AIDS, we need permission of the government of the country. We would also have to convince the governments in denial that AIDS is a problem in their country that it is a major pandemic on a global scale and preventing AIDS by educating the people of Africa is the first step to ending it. As for preventing it amongst the common people, telling them in school would not work as a lot of Africans do not attend school or children would just not understand the importance. Making speeches and programs at churches across sub-Saharan countries would get across. The programs would be about abstinence, only having one sex partner, and using condoms to prevent AIDS from spreading. Also, we would fund local hospitals so they can get people tested for HIV. As for treatment, we would give money to hospitals so they can be able to afford the drugs for AIDS patients. Giving them money to afford better technology would also be crucial not only in testing for HIV, but also in storing the medication.

This program will be targeting mostly African countries. But, we would give different amount of money to different countries. Deciding the amount of money to go to different countries would be how poor the country is, the countries with highest rate of infection, the countries with the greatest potential of success. Same thing with the education, if we educated the countries that had the most people infected about how to protect yourself, abstinence, about how it is spread, that rape and multiple partners can cause it, we might be able to stop it spreading, because, people that know that they have it, would be more careful, use a condom, and only have one sex partner, and wouldn’t spread. For those that don’t have AIDS/HIV, or don’t know that they do, give them the chance to be tested for it, get treatment, and all of them would have the chance to be educated, from hospitals, school, work, and church

We would fund the Africa for as long as it takes at the max of 10 years and then. One Africa has most of the aids epidemic under control. We would help leave Africa where they can support and control their own country. After leaving Africa we would convince that Aids and many other diseases are very important to concentrate on and it we should convince that the whole world should donate the most amount of money that we can so that anyone that is suffering with any kind of disease can access it and support only diseases that need support and funding.

We would begin funding by convincing the US that they should help to fund and remind them if we do not fund it eventually the human population will come to a collapse.
Then we would slowly convince that this is a very important issue to focus on.
Eventually we will convince most of the world’s countries how important this is and why they should support it. With the help of other countries, we could successfully bring this AIDS pandemic under control in Africa. Hopefully other countries will want to help. Helping to fund this program could also improve your political image. Assistance in the controlling of this pandemic would look good to other countries. Also, if we help Africa, they may be more inclined to give us assistance in future times of need. Once we have gotten the AIDS crisis pretty much under control in Africa, we will provide funding and services to other countries with regards to the AIDS crisis, helping Africa is an opportunity for other countries to share their problem wih the AIDS crisis so that we can help them. Will the help of other countries around the world, we could potentially bring the AIDS pandemic under control so that we can focus on other issues.

Proposal Three

We are attempting to prevent and treat patients with our proposal. Because when you prevent it you keep it from growing any bigger than it already is. Then we will treat it to allow the problem to begin to decrease. If you focus on just one it will continue to grow because people will either not know what causes AIDS and will not be aware of it or if we just prevent the people with it will die and nothing will have really gotten better. So if we give equal funding to both then the problem will begin to decrease in size and eventually it will not be as big of problem in the future.

UNAIDS’s Global Fund will implement our proposal. They will distribute our proposal to not just Africa but the other 180 countries across the world. Whit UNAIDS distributing the money, we will not have to worry about countries and/or other organizations being mad at the US for not giving them money because by giving money to UNAUDS, it will insure that all the organizations in the 180 countries will get equal amounts of money.
We will be funding all of the countries. We will give all of our money to the Global Fund and have them distribute it. The total amount of money will be decided by however much we can give. We will ask companies to create their own foundations in order to pay us. Big companies such as Target, Best Buy and McDonalds will be asked to donate money to give to us, which we will then be giving to the Global Fund. We are hoping to raise over 50 billion dollars do distribute world wide.

The time frame for our proposal will be over the next four years. By the time we graduate in 2010 we want to have all the money we can. We are trying to get as much money as we can. With in the next four years we believe that we can get enough money to help out, and maybe actually make a difference.

We will try to fund this by asking big companies, and celebrities to donate as much as they can. This will make them look good, and they would probably be able to give lots of money. Big companies with a bad reputation could make them look a lot better. Many people in these companies and these celebrities identify this as a problem and this would be an easy way for them to help this pandemic.

