Ideas for Teachers for February 2023

Jan 17, 2023

RESEARCH LINKS

Issue 1: TikTok Ban

SINCE ITS LAUNCH, TIKTOK has become a popular meeting place for under-25-year-olds, but recently the social media app is the subject of a slew of state bans and a U.S. national security probe.

Congress.gov: “S.5245 – ANTI-SOCIAL CCP Act”
Rubio/Gallagher OpEd: “TikTok, time’s up; app should be banned in America”
WSJ.com: “Senate Passes Bill Banning TikTok From Government Devices”
Gizmodo.com: “TikTok Owner Admits Employees Accessed Data of U.S. Users”
TheHill.com: “Lawmakers introduce bill to ban TikTok in U.S.”
Reuters.com: “U.S. lawmakers unveil bipartisan bid to ban China’s TikTok”
TheGuardian.com: “Revealed: How TikTok censors videos don’t please China”

Issue 2: Cryptocurrency
Congress.gov: “S.4760 Digital Commodities Consumer Protection Act of 2022”
Overview: “The Digital Commodities Consumer Protection Act Closes Gaps”
Marketplace.org: “Your questions about cryptocurrency answered”
cnbc.com: “Congress considers crypto consumer protection bill SBF backed”
Thomsonreuters.com: “Why the crypto economy needs stricter regulations”
coinmarketcap.com: “Impact of FTX’s Collapse Will Go Beyond Its Customers”

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

Issue 1: TikTok Ban

  1. Although they’re owned by the same company, China’s version of TikTok offers a child-friendly version, with educational videos and a time limit that isn’t offered in the U.S. Do you think it’s possible China is using TikTok to influence a generation of American youth with malevolent motives?
  2. Should TikTok be banned in the U.S.? Why or why not? If not, what alternative solutions do you suggest?
  3. U.S. lawmakers fear TikTok has become a tool for the dissemination of Chinese propaganda. In fact, sources have claimed that the Islamic State is posting propaganda on the app. Do these facts change your opinion of the situation? Why or why not?
  4. Is TikTok merely a fun video app, or something more insidious? If you were a parent, would you allow your kids to use the app? Why or why not?
  5. The app contains a great deal of private information about American users and this information is stored offshore. Is TikTok a threat to national security? Is it futile to worry about Chinese government surveillance in an age where all big tech companies (and the U.S. government) are spying on us anyway?

Issue 2: Cryptocurrency

  1. Some people believe that cryptocurrencies such as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are the new financing of the future. Do you agree? Why or why not?
  2. Certain lawmakers, such as Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), say cryptocurrencies need more regulation. What are the concerns about regulation, or lack thereof, and what do you think needs to be done?
  3. Warren says digital currency is not a “good way to buy and sell things and not a good investment and is an environmental disaster.” Is she correct?
  4. Should cryptocurrencies have to abide by the same regulations as securities, or should new rules be devised?
  5. Given the current lack of regulations on cryptocurrencies, would you feel safe investing all or part of your savings in it? Why or why not?

Ideas for Teachers for December 2022

Nov 9, 2022

RESEARCH LINKS

Issue 1: Social Media
Medium.com OpEd: “Section 230 – Mend It, Don’t End It”
National Review: “Elon Musk and the Third Era of Social Media”
“Communications Decency Act Pros and Cons”
Electronic Frontier Foundation: “Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act”
Lawfare Blog: “Supreme Court … Gonzalez v. Google and Twitter v. Taamneh”
NPR: “Democrats Hold Social Media Companies Responsible Health Misinformation”

Issue 2: Minimum Wage
Congress.gov: “H.R.603 – Raise the Wage Act of 2021”
House.gov: “Top Democrats Introduce Bill Raising Minimum Wage to $15 by 2025”
Senate.gov: “Raise the Wage Act of 2021 Fact Sheet”
Department of Labor: “History of Changes to the Minimum Wage Law”
Economic Policy Institute: “Why America Needs a $15 Minimum Wage”
raisetheminimumwage.com: “Letter to Congress Support Raising Minimum Wage”

