I'm incredibly grateful to all the Martinican students who answered the question, "What does it mean to be Martinican?" I think just reading a few of your posts gave me a deeper appreciation for the life and culture of this irrefutably beautiful island.
In attempt to have some grounding in our discussion as to what it might be like to be American I'd like you to read the prologue to The Audacity of Hope: http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/excerpts/2008-01-15-The-Audacity-of-Hope_N.htm
Oceane was right when she said that the Fort Hood article was too long. The entire book by Obama is, in my opinion, interesting and worth reading. For class, however, I am only asking you to read paragraphs 18-25 of this excerpt, from "But whether I was meeting with..." to the end of the paragraph that begins, "My argument, however,..."
To guide your reading you might consider these two questions: What are the common themes that Obama finds in most Americans regardless of their age, ethnicity, political party or religion? Does his view match with what you see and read in the media? You may answer those questions in this blog or you may continue with the previous blog questions on carbon tax and Martinican identity. Remember some of you are behind in your blogging and need to do two posts.
Cindy has volunteered to present Obama's ideas outlined here. If you'd like to present another aspect of Obama's book or another aspect of American identity (it is a crucial question for all of you reading Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography!) please let me know.
I know I'm a little late in posting and I deeply apologize if I've caused any of you inconvenience. Sorry!
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Friday, November 20, 2009
A vous de choisir - Your choice
Once again I'd like to thank all the people who took the time to post their answers to the questions last week. Last week in Martinique I was introduced to the two other Americans who live on the island. I mention this to highlight the fact that Martinique is not the center of many divergent cultures and I think we all gained a lot from the various views on what it might mean to be Muslim in America. I also found it interesting to see the diversity of opinion regarding our need to balance our desire for security in the face of increasingly common acts of terrorism and our desire to hold on to our civil liberties. It certainly animated our class discussion considerably. Thank you.
This week you have a choice as to what you'd like to post.
1. Ms. Aucoin thought it would be interesting if the students at QHSS explained a little bit about their research projects. I think it might indeed be very beneficial for the students at Bellevue to read about a variety of topics because they never know what type of article they might get on the day of their final exam.
2. In our literture class we are beginning to study Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography. He is writing partially in response to a French immigrant farmer Hector St. Jean de Crevecoeur
http://www.civics-online.org/library/formatted/texts/crevecoeur.html
who lived in New England and describes what it's like to be an American in 1781. What does Crevecoeur think it means to be an American? What do you think it means to be an American? Is the self-made man concept a myth? What does it mean to be Martinican? To what degree is the desire to work hard, educate yourself and better your life and that of your fellow citizens true of all humans and certainly not reserved to any particular nationality? Are their certain structures needed to make sure everyone is able to realize his/her desires? To be clear, you might say that free quality education is necessary in order to capitalize on inherent qualities, yet Franklin only went to school for one year. Are their particular aspects of American society that promote or inhibit the realization of the self-made human being?
3. The article I've chosen for the week is about the current debate on carbon tax. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/18/opinion/18friedman.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=%22thomas%20friedman%22%20carbon%20tax&st=cse
How would the system work? Is it fair and why does Friedman think it is crucial?
This week you have a choice as to what you'd like to post.
1. Ms. Aucoin thought it would be interesting if the students at QHSS explained a little bit about their research projects. I think it might indeed be very beneficial for the students at Bellevue to read about a variety of topics because they never know what type of article they might get on the day of their final exam.
2. In our literture class we are beginning to study Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography. He is writing partially in response to a French immigrant farmer Hector St. Jean de Crevecoeur
http://www.civics-online.org/library/formatted/texts/crevecoeur.html
who lived in New England and describes what it's like to be an American in 1781. What does Crevecoeur think it means to be an American? What do you think it means to be an American? Is the self-made man concept a myth? What does it mean to be Martinican? To what degree is the desire to work hard, educate yourself and better your life and that of your fellow citizens true of all humans and certainly not reserved to any particular nationality? Are their certain structures needed to make sure everyone is able to realize his/her desires? To be clear, you might say that free quality education is necessary in order to capitalize on inherent qualities, yet Franklin only went to school for one year. Are their particular aspects of American society that promote or inhibit the realization of the self-made human being?
3. The article I've chosen for the week is about the current debate on carbon tax. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/18/opinion/18friedman.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=%22thomas%20friedman%22%20carbon%20tax&st=cse
How would the system work? Is it fair and why does Friedman think it is crucial?
Friday, November 13, 2009
"Fort Hood Killer"
Please read the following article from Time Magazine http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1938415,00.html
Some things to consider:
1. What does it mean to be a Muslim in the U.S.? The article suggests that some of the values of Islam are incompatible with being an American and upholding the Constitution. Is that indeed true and if so should Muslims be questioned more than other religions if they want to work in the military or other branches of the government? (Just for the record I find this idea completely anathema to all our American ideals.)
2. What is your response to this tragedy? We studied another article in class http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/sep/29/gun-violence-death-us in which Jenny Price states that in a country with 283 million fire arms it is hypocritical to be shocked by these mass killings. Do we need more gun control? Is it realistic to think it might pass through Congress despite the power of the NRA (National Rifle Association)?
Are we victims of powerful interest groups as much as we are of mass killers?
3. The article suggests that perhaps the tragedy occured because our military resources are overstretched due to our trying to fight the wars in Iraq qnd Afghanistan simultaneously. Do you agree and if so what is the solution?
4. I certainly appreciated all the posts that reaffirmed our need to uphold our civil liberties in general and the 4th Amendment in particular. How can we properly balance our need for security in the face of increasingly common acts of terrorism and our desire to hold on to our civil liberties?