Proposal Four

Our goal is to reduce AIDS and distribute AZT and the triple cocktail as well as watches to the people who take the medicine; funding will also go to educating the inhabitants of the countries on prevention of AIDS, how AIDS is passed and AIDS testing. This is the best way to go because it helps the infected people and helps prevent the spread of AIDS. We also plan to donate money to the Global fund. Funding will be provided by the Global Fund as well as Bono and will also be attempted to be gained from Bill Gates. Another option for funding will be to receive donations from sporting events such as the World Series and the super bowl. We will mainly target the countries with the highest rate of infection such as South Africa, India, Nigeria, and Tanzania, as well as other impoverished countries throughout the world. The original targeted countries also are currently receiving the lowest financial support and the least amount of drugs. These selected top priority countries also have the highest number of AIDS or HIV deaths in the world. African health and religious organizations will carry out this plan, doing it the African way. This project should be carried out from 2007 and end in six years (2013) although it may be continued if insufficient progress is made, or if the need arises to activate this plan in even more countries. Both presidential candidates must agree to continue this project because the elections occur during this project. We want to distribute medicine to infected people as well as educate people of AIDS awareness and ways of infection. This way we can decrease stigma about the disease and those who have it, encouraging them to seek treatment and encouraging those who might have it, to seek testing. If the people who might have AIDS will be encouraged to seek testing because there will be no reason for them not to because it will be known that you can not get AIDS from sitting next to a person. We also need to educate the scientists who are denying the link between HIV and AIDS. The World Health Organization also needs to hire more scientists to assist us in this project. This is our plan to stop the spread of HIV and AIDS in Africa as well as other places in the world.

Posted by kmurr at 7:54 PM | Comments (16)

Monday, September 25th: Age of AIDS Continued

Age of Aids

We will finish watching sections from this video. Remember, you will be using the information from this video and the accompanying website to develop a solution to the AIDS crisis. Don’t forget to complete your chart while you are watching the video.

Solutions Session

You will get into a group of three to four in order to develop your solution. Once you get into your group, start developing your proposal. You will need to write your proposal in paragraph form. You need to make sure that you answer the following questions in your proposal:

-What are the goals of the program? Are you attempting to prevent the spread of AIDS, treat AIDS patients or both? Be sure to justify your choice.
-Which countries will be targeted? Poor countries? Countries with the highest rate of infection? Countries with the greatest potential of success?
-Who will implement your proposal? Africans? Americans? Another group?
-What will be the timeframe for your proposal? What do you want to accomplish and by when?
-How will you fund your proposal?

Your proposal should be a minimum of 400 words. You need to email me your proposal by 7:00 tonight.

Homework

The first part of your homework is to finish your proposal and email it to me by 7:00 PM tonight. The second part of your homework is to post a comment to the “Solutions Entry” on this blog (see above). Your comment should be at least five sentences long. Your comment should answer one or more of the following questions:

Your comment must be made by the start of class tomorrow.

Finally, you should continue to prepare for Thursday’s exam. Don’t forget to look at both of the essay questions.

Posted by kmurr at 9:32 AM | Comments (0)

September 22, 2006

Friday, September 22nd: Age of AIDS

Homework

You need to prepare for Monday’s class by looking at two different parts of the Age of Aids website. First, spend 30 minutes looking at the maps at this link. Spend the majority of your time at the HIV/AIDS in the World map. Click on the countries in Africa and read about how the AIDS epidemic has evolved in those countries. Be sure to look at Botswana, Uganda and South Africa.

Second, read about the different sources of funding described at this part of the site. This reading is complicated, but do your best to understand how the Global Fund, PEPFAR, World Bank, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation operate.

Your second unit test is next Thursday. Your test will have two parts. The first part of the test will be a twenty question multiple-choice test. The second part of the test will be an essay. This test will cover EVERYTHING that we have done since the last unit test. This includes decolonization, AIDS, Somalia and Rwanda.

You cannot use notes on the multiple-choice portion of the exam. You will be able to use a LIMITED number of notes for the essay exam. Please see the essay sheet for more information about the questions and for more information about what you can use on the exam.

Posted by kmurr at 9:59 AM | Comments (0)

September 21, 2006

Thursday, September 21st: United States on Trial

The United States on Trial

Both sides will get a little time to prepare and then the trial will begin.

Homework

You need to read the article from the Economist that I handed to you in class. Once you have read the article, try to put at least three ideas in each column of the chart I handed to you in class. In the “Proof of the Problem” column, put examples, facts, stories, etc. that provide evidence of the problems caused by the AIDS epidemic. In the “Causes of the Problem” column, list factors that have made the epidemic worse. For example, the article discusses how poverty makes it difficult for people to access the drugs that they need to treat AIDS. In the “Solutions to the Problem” column, write potential solutions to the AIDS crisis. These can be ideas in the article or your own ideas.