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

Issue 1: Social Media

  1. If the government were to have censorship authority over social media platforms, would that result in the protection of Americans’ rights or loss of them? Explain your reasoning.
  2. In your own experience with social media, have you encountered rude or abusive behavior from others? If so, what do you think is a good solution to this problem?
  3. Should the social media platform itself be responsible for the comments of users? Why or why not?
  4. How does the Bill of Rights’ First Amendment protect free speech in the U.S.?
  5. Do you believe Section 230’s protections for big tech companies need to be revised? How would you revise them?

Issue 2: Minimum Wage

  1. Do you support or oppose raising the federal minimum wage? If you were speaking to a person who disagreed, what is the strongest argument in support of your position?
  2. If you were a business owner, would you want the minimum wage to increase? Why or why not?
  3. What are two arguments against raising the minimum wage? What are two arguments in favor of raising the minimum wage?
  4. How would a minimum-wage worker’s life be changed as a result of lifting the minimum wage from $7.25 per hour to $15 per hour?
  5. Places like New York, Oakland, San Francisco and Seattle have raised the minimum wage in their cities. Why do you think these places have raised their municipal minimum wage?

Teacher Spotlight on Elizabeth Randolph (Post, TX)

Oct 31, 2022

Snapshot

Name: Elizabeth Howard Randolph, M.Ed.
School Name: Mullin Garza County
School Location: Post, TX
Subject(s) Teaching: Social Studies (History, Geography, Government, & Economics)
Grade(s) Teaching: 8th–12th Grade
No. of Years Teaching: 16

Elizabeth Howard Randolph, M.Ed., has been teaching social studies to middle and high school students at Mullin Garza County for the past eight years, which represents half of Randolph’s 16-year teaching career. Located in the small town of Post, Texas, Garza County Regional Juvenile Center is a secure lockdown facility which provides residential treatment, sex offender treatment, counseling and therapy, and detention for pre-adjudicated youth.

Youth Making Their Voices Heard
Nearly all of Randolph’s students have been through the court system, and, yes, teaching in a correctional setting can be difficult, she admits. “The kids here are more of the at-risk and marginalized type students,” Randolph adds. “A lot of times their only experience with government has involved being prosecuted. They don’t understand how the government works and, more importantly, they don’t understand their role in the government process or where and how to make their voice heard.”

That is where the SGAP newsletter comes in. Randolph says she uses the SGAP program to help meet some of the civic knowledge requirements of her state’s standards—the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills or TEKS, which are like the Common Core standards, only more specific to Texas, Randolph says.

“Using the SGAP newsletter, students are asked to formulate an opinion on one of the topics and they will write about it based on facts and details,” Randolph says. “These students have some pretty strong feelings, so guiding them to use their voice in effective ways makes a huge difference. I emphasize that we choose to give our government some of our autonomy so that they can protect our rights, and that the purpose of this is so that we are able to live with the maximum levels of autonomy possible while being safe to live freely.”

Promoting a Positive Environment
To create a welcoming environment for her students, Randolph spends the first week of the school year establishing the ground rules for her classroom. “We have two classroom rules that are non-negotiable: Treat yourself and others with respect, and behave with dignity and self-control,” she says. “I introduce the philosophies of natural and unalienable rights and emphasize that each student is intrinsically valuable, which some of these kids have never been told.”

To instill a sense of pride in her students and encourage them to see themselves as a community of learners, Randolph buys students the supplies they need to succeed and takes care to decorate her classroom according to the season. “This makes a huge difference to kids who are used to getting the bare minimum,” she says.

Randolph keeps her classroom an open and inviting place to learn, so students feel emotionally safe enough to express their opinions on the issues and current events discussed in class. “We need to stress civic engagement and participation at all levels, and we need to teach our children to hold their leaders accountable,” Randolph says. “It is critical to teach our children to have civil discourse and discussion with others. We have lost the ability to disagree with others and still be civil.”

