GEP - Current Events Email - October 1, 2009

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Dear Educator:

Each month World Savvy will highlight breaking news and current events that can be connected to the classroom, including links to articles at various reading levels and connections to the standards. For complete background information on a range of contemporary issues, visit the World Savvy Monitor.

Elections and Democracy

On September 27^th, 2009, Angela Merkel was re-elected chancellor of Germany, with her Christian Democratic party winning 33% of the vote. August elections in Japan swept the Democratic Party of Japan into office, under the leadership of Yukio Hatoyama as the new Prime Minister, after over 50 years of rule by the Liberal Democratic Party. Other recent elections, such as those in Iran and Afghanistan, have been more tumultuous and potentially fraudulent. (see August 28 blog post) Each of these elections, however, highlight a number of interesting distinctions to democracy in the United States, and pose interesting comparison points for teachers currently in the midst of teaching students about the American democratic process. Read more...

What innovative strategies and lessons do you use to teach students the elements of democracy? How do you teach students the differences between American democracy and other forms of democracy around the world? Post your comments on the blog.

For complete background information on democracy around the world, read the August 2008 issue of the World Savvy Monitor.

Recommended Articles:

Advanced Article: Freedom in the World 2009: Setbacks and Resilience (Freedom House)
Intermediate Article: Merkel’s Re-election in Germany, BBC News
Beginning Article: Hatoyama Elected as Japan’s Prime Minister, CNN

Multimedia:
PBS Independent Lens, Vote Democracy!
Freedom House – Annual rankings of “free” and “not free” countries

Discussion Questions:

1. What does “democracy” mean? What are some of the elements of democracy?
2. One of the most common aspects of the definition of democracy is “free and fair elections”. What does this mean? Can you list an example of a country that has recently held free and fair elections? One that has not? Explain your choices.
3. What general trend does the Freedom House report show about democracy around the world – is it strengthening or weakening? Why? Predict what you think will happen in the future – will current trends continue, or will there be a shift? Explain the rationale for your prediction.

Curriculum:

1. World Savvy Monitor – Classroom Companion for Democracy:
2. Lessons from PBS Independent Lens, Vote Democracy campaign
3. Constitutional Rights Foundation: lessons

California Standards:

Government: 12.1 – Democratic Thought and Principles, 12.2 – Citizenship and Rights, 12.6 – Elections, 12.9 – Comparative Government

World History: 10.10 – Contemporary Nation Building

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The views expressed in the articles and resources listed above are not the views of World Savvy. They are listed here as resources for educators but do not necessarily reflect the opinions and priorities of World Savvy. If you ever want to unsubscribe from this list, just send an email to Kelly at kelly@worldsavvy.org.