Posted by kmurr at 10:51 AM | Comments (0)

September 20, 2006

Wednesday, September 20th: Rwanda Continued

Anatomy of a Genocide

We will finish taking notes on the Rwandan genocide. These notes should help both sides to prepare for the debate tomorrow.

Homework

You need to prepare a half a page of notes for the trial tomorrow. Your notes should be a list of arguments that could support your side of the trial. Your notes do not need to be written in complete sentences. You will be expected to make two comments during the trial, so the more notes that you have, the more easily you will be able to make your comments.

Posted by kmurr at 7:15 PM | Comments (0)

September 19, 2006

Tuesday, September 19th: Anatomy of a Genocide

Presidential Decision Directive 25

Let's discuss your homework from last night. Be ready to comment on whether or not you agree with PDD 25.

Genocide in Rwanda

Right now, I am going to give you some information about what happened in Rwanda in 1994. What we will discuss is horrifying, but we need to confront this history so that we can think about how the world responded to this situation and about how to prevent future "Rwandas" from taking place.

Use this note guide to help you follow the discussion.

Homework

Now that you have the facts about what took place in Rwanda, you need to consider the U.S. reaction and whether it was negligent in its dealings with Rwanda. In order to do this, you will be taking on the role of a prosecuting attorney or a defense attorney. As an attorney your job will be to review this information and to build a case against the U.S. if you are a prosecutor or to defend the U.S. against a negligence charge if you are a defense attorney.

You need to prepare your case for tomorrow's class. At the end of class today, you received your assignment for the debate. The half sheet of paper that you received says that you are either a prosecuting attorney (You will argue that the U.S. was negligent in its dealings with Rwanda.) or a defense attorney (You will argue that the U.S. was NOT negligent in its dealings with Rwanda.). You also received two documents. Everyone received the "genocide fax." Everyone needs to understand this document for tomorrow. You also received an additional document that could act as a piece of evidence in your case. You need to read this document and figure out how it could support your side of the debate. Everyone has a different document, so don't worry if you have a document that is different from your neighbor's document.

Once you have read both of the documents, think about the questions on the half sheet of paper. Then, brainstorm ideas that you can use to support your case. I expect a half sheet of notes by Thursday from each of you. These should be your OWN ideas about what your side can do to win the debate.

This is a challenging assignment, but don't be afraid to get into it. Be creative in developing your ideas and think about all of the things that we have studied over the past few days when building your cases.

Posted by kmurr at 9:21 AM | Comments (0)

September 18, 2006

Monday, September 18th: Intervention and Blackhawk Down

Ambush in Mogadishu

We will finish the movie that we started on Friday. Be ready to share answers and opinions as we discuss the questions associated with the movie.

Homework

In 1994, the Clinton administration released a major policy statement. This policy statement is titled Presidential Decision Directive 25. A summary of PDD 25 is linked here. Read the summary and then think about the questions written below the summary. Take 15 minutes (no more, no less) to answer the four questions.

Posted by kmurr at 8:33 AM | Comments (0)

September 15, 2006

Friday, September 15th: Beyond Blackhawk Down

Independence Movements in Africa

We will finish our discussion about the potential for justifiable violence. Be ready to discuss the notes that you read for homework and the readings that we did yesterday in class.

Introduction to Somalia

In December of 1992, George Bush (the outgoing president of the United States) sent a peacekeeping force of U.S. soldiers into Somalia. In October of 1993 these peacekeeping soldiers (by then under the control of President Bill Clinton) were involved in a fierce battle in Somalia's capital city of Mogadishu. This battle, which was depicted in the popular movie Blackhawk Down, had a profound effect on the U.S. view of the world.

In order to more fully understand this story, you need some background information on Somalia. In order to obtain this information, we will watch parts of the Frontline production "Ambush in Mogadishu." Download these questions and answer them as we watch the movie. We will stop and discuss the movie at a number of different points.

Homework

There is no homework for the weekend. Enjoy!

Posted by kmurr at 9:22 AM | Comments (0)

September 14, 2006

Thursday, September 14th: Is Violence the Answer?