At the end of the school year, when she will say goodbye to her students, Randolph hopes they will use everything they learned in social studies class to make the world a better place. “I hope they remember that they are intrinsically valuable just because they are humans,” she adds. “I hope they learn to value themselves and others, and that they absolutely make the world better.”

Ideas for Teachers for November 2022 Issues

Oct 14, 2022

RESEARCH LINKS

Issue 1: Student Loan Debt

STUDENT LOAN BORROWERS in the United States owe a collective nearly $1.75 trillion in federal and private student loan debt as of August 2022, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

Congress.gov: H.R.8729 “Debt Cancellation Accountability Act of 2022”
Congress.gov: S.4483 “Debt Cancellation Accountability Act of 2022”
whitehouse.gov: “President Biden Announces Student Loan Relief 4 Borrowers”
GOP House.gov: “Biden’s Student Loan Giveaway to the Wealthy”
GOP House.gov: “CBO: Biden’s Biggest Executive Actions Come with Price Tag”
Wall Street Journal: “Biden’s Student Loan Forgiveness Plan to Cancel Debt”
Associated Press: “GOP states sue Biden administration over student loan plan”

Issue 2: Puerto Rico Statehood
Congress.gov: H.R.8393 “Puerto Rico Status Act”
House.gov: “Chair Grijalva Introduces Historic Puerto Rico Status Act”
LatinoRebels.com: “Puerto Rico Status Act Stalls in House, ‘Outside Interests’”
House.gov: “Rep. García’s Statement on His Vote on the Puerto Rico Status Act”
PuertoRicoReport.com: “Supporters Rally for the Puerto Rico Status Act”
CRS: “Statehood Process + Political Status of U.S. Territories”

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

Issue 1: Student Loan Debt

  1. Should any student debt be canceled? If so, who is “deserving” of cancellation, and on what timeline?
  2. If all future students were provided with a pathway to a debt-free public college going forward, does that make student debt cancellation more or less reasonable?
  3. Why is the question over forgiving federal student loan debt so controversial?
  4. How have the opportunities in the job market for someone with a degree changed in the last 10 to 50 years?
  5. Is it important to have a significant number of young people attend college, including young people that are going to require loans to afford college?

Issue 2: Puerto Rico Statehood

  1. Do you support or oppose H.R.8393? If you were speaking to a person who disagreed with you, what would you say is the strongest argument in support of your position?
  2. Should Puerto Rico be granted statehood? Why or why not?
  3. What other policies could mitigate the problems seen by proponents of statehood? Explain your answer(s).
  4. Should any or all of the other U.S. territories be granted statehood? Why or why not?
  5. What other measures might be considered, if any, to resolve Puerto Ricans’ lack of representation in Congress, citizenship, and other concerns?

Teacher Spotlight on Lisa Hintz (Fayette, Ohio)

Sep 30, 2022

Snapshot

Lisa Hintz is an English and Government Teacher at Fayette Local School in Fayette, Ohio.

Lisa Hintz is an English and Government Teacher at Fayette Local School in Fayette, Ohio.

Name: Lisa Hintz
School Name: Fayette Local School District
Location: Fayette, Ohio
Grades/Subjects Taught: Middle School English; High School Government
No. of Years Teaching: 16 years

For more than 80 years, residents of Fulton County, Ohio, have consistently voted for Republican candidates for U.S. president, with few exceptions. But Lisa Hintz, English and Government Teacher at Fayette Local School District in Fayette, Ohio—a village in Fulton County—is ensuring political discourse and debate take place on both sides of the aisle.

Round Table Debates
Hintz purposefully pushes her students to see the other side’s perspective by having them argue the opposite of how they feel in her “round table debates.” She organizes the students’ chairs and desks in a circle, so the students have to face each other. And she polls the students before assigning their role in debates, so she can give them the opposite side.

