In Senate, Durbin presses for DREAM Act support

In Senate, Durbin presses for DREAM Act support

Listen to the story above. After listening, explain 1. what the dream act is & 2. Will the Dream act become law any time soon?

What does the president actually do?

To the best of your understanding, what are at least five responsibilities that the president has?

Presidential requirements

In order to be president, you must be 35 years of age (or older) and born in the United States. Are these requirements fair? Why or why not? Why were these requirements put in place by the founding fathers?

How do laws become laws?

What is a law that you have to follow every day? Who do you think wrote the law and why do you think s/he wrote it?

Amendment

Choose an amendment to the constitution and discuss how it effects people's lives today.

What happened?

Based on what you've heard so far, what happened in the mid-term elections?

Why vote?

Why do you think it is important to vote in elections?

Find an article....

In this week's upfront magazine, find and report on one article that has to do with a State Law and one that has to do with a Federal law. If no State laws are avaialable, use http://www.chicagotribune.com/

The second amendment to the constitution reads:

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

This part of the constitution has generally been interpreted as giving citizens the right to own guns.

The question is this:

How can the city of Chicago have a handgun ban while the Constitution says people have a right to have guns? Do you think that people should be able to have guns?

After listening to the NPR law, do you think that the enforcing drug laws in the United States is job of the Federal or State constitution?


http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130587715

Electoral College?

What system do you think is better- using the electoral college to choose the president, or using who gets more votes (more than 50%). Give reasons for your answer!

How is someone elected president?

Based on what you know, you do not become president by simply getting 51% of the vote. Explain how someone gets to become president in the general election?

Would you run for office?

Mayor of Chicago has been called the "dream job" by some, including Rahm Emmanuel. Would you ever want to run for office? Why or why not?

Kirk and Gionnoulias

Watch the following videos. What message do you think each candidate is trying to get across?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0pXS-6ee0k


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kL7eWf2BVQY

Politics in Illinois

Can you identify any candidates who are running in the November election? Who are they and what party are they running for?

Liberal or Conservative?

Based on what you've learned, do you think you're more liberal (gov. looks out for those in need) or conservative (government should stay out of people's lives)?

Political Parties

What are political parties?

What is your view of government

Anarchists in Bermuda
Explain what each of the following means:


A. Government as a necessary evil



B. Government as a postiive good



C. Government as an uncessary evil





Which one is mos in line with your views?

Strenghts and weaknesses

As part of looking at different types of governments, we are going to look at relative strengths and weaknesses. What is one strength and one weakness of our own (U.S./ democratic republic) government?

What is a democracy?

How does democracy work? What are some good things and bad things about it?

Why do we need government?

Today we begin our unit about different theories (ideas) about what government should do and why people need it. Why do you think we need government? What services does our government provide (at least five!)?

Experimenting

What makes something an experiment? Why is it more difficult to conduct experiments in the Social Sciences than in the Natural Sciences?

Career's in the Social Sciences

We talked about the Social Sciences including the branches including Sociology, Anthropology, History, Geography, Economics, and Political Science. If you had to pick a career in one of these disciplines, which would it be and why?

What's scientifc about the Social Sciences?

This week will be spent continuing to talk about what the Social Sciences are. Based on what you've learned, what makes the Social Sciences scientific?

Survey Blog

This is the spot where we'll complete our morning work for SS Survey! Today's question is, why do we bother to divide up different areas of knowledge into different subjects? (e.g. natural sciences, history, etc.)