Review
You have now covered the history of the formation of the United States, its basic demographic evolution, the development of its political culture and the guarantees of civil rights and liberties. You are now able to use new, more precise, terms to talk clearly about U.S. politics and consider some of the major debates surrounding what you think a national government ought to do. Each Practicum is designed for you to apply what you have learned to the real world. It should be a fun exercise where you engage others and put your own thoughts about politics to paper in a rational cohesive way to express political ideas.
Assignment
You must “talk politics’ with three different people and then explain these conversations using what you have learned. Here’s the format:
- Design five questions that will help you to know the level and type of political knowledge a person has based on what interests you the most about this first third of the course.
- Pick three people that you know, try to make sure that at least one of them is a relative and one a friend. It would be great if you could also find a person that is neither, perhaps some you know from a religious institution or a professor or your dentist — people with whom you have a relationship, but do not know very well. You do not need to ask me permission about the people you plan to talk with. While I ask you for variation if you can’t get it in a timely fashion just make sure you talk with three different people and record on your report how you know each.
- Ask them your questions and make a record of their responses. Then, write up a brief report (no more than 1 page per person) about what you learned from each person and contextualize their knowledge using the information from the text. Be sure to include the five questions you asked (and make sure you asked the same questions of each person).
- Lastly, at the end of the report tell me a little bit about how completing this assignment felt. Do you think I should use this assignment in the future? Why?
For example, let’s say political socialization really caught your attention. You might want to know more about how these three people were socialized and what they now believe about politics. Your questions might be as follows: (1) Who, or what, were the major agents of your political socialization? (2) Why do you think these people or places or television programs were so important to you? (3) What did they teach you about citizenship? (4) What did they teach you about the American Founding (or the U.S. Constitution or federalism or liberties etc…) (5) What are three fundamental political beliefs you’d like to share with me? Please include their answers (either as a paragraph or per question in a list) and your analysis of the similarities and differences amongst the people you interview.
On the other hand, maybe civil rights and liberties made a big impression on you and you are curious if other people know the difference between them or their importance to our lives. You might instead ask (1) Do you remember the difference between civil rights and liberties? (2) [after you clarify them if they don’t remember] Which rights and liberties do you think are the most important in the U.S? (3) Have you ever felt like one of your (or you could ask if they have seen someone else’s) rights or liberties was violated? (4) What did you do about it and why? (5) Do you think the Constitution gives us enough protection for our rights and liberties or should we amend it?
[Hint: if you are really stuck for ideas, it is o.k. for you to tinker with these examples of the five questions and use them for this assignment.]