Shifting to Modern Liberalism

For the last two weeks, we have been looking at Capitalism and Communism and what the pros and cons of both systems are.  Now, like we have discussed many times over in class, implementing a philosophy EXACTLY the way it is written out on paper does not always achieve the desired results.  As such, most nations will adopt ideologies to some extent and use a combination of one or two ideologies to achieve the best possible situation for the majority of their citizens.

So what's going on this week?

Monday:

• Augustana Presentation - not sure how long this will be or if it is in my classroom.  So yeah.  Free stuff potentially :)
• Revisit Communism Cons - go back over Lenin, Stalin and Gorbachev
• Downfall of Communism questions

Tuesday:

• Vocabulary: Progressivism, Welfare Capitalism and The Square Deal
• Notes - Shift to Modern Liberalism - The Welfare State

• Interpreting Quotes

Wednesday:

• Vocabulary: Welfare State, the New Deal and Keynesian Economics
• Life in the United States Before the Great Depression

• The Great Depression - A consequence of capitalism
• Worksheet - Cause-Event-Effect Chart on the Great Depression

Thursday:

• Rants by Jonalyne and Katrina
• Keynesian Economics

• Notes on how it works
• Finish Cause Event Effect Chart

Friday:

• How Keynesian Economics works - In your own words
• FDR's New Deal

The Alternative to Capitalism - Communism

Last week, we were looking at the pros and cons of capitalism and how focusing completely on the individual does have benefits, but can also cause great harm to others in society.  I am not in class on Monday, so you will be working off the blog to watch videos and fill in notes to complete what we would have otherwise would have covered in class.  Because you will be watching these videos on at your own pace in the computer lab, YOU WILL NEED YOUR HEADPHONES.  Please don't forget them.  You will sit and twiddle your thumbs for 80 minutes otherwise.

Monday :

• Please bring your ear buds.  After prayer and announcements, Mrs. Krill will take you down to the computer lab.
• You will need your notes from Friday.  If you were absent Friday, Mrs. Krill has a couple extra sets of notes.
• Finish watching the video on Triangle Waist Company Fire.  In your notes, write all the negatives the event shows about capitalism.

• Take notes on what happened in the Bangladesh fire.  Note the similarities between the two fires that happened almost a century apart.  Answer the two questions in your notes.

• Watch the following video on Lexotica eye glass company and answer the three questions in your notes.

Why Glasses are so Expensive

• Get the questions on the downside to capitalism from Mrs. Krill.  Answer the questions then watch the video below to fill in what you couldn't find out.

Downside to Capitalism

• If you are finished before the end of class, you can start looking at what we will be start covering tomorrow - communism

Tuesday:

• Derek's super stellar rant!
• Vocabulary: Communism and Socialism
• What is communism? Notes
• Explanation video

Wednesday:

• Review questions: Pros of communism
• Implementation: The Russian Revolution

• Lenin and Leninism
• Warm Communism and the New Economic Policy

Thursday

• Rants: Taylor and Marcos
• Stalinism and Chinese communism under Mao Zedong
• Source Analysis
• Downfall of Communism Review
• Chinese Market Kerfuffle Video

Friday: 

• Vocabulary activity - Reverse Taboo cards
• Vocabulary: Progressivism, Square Deal and Welfare Capitalism
• Modern Liberal Practices - Theodore Roosevelt and the Square Deal

Classical Capitalism Is Not All It's Cracked Up To Be...

Just like with any ideology, Classical Capitalism, does have it's faults.  Last week, we looked at some of the pros of capitalism:

• Incentive
• To produce what people want
• To acquire skills so that you can work
• Use resources efficiently so they are not used up
• Productivity produces more profits for the individual
• You can become extremely wealthy
• Goods and Services
• A wide variety is available to consumers
• Competition allows for better quality goods and lower prices
• SELF-RELIANCE (think Invisible Hand)

As with all ideologies, however, it is not without it's risks.  This week, we will be looking at some key faults to Capitalism and how those key faults directly led to the development of "new and better" economic systems.

This week in class...

Tuesday: 

• Notes on the cons of capitalism
• Group Presentation - Grass roots movements to combat the development of capitalism in Industrial Great Britain

Wednesday: 

• Present the presentations you so lovingly created yesterday in class
• Writing Assignment II for both classes- How the heck do I write that? These two documents have some good guidelines to follow
• Writing Assignments For 30-1
• Writing Assignments for 30-2

Thursday: 

• Writing rough drafts in the comput-ay-tor lab.  I will have it open by 8 if you don't think you can finish it by 10 in regular class time.
• Rants will be tomorrow so that you can write your assignments

Friday:

• Rants: Derek and Shalan 
• Living conditions of citizens under Capitalism
• Discussion on Monopolies - Should monopolies be illegal in a market economy or is it just following your self-interest?

• How does a monopoly form
• Modern day monopolies - do they exist?

Classical Capitalism and It's Consequences

This week, we are continuing to look at the aspects of classical capitalism - that is we are looking at the very foundations of what capitalism was when it started.  Important things to remember - Adam Smith is generally seen as the "father of capitalism" because it was his ideas that laid the foundation for the free market to develop.  Once we have looked at the implementation of classical capitalism, ie: The Industrial Revolution, we will look at two case studies of capitalists - Henry Ford and John D. Rockefeller.  These two chaps were entrepreneurs who had different interpretations of what it meant to be a capitalist and how they interpreted and used capitalist theory. After that, we will look at some of the consequences of the Industrial Revolution on the people of the world and, more specifically, government and citizen responses to it.

So for roughly the next two and a half weeks, we will be analyzing what a free market economy is and the good and bad parts of it.  

This Week In Social Class...

Monday

• How the Industrial Revolution started and consequences
• Capitalism questions
• Capitalism vs. Socialism

Tuesday

• Vocabulary: Vertical Integration, Horizontal Integration and Monopoly 
• Case Study: Henry Ford
• Case Study: John D. Rockefeller
• Discussion: who was the better capitalist and why?

Wednesday

• Citizen and government responses to industrialization
• Responses in the Industrial Revolution
• Roosevelt's Progressivism
• Debate: Is it the government's responsibility to check industrial growth and protect workers in a capitalist economy?

Thursday

• Thanksgiving celebration and Homeroom Challenge
• Rants: April and Courtney
• Finish up with responses to capitalism