This week, we will be looking at the last few general ideas and then starting on to economics. We don't have much to finish in regards to general information and we will not be having a test on this section - it will be worked into your other exams 💀. This week, we will be looking at how the values of individualism are seen in Classical Liberalism and how individualism and collectivism are seen in Modern Liberalism.
As we study our first unit in economics, we will see that the ideology that works with economic liberalism is CAPITALISM - remember Adam Smith from last week? Yeah, his ideas. He's pretty important to this section.
Social 30...that wonderful course that you have anticipating for for the last 12 years is finally here, AND it's first thing in the morning! In all actuality, I love Social 30 and it really does have a lot to do with what you will encounter for the rest of your life. It is a great course to get into, if you want to, and can really help you understand how our society functions and to question whether or not how we run things is the best way possible.
I will be doing a "Modified Flipped Classroom", where there will be opportunities for you to deepen your understanding of the course content. What that means is that each week, I will try to put a new blog posting up by Sunday night to outline what we will be doing in the coming week. I will put links to powerpoints, slides, videos, websites, updates into Google Classroom and so on that, over the course of the week, you can look at to enhance your learning of the content. Once my projector is up and running, it is up to you to print off your notes if you want paper copies or to download digital copies to follow on your device. Ideally, the large portion of the intricate content would be what you look up on your own. Now, I know that looking up history is not everybody's cup of tea. However, by doing the background knowledge at home, it allows us to use the time in class to work on your skills to understand the knowledge = you will practice skills that will help you to be successful on your diploma in class, rather than focusing on knowledge. This is not to say that there won't be specific knowledge presented in class; it simply means to gain a deeper, more comprehensive understanding of the course, I will provide you with information to help better prepare you.
Videos, such as the one below, are great background knowledge to what life was like before individualism came around that we are definitely not going to be able to cover in class. So, it is up to you whether or not you watch it. But I really think you should :)
This blog will also let you know what we will be doing for the week, so it will be an agenda for what we are to get through.
So what's in store for this week?
Tuesday
Re-cap notes for Characteristics of Ideologies
Essential component of your project due on September 22
Principles of Individualism and Collectivism
Wednesday
Philosophers of the Enlightenment - the European men who greatly influenced the development of Classical Liberalism
Adam Smith
John Locke
Jean Jacques Rousseau
John Stuart Mill
Thomas Hobbes
Voltaire
Monstesquieu
Karl Marx
Class notes on Philosophers
Thursday
Rant by Jace
Practice Writing Paragraph #1
30-1 will be practicing interpreting sources for Assignment I
30-2 will be practicing describing characteristics for Assignment I
you NEED your computers/iPads/something you can write on and access google drive from
Friday
Individualism vs. Collectivism
Real-Life Examples
Parts of each of them
How do they affect a political system/government structure
Last week, and through creating your projects, you have been looking at how dictatorships can be cruel and completely reject the values of liberalism. From their perspective, the leaders feel completely justified in doing so. However, from our liberal perspective, we have a hard time understanding how people can be so cruel and target specific groups and treat them unfairly or unjustly. This is why so many people supported Trump's bombing in Syria - from a Western perspective, attacking your own people with chemical weapons is totally and completely abhorrent. Many see Trump's actions as a way to stand up for the rights of the people in Syria. The attack on a dictatorial regime who does not support human rights, which are seen as essential in liberal nations, is justified as you are supporting the protection of rights for all people. This goes hand in hand with the justification for the imposition of liberal values on other countries - if we all have the same world view and accept and protect the same ideals, then the world would be a more peaceful and prosperous place. This is easier said than done.
What we will be looking at this week is the reasoning behind why liberal nations have tried to impose their ideals on other countries. From our perspective, it is the most fair and just system to use in your country. But isn't it a little ironic that an ideology that's based on choice and individual rights and freedoms is imposed on other nations??
