Science Political 123 Dr. Robert Lane
3rd Assignment Fall, 2007
Your grade will be based upon the following criteria: Meeting the December 12, 2007, 10:30 a.m. deadline. Only e-mail the paper to me if you cannot make it to class on that date. (Due to the inconvenience of having to print out your paper, I will deduct 4 pts. from your paper. You can slide the paper under my office door (Brown 319). Do not leave the paper with the Faculty Secretary. I grade these papers promptly, and if you wish to avoid receiving an incomplete for the course grade, it's important that I receive your paper on time.*** Explicitly labeling each part of your paper. Demonstrating a solid understanding of assigned readings, class lectures & films Using specific illustrative examples to support your analysis and arguments. Consistently following instructions. Writing in complete sentences, coherent paragraphs, and in your own words. Using proper grammar, mechanics, spelling, and syntax. Not using the second person pronoun "you". Typing the assignment, using 1.5 spacing. THREE REMINDERS: 1. I am unavailable for assisting you on this paper after 10:30 a.m., December 10, 2007. * 2. "Substantive Paragraph" means that you need to write more than three sentences and clearly demonstrate that you put forth sufficient time, effort, and thought in answering the question. 3. "Drawing upon" a reading / article means you are expected to refer to something specific in the article, as well as refer to the author by name. Your answer needs to be engaged with and respond to the reading / article. If you include a direct quote from one of the texts, identify the page number in parenthesis following the quote. A direct quote should be used to enhance your discussion, not replace it. 1. [20 pts. / 5 pts. each] SELECT FOUR of the following questions: [You need to clearly demonstrate that you attentively viewed the films shown in class by referring to something specific in the film.] a) Drawing upon the "Sixty Minutes segment on Crack Addict Moms", in a substantive paragraph discuss to what extent you would support (or oppose) the hospital's policy requiring mandatory testing / treatment for these mothers. b) Drawing upon the film "Vietnam Memorial" , in a substantive paragraph describe two insights the film provides about the Vietnam War. c) Drawing upon the film "Fight Over School Choice", in a substantive paragraph discuss to what extent you support (or oppose) the use of school vouchers to pay for students who attend private religious schools. d) Drawing upon the film "Welfare to Work", in a substantive paragraph discuss the two reforms that you would most support. e) Drawing upon the film "In A Dark Time", in a substantive paragraph discuss two specific events that took place in 1968 that influenced the Presidential election of 1968. _____________________________________________________________________
SELECT EITHER QUESTION 2 OR QUESTION 3: 2. Drawing upon the film "The American Dream", complete the following tasks: a)[5 pts.] In a substantive paragraph, discuss one or two insights the film provides regarding unions. b)[5 pts.] In a substantive paragraph, discuss whether or not you would have crossed the picket line to take a job in the meat-packing plant after the workers went on strike. 3. These articles are posted on Vspace, in the Resources component. Open the folder "3rd Paper Articles Fall 2007". I have posted two articles: "Pentagon's Plan", and "Stop the Surge" that illustrate the ongoing debate about how long U.S. troops should remain in Iraq. I chose these articles because I find them to be thoughtful, well-written, and representative of the diverse positions. I encourage you to read each article carefully before answering the following questions: a)[5 pts.] In a substantive paragraph, summarize the two/three best reasons given for supporting the surge of U.S. troops. b)[5 pts.] In a substantive paragraph, summarize the two/three best reasons given for opposing the surge of U.S. troops. _____________________________________________________________________ SELECT EITHER Question 4 OR Question 5: 4. Drawing upon the Debate Readings #69 & #70 regarding "Regulating Risk: Government Intrusion or Protecting Society?", complete the following tasks: a)[5 pts.] In a substantive paragraph, summarize the key points in reading #69. b)[5 pts.] In a substantive paragraph, summarize the key points in reading #70. 5. Drawing upon the Debate Readings #74 & #75, regarding "How To Reduce the Federal Budget Deficit", complete the following tasks: a)[5 pts.] In a substantive paragraph, summarize the key points in reading #74. b)[5 pts.] In a substantive paragraph, summarize the key points in reading #75. _____________________________________________________________________ SELECT EITHER Question 6 OR Question 7: 6. Drawing upon readings #79, #80, & #81, regarding "Health Care Reform", complete the following tasks: a)[5 pts.] Identify the two policy proposals for changing our health care system that you would most support, and explain your reasoning. b)[5 pts.] Identify the two policy proposals for changing our health care system you would most oppose, and explain your reasoning. 7. Drawing upon readings #84, #85, & #86 regarding "Foreign Policy: The War In Iraq", complete the following tasks: a)[5 pts.] In a substantive paragraph, select the article you find more convincing, and explain your selection. b)[5 pts.] In a substantive paragraph, select the article that you find least convincing,
and explain your selection. _____________________________________________________________________ SELECT EITHER Question 8 OR Question 9: 8. [10 pts. / 5 pts. each] Select two of the following tasks: a) In class, we discussed certain demographic trends, including the movement of many people to the Sun Belt states. In a substantive paragraph, discuss to what extent you expect to stay and work in Michigan following college graduation. b) In class, we discussed the pros and cons of Federalism. Drawing upon this discussion, along with the discussion about school reform, in a substantive paragraph discuss to what extent you would support having the U.S. Department of Education creating a national curriculum (along with national standardized tests) that all public schools would be required to use. c) In a substantive paragraph, discuss one or two specific reforms you would support that you believe would improve our nation's public schools. [For Questions 9 & The 10, articles are posted on Vspace, in the Resources component. Open the folder "3 rd Paper Articles Fall 2007". ] 9. Drawing upon both articles ("Ending the Gerrymander Wars" and "States See Growing Campaign..."), complete the following tasks: a) [5 pts.] In a substantive paragraph, summarize the most convincing reason(s) for changing the present system for determining district boundaries. b)[5 pts.] In a substantive paragraph, summarize the most convincing reason(s) / factors why the effort to reform this process are not likely to be successful. (In other words, why does it seem unlikely that the status quo will change in the near future?)