Some things to consider:
1. What does it mean to be a Muslim in the U.S.? The article suggests that some of the values of Islam are incompatible with being an American and upholding the Constitution. Is that indeed true and if so should Muslims be questioned more than other religions if they want to work in the military or other branches of the government? (Just for the record I find this idea completely anathema to all our American ideals.)
2. What is your response to this tragedy? We studied another article in class http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/sep/29/gun-violence-death-us in which Jenny Price states that in a country with 283 million fire arms it is hypocritical to be shocked by these mass killings. Do we need more gun control? Is it realistic to think it might pass through Congress despite the power of the NRA (National Rifle Association)?
Are we victims of powerful interest groups as much as we are of mass killers?
3. The article suggests that perhaps the tragedy occured because our military resources are overstretched due to our trying to fight the wars in Iraq qnd Afghanistan simultaneously. Do you agree and if so what is the solution?
4. I certainly appreciated all the posts that reaffirmed our need to uphold our civil liberties in general and the 4th Amendment in particular. How can we properly balance our need for security in the face of increasingly common acts of terrorism and our desire to hold on to our civil liberties?
Friday, November 6, 2009
Savannah Redding and the Fourth Amendment
First I'd like to thank Ms. Aucoin and all of her fabulous students who posted their ideas on the blog. We ran into some technical glitches in Martinique but our participation should increase greatly. We really benefited from your many viewpoints and ideas and our class on the press was much livlier and significantly better informed than usual. I am extremely grateful to all of you.
This week's article is about Savana Redding and the Fourth Amendment:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/24/us/24savana.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&sq=Savana%20Redding&st=cse&scp=1
Here are some questions I came up with to guide your postings:
1. How important is the Fourth Amendment? Should it apply equally in and out of schools? Should it apply equally to minors and adults?
2. What role should schools play in enforcing the law? What values do you want to promote in schools and to what extent are we willing to do so? What behavior do we want to condemn and how much of the school's responsability is it to enforce the law and eradicate bad behavior? (In brainstorming together Ms. Aucoin and I thought this might be a good opportunity for you to exchange ideas on school culture. Lycee Bellevue is VERY DIFFERENT from Queens High School for the Sciences. For example there's No Spirit Week no Halloween Parades, few cultural and extracurricular trips or dances. I find those differences interesting and worth comparing.)
3. Should Savana Redding be awarded a lot of money for her humiliation and to act as a deterent for having schools violate students's rights? Many Americans believe that we need to have dramatic tort reform because lawsuits have become excessive and harmful to our society. My friend, a lawyer, argues that lawsuits often serve to make our world safer and better. Recently the cafeteria at lycee Bellevue was closed because it was considered unsafe. There is a lot of debate in Fort de France about closing le lycee Schoelcher (http://www.alfred-mariejeanne.com/spip.php?article30) because it is really falling apart and is considered to be very dangerous for the students and staff who go there. My immediate reaction was that in the U. S. no school district would have allowed students to go into these unsafe places. What is your opinion on lawsuits?
4. When you read the facts in this case do you think the school was justified in their suspicions of Redding? To what extent should schools police student behavior? When QHSS first opened I know there was a debate about allowing students to eat at the York College Cafeteria and that some students allegedly went onto campus to smoke. Is it the school's responsability to watch over students and make sure they aren't doing what they shouldn't be? In contrast, lycee Bellevue has a very open campus where students can go anywhere and do anything for their 2 hour ( a little more than the 48 minutes QHSS students have ) lunchbreak. Is it a good idea to allow students this freedom? If they leave campus should the school still be held responsible?
My thanks again for your amazing participation and an extra special thanks to Shavita for her French!
Mme
This week's article is about Savana Redding and the Fourth Amendment:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/24/us/24savana.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&sq=Savana%20Redding&st=cse&scp=1
Here are some questions I came up with to guide your postings:
1. How important is the Fourth Amendment? Should it apply equally in and out of schools? Should it apply equally to minors and adults?
2. What role should schools play in enforcing the law? What values do you want to promote in schools and to what extent are we willing to do so? What behavior do we want to condemn and how much of the school's responsability is it to enforce the law and eradicate bad behavior? (In brainstorming together Ms. Aucoin and I thought this might be a good opportunity for you to exchange ideas on school culture. Lycee Bellevue is VERY DIFFERENT from Queens High School for the Sciences. For example there's No Spirit Week no Halloween Parades, few cultural and extracurricular trips or dances. I find those differences interesting and worth comparing.)
3. Should Savana Redding be awarded a lot of money for her humiliation and to act as a deterent for having schools violate students's rights? Many Americans believe that we need to have dramatic tort reform because lawsuits have become excessive and harmful to our society. My friend, a lawyer, argues that lawsuits often serve to make our world safer and better. Recently the cafeteria at lycee Bellevue was closed because it was considered unsafe. There is a lot of debate in Fort de France about closing le lycee Schoelcher (http://www.alfred-mariejeanne.com/spip.php?article30) because it is really falling apart and is considered to be very dangerous for the students and staff who go there. My immediate reaction was that in the U. S. no school district would have allowed students to go into these unsafe places. What is your opinion on lawsuits?
4. When you read the facts in this case do you think the school was justified in their suspicions of Redding? To what extent should schools police student behavior? When QHSS first opened I know there was a debate about allowing students to eat at the York College Cafeteria and that some students allegedly went onto campus to smoke. Is it the school's responsability to watch over students and make sure they aren't doing what they shouldn't be? In contrast, lycee Bellevue has a very open campus where students can go anywhere and do anything for their 2 hour ( a little more than the 48 minutes QHSS students have ) lunchbreak. Is it a good idea to allow students this freedom? If they leave campus should the school still be held responsible?
My thanks again for your amazing participation and an extra special thanks to Shavita for her French!
Mme
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