One example of the imposition of liberalism: The War on Iraq in 2003. Click here for an essay describing the explicit and implicit reasons behind why the United States invaded Iraq in 2003 (Canada did not participate in this war, but we did increase our military presence in Afghanistan to compensate for some of the US military going into Iraq). Click here for a video to see the timeline of the War in Iraq. Essentially, the reason for the US occupation in Iraq was to help them build a functioning democracy - this would help them and prevent future disputes with other countries. Click here to see what life was like in Iraq 2 years after the US withdrew from the country.
There is much debate about the effectiveness of imposing liberalism on a country that is not prepared to embrace the ideology or doesn't want to embrace it. Look at Germany after WWI - forcing a democracy on a country ill-equipped to run a functioning and effective democracy at the time was one reason that allowed Hitler to eventually seize power. So what's the right answer?? That's what we will be talking about for the next 2 weeks.
Really great series on the War on Terror
What will we be doing this week?
Monday:
Notes - what's the rationale for imposing liberalism?
Focused debate
You will be given a perspective to argue from. You don't get a choice. Fun!
War on Terror - A recent imposition of liberalism??
Pick groups for a group presentation on the Cold War
Groups will be picked for you
You will be assessed on the quality of your group work (by your peers) and your presentation (by me)
Presentations will be NEXT TUESDAY in class
They will need to be emailed to me at the beginning of class AT THE LATEST
Tuesday:
Work on Cold War Presentations for the entire block
Wednesday:
Notes - Start of the Cold War
Continue working on presentations
Thursday:
Rants by Natasha, Soyoung and Kristen
Practice Writing Assignment:
30-1: Arguments/Evidence for Assignment 2
30-2: Arguments/Evidence OR Analysis of the issue for Assignment 3
This week, we are going to be going through two different dictatorships: The Communist dictatorship under Stalin in the USSR and the Fascist dictatorship under Hitler in Germany. The biggest thing that you need to focus on is looking at what it was specifically that these dictatorships rejected about liberalism and exactly how they intended to fix it.
Last week, we looked at 5 techniques that dictators use and how that helps them to maintain control. Like we discussed in class, not all dictatorships use all of these characteristics, but they will use some. The stricter the dictatorship, the more techniques that will be used. The main point being that there needs to be a different interpretation of the word freedom and that it is not individual rights that will help achieve the common good of society, but that people give up some of their liberties to help society as a whole to be successful. Only when a society looks out for each other and has common goals to achieve can it truly be successful.
This will pretty much the only week we are going to spend specifically on dictatorships - a lot more of the detail will come in completing your projects. Like I said in class, I am highly recommending that you hand in your assignment on May 25 - BEFORE grad with a hard deadline of June 2.
This week, we are going to look at the very basics of what makes up American and Canadian democracy - what do you need to have to be considered a democracy. By looking at the basics of our political beliefs, and comparing it to those of the American's, it will help to determine whether the system we have in place really is the most effective or not.
When we think of democracy, the thing that most people think about is having elections and voting. But there are many different things that make up a democracy and knowing those helps to make you a more informed and contributing member of society. Like Montesquieu said, "The Tyranny of a prince in an oligarchy is not so dangerous to the public welfare as the apathy of a citizen in a democracy."
As citizens in a democracy, we have a lot of rights and freedoms. However, there is the obligation of being a contributing member of society, but not all people know what that looks like. So this week, we will look at what our roles are in liberal society, what values come with democracy, how North American democracies were created and compare the political structures of the United States vs Canada, as we have two different types of democracies. Hopefully, we can look at electoral systems this week as well, which will make next week an opportunity to look at the downfalls of democracy.
On Thursday last week, we started looking at Canada's system of government.
Another Democracy and Its Separation of Powers: Austria
What will we be doing this week?
Monday:
Finish notes on Canada's Democratic system and Electoral System
America's Political Structure and Electoral System
Go through Dictatorship for Dummies Project and pick a due date
Tuesday:
Finish going through the American System
Assignment: Compare and contrast the American and Canadian political systems
Be aware that if there is little to no work done on either writing assignment or the projects (ie: a significant proportion of the class is snap chatting, just talking, talking about trucks, texting people, looking at instagram, etc) there will be NO further class time given to work on practice writing or your projects. It will ALL become homework, no exceptions. There is too much to get through for a large proportion of students to be wasting class time doing nothing.