Kenneth Kaunda and Frantz Fanon

Now that we have learned about the impacts of colonization, we need to talk about the end of colonization. During the 1950s and 1960s, a large number of African colonies achieved their independence. Many of these colonies obtained their independence through the use of violence. This use of violence flies in the face of what many of you may have learned about how to meet goals and deal with the problems facing you. Let's explore the assumption that violence is never the answer by discussing the writings (I will hand these out in class.) of two different individuals who wanted independence for African countries. We will have some quiet reading time in class and then you will get into groups of two to three to answer the following questions:

Kenneth Kaunda:

1. Would Kaunda discriminate against whites?

2. According to Kaunda, why have whites done what they have done? Are, according to Kaunda, whites evil?

3. What does Kaunda say the West could learn from Africa?

Frantz Fanon

1. Why do you think Fanon thinks decolonization must always be violent?

2. What does “the last shall be first and the first last” mean?

3. Should Africa just catch up to Europe?

Is Violence Ever the Answer?

Now that we have a basic understanding of these two authors’ ideas, let’s have a more general discussion about the role of violence in our lives. We will use some of the following questions to get started.

Do the ends justify the means?

Why do so many people in this country seem to prefer the use of non-violence?

Can non-violence work in a country that isn't a democracy?

Should those who use violence to achieve "worthy" goals be condemned?

Are there negative impacts to using violence in order to achieve "worthy" goals?

Should we always respond to violence with violence?

Homework

Read through these notes on the independence movements of Ghana, Algeria and the Belgian Congo. Try to compare and contrast these three independence movements as you read the information. Be prepared to answer questions about these notes tomorrow in class.

Posted by kmurr at 9:07 AM | Comments (0)

September 11, 2006

Monday, September 11th: Assessing the Impacts of Colonialism

Guest speaker....

I have to stay home today because Ben is sick. Mr. Vergin will be your teacher. Be nice to him and listen.

9-11 Five Years Later

As you probably know, the attacks of 9-11 took place five years ago today. We will spend a lot of time discussing this during the Middle East unit, but we can take a few minutes to reflect on the impacts of 9-11 today.

Direct versus Indirect Control

We will revisit our plans for colonization and then review the characteristics of direct and indirect control. You will be working in pairs for part of this activity.

Writing Essays in Regional Studies

Your first essay exam is on Wednesday. You will have to write an in-class essay on one of three questions. I want to talk as a class about how to write an essay, so that you understand my expectations. If you haven’t already looked at it, make sure that you download and read the “How to Write” guide.

The Impacts of Colonization

We will start this discussion today and finish it tomorrow. You are going to need to do a little bit of thinking about how European colonization could have had positive and negative impacts on Africa. You are going to get into a group of three to four and brainstorm about the political, economic and social impacts of colonization on Africa. You are going to need to be a little creative as you think about these impacts because we haven’t actually studied these impacts yet or read about them. Use the following questions to help your brainstorming.

Political
-Was there more or less conflict as a result of colonization?
-How could African governments have benefited from colonization?
-Were Africans able to control their own governments during colonization? How would this impact Africa?
-What impact did colonization have on equality?

Economic
-What did Europeans build in Africa that could have benefited African economies?
-What part of the African economies grew during colonization?
-Did trade with Europe increase or decrease as a result of colonization?
-Under the colonial system, who produced finished goods? How would this impact African economies?

Social
-Would colonization expose Africans to new ideas? Is this a positive or negative thing?
-What were the impacts of colonization on medicine and education for Africans?
-What were the psychological impacts of colonization? How would colonization make Africans feel?

Homework

Study for the test. It is on Wednesday. Remember to make your note sheet for the multiple-choice test and to prepare for the essay test. Email me with any of your questions.

If you didn’t finish your brainstorming for the colonial ledger, do that for homework. We will finish this discussion tomorrow in class.

Posted by kmurr at 8:25 AM | Comments (0)

September 8, 2006

Friday, September 8th: Practicing Colonization

Exam Discussion

We discussed Wednesday's exam yesterday in fourth block, but not during second block. So, during second block today we will talk about your first exam.

Notes on Imperialism

We will use the conclusions that you drew during the cartoon activity to create a few notes on imperialism. Use this note guide to help organize your ideas.

Let’s Practice Colonization

Today we will be conquering the seventh graders . . . well, we will be planning our colonization of the seventh graders. We have two major options when it comes to how to rule these students and we need to discuss these options. One option is called direct rule, while the other option in called indirect rule. I will explain the basics of these two options and then we will discuss the following questions:

-Which method gives the most power to the seventh graders? Could this be a problem?
-Which method gives us the most power? Why is this?
-Which method is the most cost effective for us?
-Which method will create the most support amongst the seventh graders? How could we take advantage of this?
-Which method is best for the seventh graders? Should we consider this?
-Which form of rule would be most approved of by the other grades? Why should we consider this issue?

