DBQ Debrief: Attitudes Toward Technology in Rome and Han China

1. DBQ Debrief: Attitudes Toward Technology in Rome and Han China

2. Unacceptable Theses • “Although the Han and Roman attitudes toward technology are different in some ways, they are also alike.” • “The Roman upper class admired technological innovation, but the Han upper class looked down on those who created technology.”

3. C) “Han China and Rome had both positive and negative attitudes toward technology.” D) “Both the Han Chinese and Romans had positive attitudes toward technology.”

4. Acceptable Thesis “Throughout China there was a majority appreciation of technological advancement with a few against it, while in the Roman empire, the view was split between support and pessimism.”

5. Excellent Thesis “Han China’s attitude toward manufacturing and labor was more open and positive than the Roman upper class’s disdain for labor. The Romans had a more class-divided society, causing general attitudes of labor and technology to be low.”

6. Analyzes Point of View in at Least Two Documents-1 Core Point • Explains why an individual person, organization, etc., might have had a particular opinion. • Must move beyond a mere description of the individual or organization.

7. Unacceptable • “The source, though, was a Greek-born Roman citizen, so it is questionable exactly how reliable the source is.” • “Huan Tan was an upper class philosopher who had the point of view that the invention of the pestle and the mortar was made by the great and mythological emperor.”

8. Acceptable “This is interesting, because although one would expect a Han government official to praise the current government and its decisions, he is opposed to what the government is doing and is showing concern for the poor peasants.”

9. “The writer (Doc. 4) could have possibly been trying to please the emperor in order to obtain or maintain a higher ranking office.”

10. Analyzes documents by grouping them in two or three ways depending on the question-1 Core Point • Documents must be grouped in three ways. -Author? -Subject matter? -POV?

11. Unacceptable • “Documents 1-4 are all from Han China, while documents 5-8 are all from Rome.” • “Documents 1,2 and 4-8 are all written by gov’t officials.” • “Document 5 reflects a Roman upper class attitude. Document 7 also reflects an upper class attitude typical of Rome.”

12. Acceptable “Roman government officials’ (Docs 5 and 7) attitude toward technology was consistently colored by their attitudes toward the ‘vulgar’ or ‘not elevated’ people that used that technology.”

13. Identifies and explains the need for one type of appropriate additional document or source-1 Core Point • Identifies and explains the need for one type of appropriate additional document or source

14. Unacceptable • “It would be good to have a document from a peasant.” • “None of these documents represent a woman’s perspective.”

15. Acceptable • “Docs 5 and 7 reflect only the opinion of the upper class. An additional document explaining the view of a craftsman would provide a balance of opinions.” • “After seeing the opinions of high government officials and upper class philosophers who didn’t use technology, it is clear that the opinion of a common worker or civilian who actually used technology would be helpful.”