Where is America Going??

1. Where is America Going?? Part 1: Social needs, Social activism, Public policy

2. President Kennedy determines a social need

3. Americaneeds ‘soldiers of peace’ Peace Corps est. 1961

4. Functions of the Peace Corps • helping the people of interested countries and areas meet their needs for trained workers • helping promote a better understanding of Americans in countries where volunteers served • helping promote a better understanding of peoples of other nations

5. Student activism • Kennedy, arriving late to speak to students at the University of Michigan on October 14, 1960, found himself thronged by a crowd of 10,000 students at 2 o'clock in the morning. Speaking extemporaneously, the Presidential candidate challenged American youth to devote a part of their lives to living and working in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. • Have you ever been challenged to do something? What was it? • What are other possible options to ‘help people’? • http://movieclips.com/AkQfJ-zoolander-movie-models-help-people/31.86/70.93

6. Successes and Failures of Peace Corps and other Government humanitarian aid • Reflecting on his time in Malawi, travel writer Paul Theroux, writes “Those countries are still poor. We were the ones who were enriched, and sometimes I think that we reminded these people – as if they needed such a thing – that they were left out.”

7. Some criticize the Peace Corps as learning experiences for the privileged. • “Is another educational opportunity for people of privilege really an appropriate, let alone optimal, response to poverty?” David Kortava • Kortava argues, “Short of restructuring the organization as a development agency comprising skilled professionals – doctors, engineers, horticulturalists, et al – capable of bringing about some measurable impact on the health and welfare of hosting communities, there is little justification for continued public financing of what is essentially an expensive study abroad program while people die for want of so little.”

8. Other programs helping ‘the poor’ • http://vimeo.com/26883262 • Teach for America: Enlisting Committed Individuals • They recruit a diverse group of leaders with a record of achievement who work to expand educational opportunity, starting by teaching for two years in a low-income community. • Non-profit organization that is funded by government grants and private donors • In 2010, 46,366 candidates applied and 5,827 were initially admitted, making the acceptance rate 12.6%.

9. At Harvard, 293 seniors, or 18 percent of the class, applied, compared with 100 seniors in 2007. • Teach for America has become an elite brand that will help build a résumé • members earn a beginning teacher’s salary in the districts where they’re placed could be up to $50,000 • In contrast, the Peace Corpspays a cost-of-living allowance adjusted for each country where volunteers work, and a $7,500 stipend when the 27-month stint is finished. Elitism? Source: “A Chosen Few are Teaching for America” New York Times article

11. Citizen Action Public policy, social issues, role of the Supreme Court

12. Supreme Court role in public policyhttp://www.pbs.org/wnet/supremecourt/index.html 1. History of the Court: what was the Supreme Court concerned with primarily at first? (see ‘Court History’) 2. What was Chief Justice Roger Taney (1836-1864) best known for? (see ‘biographies of the robes’) • 3. Why is the Gideon v. Wainwright (1963) case considered ‘landmark’? • 4. Why is Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978) a landmark case?

13. Primary Sources—Supreme Court • 5. Editorial regarding Dred Scott decision: “The decision in the Dred Scott case must be a finality, so far as the federal legislation on the institution of slavery is concerned. The fact has gone forth, the Constitution has been construed, and Congress must conform. Abolitionism must now unmask, and wage its warfare openly and above board against the government per se or bow to its behests and pass off the stage. Which alternative it will adopt, it needs no seer to say.” • What does this mean and what was the source?

14. Future of the Court • 6. Court History, page 2, paragraph 3. What are some possible battles the Supreme Court may have to face in the future? Which do you predict will impact your life the most? • 7. What do the cases Grutter v. Bollinger and Gratz v. Bollinger address? What case from earlier in history do they relate to? • 8. Look at the primary sources under ‘future of the court’, view the SCOTUSblog link and report on 1 recent court decision

15. Senior Citizen Activism!

16. Senior citizens • Became politically active in the 1980s. • How could advancements in technology have influenced seniors to become more politically active? • Opposed to: government cuts to Social Security • Social security is a social insurance program that is funded through payroll taxes. If you have a job, you are paying into it right NOW! • It includes retirement benefits and disability benefits, widows, children

18. Concern with Social Security • http://youtu.be/NzP5WX0XJjc • Life expectancy • http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/population/longevity.html • Retirement Age: http://www.ssa.gov/retire2/retirechart.htm • Senior citizens are effective citizen action groups because they vote in large numbers • AARP—founded 1958

19. Seniors are also…. • Concerned with: Medicare • Government social health insurance for those over 65 • Medicare covers about half (48%) of medical expenses, enrollee must cover the rest. • Why is a social insurance program like Medicare necessary?

20. Activism in Schools

21. Social Activism in the 1980’s • Activism in Schools • Nancy Reagan and “Just Say No”

22. Drinking. & Drugs in schools. • New Jersey v. T.L.O • Schools can search without a warrant if there is reasonable cause • 1995: random drug tests do not violate Fourth Amendment rights • M.A.D.D.: Mothers Against Drunk Driving • Founded in 1984 to stop underage drinking and drunk driving in general • 1984: Congress cut highway funds to any state that didn’t raise drinking age to 21. Within 4 years, all states complied.

23. The end.