Homework

Begin preparing for the exam. Start putting together your sheet of notes for the multiple-choice test. Also, start thinking about which essay question you are going to answer. You can now answer the first and second questions. You may even want to begin writing your outline for your essay. If you would like to do this, you might want to look at some of my guidelines for writing an essay. We will go over these on Monday.

Posted by kmurr at 9:16 AM | Comments (0)

September 7, 2006

Thursday, September 7th: Imperialism in Africa

Physical Geography Quiz

Good luck!

The Search for Facts in the Funnies

You will complete a fact-finding mission in a small group today. You will use a series of cartoons to determine as many facts as you can about European imperialism in Africa. All of the cartoons were drawn in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s and all of them deal with imperialism. You will also look at an excerpt from a poem and at an advertisement for soap. As you look at all of these different primary sources in search of your facts, think about the following questions:

What were the motivations for European imperialism? In other words, why did Europe want to take over African territory?

-What were the economic motivations?
-What were the political motivations?
-What were the moral motivations?

What countries were involved with imperialism and to what extent were they involved?

How were Africans involved with imperialism?

How did imperialism take place?

What were the impacts of imperialism on Africa?

Links to the Cartoons

He Came to Bless and Remained to Prey

The Congo Rubber Fetish

The White Man’s Burden

The White (?) Man’s Burden

Lightening the White Man’s Burden

Notes on Imperialism

We will use the conclusions that you drew during the cartoon activity to add to a few notes on imperialism. Use this note guide to help organize your ideas.

Homework

Start thinking about next week’s exam. It will be on Wednesday.

Posted by kmurr at 8:43 AM | Comments (0)

September 6, 2006

Wednesday, September 6th: Reparations Debate

Reparations Debate

Now that you have a more complete understanding of the European slave trade in Africa, let’s discuss one of the current debates associated with slavery. Specifically, I want to discuss the proposal to give the descendents of slaves money as compensation for the suffering of their ancestors. This financial compensation is called reparations. We will debate whether or not reparations should be given to the descendents of slaves. Think about the follow questions as we debate.

Does slavery continue to impact our society today? If so, how?

Should current generations be held responsible for past generations’ mistakes?

How much money should people receive? Can a value be placed on someone’s suffering?

Can the United States afford to pay reparations? Should this even be a consideration?

If the United States pays reparations to the descendents of slaves, will it have to pay reparations to other groups?

First Unit Test

Next Wednesday you will have your first unit test. It will cover everything that we have studied since the beginning of the quarter. For part of the test, you will need to write an essay in class. For this first test I am going to give you the essay questions ahead of time. You pick the question you like the most and prepare for writing the essay as much as you would like. Don't worry! We will talk about this later in the week, but I did want to give you the questions today so you could start thinking about them.

There will also be a 20 point multiple-choice section on the test. You will be allowed to use one page of notes, front and back, on this part of the test. These notes can be typed, but they should use 12 point font or larger and the margins should be one inch on the top and bottom and on the left and right. You cannot copy a classmate's note sheet.

**If your sheet violates any of these rules, I reserve the right to take it away from you, to take points off of your test or to cut your sheet down to make it conform with the rules.

You will be able to use whatever you would like on the essay portion of the exam, as long as it is printed out. You will be typing your essays.

Homework

Don't forget to study for your physical geography quiz. It is tomorrow.

Read over the description of next week's test (see above). YOU DO NOT NEED TO WRITE AN ESSAY FOR TOMORROW'S CLASS. JUST READ OVER THE QUESTIONS. We will talk more tomorrow.

Posted by kmurr at 6:31 AM | Comments (0)

September 5, 2006

Tuesday, September 5th: The Atlantic Slave Trade

Political Geography Quiz

We will complete this quiz right away. Good luck!!

Notes on the Slave Trade

Last week, you completed a short activity using a series of images associated with the slave trade. This activity was supposed to help you remember what you have already learned about the slave trade. Today, we will build on what you know to create a more in-depth picture of the African slave trade. Be prepared to answer some questions about the images that you looked at last week. Download this note guide to help you take notes.

Reparations Debate

Does slavery continue to impact our society today? If so, how?

Should current generations be held responsible for past generations’ mistakes?

How much money should people receive? Can a value be placed on someone’s suffering?

Can the United States afford to pay reparations? Should this even be a consideration?

If the United States pays reparations to the descendents of slaves, will it have to pay reparations to other groups?

Homework

Make sure that you are studying for the physical geography quiz on Thursday.

Posted by kmurr at 6:33 AM | Comments (0)