10. [30 pts. / 5 pts. each] SELECT SIX of the Following Question: a) Drawing upon "Shaming Young Mothers", in a substantive paragraph, discuss to what extent you would support (or oppose) this Florida state law. b) Drawing upon "To Stem Dropouts, Urban Districts Switch Strategies", in a substantive paragraph, discuss which of these policies/actions you believe would be the most successful for the high school that you attended. c) Drawing upon "Voter's Ed", in a substantive paragraph, discuss to what extent you would support (or oppose) the automatic registration of all eligible high school students before they graduate. d) Drawing upon "U.S. Plan to Lure Nurses...", in a substantive paragraph, discuss to what extent you support (or oppose) this provision in a proposed immigration bill. e) Drawing upon "Congress Passes New Legal Shield For Gun Industry", in a substantive paragraph, discuss to what extent you would support (or oppose) this law. f) Drawing upon "Supertax Me", in a substantive paragraph, discuss to what extent you would support a tax on drive-through food orders. (This would be in addition to the sales tax). g) Drawing upon "Birth Control Allowed...", in a substantive paragraph, discuss to what extent you would support allowing middle-school students to gain access to birth
control. h) Drawing upon "Ready, Willing, Disqualified", in a substantive paragraph, discuss to what extent you support the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy. _____________________________________________________________________ This section draws upon the assigned readings in The Working Poor (chapters 8-11) 11. Drawing upon Chapter Eight, complete the following tasks: a)[5 pts.] In a substantive paragraph, describe how eating is "connected" to learning, and how housing is "connected" to health. b)[5 pts.] In a substantive paragraph, discuss other actions and policies the government (at any level) could pursue to combat hunger for the working poor. 12. [10 pts.] Drawing upon Chapter Nine, consider and discuss the accuracy of the following statement. Your discussion should be a minimum of two substantive paragraphs. "I have often thought that the best way to learn about a country is to visit its prisons, hospitals, and schools. Inside those institutions, a society's vision and morality are on vivid display against the backdrop of its ideals." [p.252]
13. [20 pts./5 pts. each] The following statements are found in Chapter Eleven. Select FOUR of the statements, and write a substantive paragraph for each, discussing to what extent you find the statement convincing (or unconvincing): a) "As the people in these pages show, working poverty is a constellation of
difficulties that magnify one another: not just low wages but also low education, not just dead-end jobs but also limited abilities, not just insufficient savings, but also unwise spending, not just poor housing but also poor parenting, not just the lack of health insurance but also the lack of healthy households... The villains are not just exploitative employers but also incapable employees, not just overworked teachers but also defeated and unruly pupils, not just bureaucrats who cheat the poor but also the poor who cheat themselves. The troubles run strongly along both macro and micro levels, as systemic problems in the structure of political and economic power, and as individual problems in personal and family life." [p. 285] b) "Whenever liberal Democrats criticize tax cuts for the rich or program cuts for the poor, conservative Republicans raise the fearsome specter of "class warfare" as if they and their supporters in business were not reinforcing class differences by structuring tax breaks and pay scales....The lower the income, the lower the rate of voter turnout...Therefore, although nobody needs government more than the poor and the nearly poor, they have little influence on its policies." [p. 287] c) "In reality, however, most Americans do not vote in line with their class interests, and there is no guarantee that the poor would do so even in a large turnout. Balloting seems driven more by aspiration than complaint." [p.288] d) "The state exists not just to preserve freedom. It exists also to protect the weak. It exists to strengthen the vulnerable, to empower the powerless, to promote justice. It exists to facilitate "the pursuit of happiness." [p.289]
e) "The larger debate over the country's patchwork health insurance system, which leaves 45 million uncovered, touches on all the big questions about government's role, the private sector's fairness, and the class structure of America. Employer-based policies may be the worst conceivable ways to organize coverage. They drive up companies' labor costs, force workers into badly run health maintenance organizations, and create pools of insured so small for some firms that a single employee's cancer diagnosis can send premiums shooting through the roof for everyone. In an age of high mobility, workers bounce from one to another plan as they change jobs, often enduring months without protection. We don't get our auto insurance through our workplaces, and we shouldn't get our medical insurance that way either." [p.295] f) "To appraise a society, examine its ability to be self-correcting. When grievous wrongs are done or endemic suffering exposed, when injustice is discovered or opportunity denied, watch the institutions of government and business and charity. Their response is an index of a nation's health and of a people's strength." [p.298] g) Workers at the edge of poverty are essential to America's prosperity, but their well-being is not treated as an integral part of the whole. Instead, the forgotten wage a daily struggle to keep themselves from falling over the cliff. It is time to be ashamed." [p.298]