EDUC 336: Half a Revolution & The Early Women's Movement

What is the meaning of the American Revolution? Was it a mere event frozen in time? Should the American Revolution be viewed as perpetual? I'm reminded here of the idea of "Permanent Revolution," though specific to American society. Setting aside Marx and Trotsky's ideas particular to communist or workers' revolutions, what possible applications are there to American history? As the documents in Chs 5 & 6 in Voices clearly show, the American Revolution was clearly not for all Americans and was quite possibly brought about by and for an elite cadre of merchants and other businessmen fed up with British mercantilism (see Charles Beard). What evidence do you find in the reading that supports these ideas? How might you use these sources to support or challenge nationalism in your classroom?

EDUC 336: "Democratic Humanism" and Christianity

After reading the definition(s) of humanism found at the American Humanist Association, answer the following question in one post and then comment on another post.

Given Barton & Levstik's fondness of "Democratic Humanism" as the dominant ethos for social studies educators, we should pursue the philosophy's meaning a bit deeper. While it's possible that Barton and Levstik use the term "humanism" in the generic sense of "the betterment of humanity," it seems that their overall philosophy presented in the book is consistent with many of the humanist values enunciated by the AHA. It's important to note here that there is certainly such a thing as "Christian Humanism" and that the first Humanists were in fact Christians. That being said, what is your impression of Humanism as a philosophy, as it pertains to social studies education? Do you see it in direct conflict with Christian values and worldview or are Humanist and Christian values reconcilable? Should "Democratic Humanism" be embraced or rejected by Christian educators?

The Industrial Food System

Based on our reading of Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation and viewing of King Corn, what in your opinion needs to be done to change how our society feeds itself? Should local and state governments consider banning or taxing various harmful "foods" as some governments have banned trans fats?
Or, should we change our farm program (agricultural subsidies) to encourage more high nutrition, sustainable foods as opposed to low nutrition crops like corn & soybeans? In other words is it better to change the system at the producer end or at the consumer end?

Give a thoughtful response of your own and then respond to at least two other posts.

EDUC 336 Discussion: Your Worldview and Your Teaching

To what extent should a social studies teacher's personal worldview impact their teaching? Is it inevitable that a teacher's personal biases and presuppositions will impact their classroom? How comfortable will you be with displaying your own worldview through your teaching? Social Studies, perhaps more than any other discipline, poses this dilemma for teachers. How will you grapple with this as you craft your own philosophy of social studies education?

Give a thoughtful response to these questions and then comment on two or more of the other posts (for this you might want to wait a day or two to let the discussion build).

* One note* Before class on next Tuesday (1/20), the pages numbers for the Singer book (in the course outline) are for the 2nd edition - you should read the entire first chapter for this week and then one chapter per week after that.

The Panama Deception & Confessions of an Economic Hitman

After reading the chapters about Panama in John Perkins's Confessions of an Economic Hitman and watching The Panama Deception, what is your initial reaction? Also, what similarities are there between US actions towards Panama in the 1980's and American foreign policy today?


You should leave one comment of your own and then follow up by commenting on two other commentator's posts.

The God, Guns, Gays Agenda

In what may be a passing era, the Republican party has been very successful (until now) in mobilizing support behind their candidates because of their "conservative" positions on abortion, same-sex marriage, sex education, and many other related issues. The films "Friends of God" and "The Education of Shelby Knox" describe the strong sentiments of people who support conservative stances on these issues as well as those who take more liberal positions.

Where do you stand on these issues? How important are these issues to you? You may reference either of the films or the discussions that we had in class. Be sure to comment for yourself and to comment on someone else's comment.

Takin' Care of Business

America has always been somewhat of a plutocracy, to one extent or another, ruled by the rich. Yes, there are those moments in history when the working people have shared some of that power, but it was won by blood and tears. We'll take a look at some of these struggles in the coming weeks, including examples from history and from more recent years and the present.

The Bush administration is not yet totally irrelevant, and given the damage they've done it will be quite some time before they will be. In the last days of their lame duck administration, limping toward the finish line, they are pushing through a wide range of bureaucratic changes that will make things easier for big business at the expense of working people. OMB Watch has compiled a list of changes that the Bush admin is attempting to push through, it includes these provisions :

" A rule to ease restrictions on mountaintop mining companies was first proposed in January 2004. The rule would allow the companies to dump the waste generated by mountaintop mining into rivers and streams. "

"For a rule that would exempt factory farms from reporting air emissions from animal waste, officials from the White House and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency met with representatives from the poultry, pork, and turkey farm lobbies."

"An upcoming rule that will make it more difficult for employees to claim unpaid leave for family and medical emergencies mirrors part of the request of the National Association of Manufacturers, a lobbying group."

" While some rules have been rushed, others have been in development for years. Critics have long feared upcoming rules that will make it easier for power plants to avoid installing pollution controls or allow trucking companies to force their drivers to work 11-hour shifts."

Every administration does crazy things at the end of its tenure, remember that Clinton, on his last day in office, pardoned notorious white collar criminal Marc Rich. What Bush is attempting to do with his last days in office will be far more harmful to working people in ways that may be hard for Obama or Congress to overturn.

For more information on this issue see this report from Democracy Now!