Friday:
Dictatorships: start the notes that are the basis of what dictatorships do
We have all grown up being part of a well established democracy and everybody in our classroom doesn't know a Canada where the Charter of Rights and Freedoms didn't exist. Since we have all grown up with having individual rights and freedoms protected for all people, sometimes it is hard for us to remember or think that hasn't always been the case in Canada. And, I hear it every year, how boring it is to learn about Canada, its history and the government. BUT despite having learned a lot about our country for 12 years of education, it is surprising the number of people who know very little about our political system and how it works. If they did know more, you wouldn't have people saying that it's okay for Kevin O'Leary to run for leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada because "it's not like he's running for Prime Minister." I don't want you to be that person and that's why this second half of the course is so important.
Let's rewind a little bit to philosophers from the beginning of the semester. One of the most important things that Montesquieu said was that for a democracy to truly function, the people need to participate and be active citizens; having an apathetic democracy is worse than having a dictatorship. So all that information that you learned about Canada is culminating in this year: you've learned about your country for the past 11 years so that you can be a proud, educated and active participant in it. And if you didn't learn things from then, it's even more important to learn them now 😁.
But we are going to start with baby steps and make sure that we all understand the foundations of democracy. This should take about a week or two to get through the information. Here is a quick introduction:
So what will we be doing this week?
Monday:
Review: What do you know about Canada's democratic system?
Key factors of democracy - you will need scissors and glue for this part of the class
Tuesday:
Notes: What does political liberalism mean and what are its values?
Implementation of political liberalism: The French and American Revolution
French Revolution Video and impact of the Enlightenment
American Revolution Video and impact of the Enlightenment
Wednesday:
Article and Focused Reading: Democracy and Liberal Values
Democracy - What is it and what are the different types?
Electoral Systems: What's Your Vote Worth??
Thursday:
Rants by McKinley and Joey
Practice Writing:
30-1: Practice Writing Assignment 2 - work on thesis and writing an argument/evidence paragraph
30-2: Practice Writing Assignment 3 - work on either analyzing the issue/interpreting perspectives OR write your defense paragraph
REMEMBER: YOU WILL BE DOING ESSAYS FOR MARKS NEXT WEEK, ON TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY!!!!
Friday:
Economics Exam - strictly Multiple Choice. Please don't wait until Thursday to study
Before spring break, we looked at both the pros and cons of capitalism and communism. But, like I said in class, there is no country that has used either one of these ideologies exactly the way in which the theory said it should be used and the circumstances that it should be used in. Because of that, most economic systems and ideologies are actually a mixture (hence the term mixed economies) of aspects of capitalism and communism. A more right-wing economic system will have more aspects of capitalism - lower taxes, less government services, mostly if not all private property and a greater focus on self-reliance while following a free market. A more left-wing economic system will have more aspects that lead towards communism - higher taxes that are used to provide greater government services to give people a social safety net, public ownership of major industries and corporations, a focus on cooperation to ensure economic equality. As significant events happen in the economy affecting production of goods and service, as well as job security, governments make decisions on what is the course of action to take to solve the problem. Often, the decisions will be a departure from the current economic philosophy to something different only to find the shift back to the original view years later. The point is, as the economy changes, so do economic philosophies; this is why we call it the evolution of modern economic thought :)
One of the first steps in this evolution was the implementation of Welfare Capitalism and the Square Deal.This week, we will look at several other huge economic events and how they helped our economic theories evolve in North America.
As economic liberalism evolved, so did people's desire to help those less fortunate than them
This evolution spread into society in the hopes of protecting as many rights as possible
Practice interpreting sources
Thursday:
Rants by Cheyenne and McKinley
Practice writing paragraphs
30-1 - Assignment I - You choose to write 2 paragraphs. You can either write to interpretation paragraphs OR an interpretation and relationship paragraph
30-2 - Assignment I - One paragraph explaining one of the characteristics for the topic
Friday:
Changes that occurred after the Great Depression - Notes