“I believe it is important to teach common discourse,” Hintz says. “I started the round tables with students facing each other because people can be so opinionated on certain topics. Honestly, the way the world is and how everyone is so busy yelling over and at each other, I wanted to add depth to our discussions and debates.”

Hintz says she received pushback from the students initially, but then they started to see the other side. “It may not have swayed their opinions, but they had to research the topic, look for opposing views, and gather them from multiple sites. Students are graded on their participation and knowledge of the subject. To this day, my former students comment on some of our debates and how much fun they had.”

Government Groove
Hintz is just now getting back into teaching Government classes, after taking a hiatus and focusing more on English. Now she is back to teaching Government and finds herself drawn to incorporating a current events-based approach to her teaching.

“Going from Government to high school English to middle school English, the dynamics have changed, and I had a flow from History to Government,” Hintz explains. “Now I am working to bring that flow back by encouraging reading comprehension and being actively involved with what is happening in the world.”

Each class period, Hintz devotes five to ten minutes to discussing current events in local, national and/or international news. “I believe it has to be more than the textbook and feeding answers,” she says. “Creating curiosity in my students about our government and the world is important to me. I try to help my students see more than what is popular in the news and learn to research before they speak.”

But Hintz is certainly aware of media bias and she says she challenges her students to watch and compare the news outlets for what they do and don’t cover. “The day Queen Elizabeth died, I had students running down the hall to give me the news. I became a little choked up, because these were students who normally would not pay attention, but now are constantly asking questions and digging deeper. I love what I do, and, man, that day, I felt like, hey, I can make a difference.”

Hintz is indeed making a difference in her corner of the world, and her students will no doubt remember her influence in their lives for years to come.

 

Ideas for Teachers for October 2022 Issues

Sep 17, 2022

RESEARCH LINKS

Issue 1: Methane Emissions
Regulations.gov: “EPA’s Proposed Rule on Emissions Guidelines”
Congressional Research Service: “IRA Methane Emissions Charge Brief”
Competitive Enterprise Institute: “Biden Methane Rule Would Cause Decline”
Washington Post: “Biden Unveils New Rules to Curb Methane”
The National Law Review: “EPA Proposes New Methane Regulations”
RMI.org: “Methane: A Threat to People and the Planet”

Issue 2: For the People Act
Congress.gov: H.R.1 – “For the People Act of 2021”
Conservative Action Project: “Conservatives Oppose H.R.1, Fantasy of the Left”
Brennan Center for Justice: “Congress Must Pass the ‘For the People Act’”
Roll Call: “10 Things You Might Not Know about H.R.1”
Heritage Foundation: “H.R.1 Is a Threat to American Democracy”
Fox News: “H.R.1 Imperils Free and Fair Elections, Here Are the Worst Parts”
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) OpEd: “Why I’m Against the For the People Act”

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

Issue 1: Methane Emissions

  1. Where do you stand on whether the U.S. government, and specifically the Environmental Protection Agency, should be doing about global warming and climate change?
  2. Why are methane emissions from transportation a problem? Do you have any suggestions for how methane emissions can be reduced?
  3. What alternative sources of fuel or other means of transport are available, which would reduce emissions?
  4. How does the distance from your school effect your emissions? How did your grandparents travel to school? How do you think your grandchildren will travel to school?
  5. Do you think recent changes in climate and weather are more attributed to natural or human causes? Explain your reasons.

Issue 2: For the People Act
1. Do you support or oppose H.R.1? If you were speaking to a person who disagreed with you, what would you say is the strongest argument in support of your position?
2. Does H.R.1 represent federal government overreach into territory best left to the states? Why or why not?
3. Are the bill’s ethics provisions necessary? Why or why not?
4. Are H.R.1’s improvements in access to elections, through ease of registration, early voting, and more accurate voter rolls, necessary? Why or why not?
5. Do the disclosure provisions around political ads and political spending represent a threat to free speech, or a needed opening to identify who is influencing our democracy?