Friday, December 22, 2006
Current Events in an AP class?
There is no mention in our AP World History textbook about the US invasion of Iraq.
The United States launched a pre-emptive war in March of 2003 that has had major global implications, and as far as our book and the people who make the AP World History test are concerned, that’s not something we need to concern ourselves with.
I think that’s wrong. I think the reason to study history is not so that you can memorize a bunch of facts (facts that you could easily look up) but rather so that you have some context for analyzing and understanding the world in which we live.
However, I have been hired to teach a class to prepare you for the AP exam. I will do what I have been hired to do, but I feel obligated to take some time (perhaps 20 minutes each Friday? perhaps an online chat session? perhaps by jointly maintaining a web site or wiki?) to follow what’s going on in Iraq and to try to make sense of that issue, as well as whatever other issues are of greatest concern to the students in this class (global warming? bioethics? nanotechnology?)
As we get to know each other, we will find little pockets of time to discuss our world today, as well as the world from 1450 to the year you were born.
We might want to start with Iraq, where the U.S. currently has about 132,000 troops stationed, and President Bush is talking about adding 21,500 more. I think this article about The New Middle East, from Foreign Affairs is worth reading and discussing.
Read it, take notes, ask questions (historia!) and let's plan to discuss it at some point in the near future, if this is a topic of interest for the two of you.
The United States launched a pre-emptive war in March of 2003 that has had major global implications, and as far as our book and the people who make the AP World History test are concerned, that’s not something we need to concern ourselves with.
I think that’s wrong. I think the reason to study history is not so that you can memorize a bunch of facts (facts that you could easily look up) but rather so that you have some context for analyzing and understanding the world in which we live.
However, I have been hired to teach a class to prepare you for the AP exam. I will do what I have been hired to do, but I feel obligated to take some time (perhaps 20 minutes each Friday? perhaps an online chat session? perhaps by jointly maintaining a web site or wiki?) to follow what’s going on in Iraq and to try to make sense of that issue, as well as whatever other issues are of greatest concern to the students in this class (global warming? bioethics? nanotechnology?)
As we get to know each other, we will find little pockets of time to discuss our world today, as well as the world from 1450 to the year you were born.
We might want to start with Iraq, where the U.S. currently has about 132,000 troops stationed, and President Bush is talking about adding 21,500 more. I think this article about The New Middle East, from Foreign Affairs is worth reading and discussing.
Read it, take notes, ask questions (historia!) and let's plan to discuss it at some point in the near future, if this is a topic of interest for the two of you.
# posted by Mr. G : 3:43 AM
