Most textbooks for high school students are designed to organize subject areas into Units, Chapters, Major Concepts, Subordinate Concepts, and detailed information. That organization provides the scholar with tremendous advantages for efficient and productive study.

In addition, textbooks offer an array of assessment tools that challenge the student whether mastery of declarative information and procedural learning has taken place.

Less Time; More Sweat: Read Aggressively

The Graupnerian Approach to mastering the acquisition of declarative and procedural knowledge from textbooks involves the following steps:

1. Preview the Chapter organization. Take one sheet of paper and divide the sheet with a vertical line. Write the Chapter Title at the top. Next, write the Section Title. Determine the number of Major Concepts. Outline each Major Concept with the important Subordiante Concepts.
2. At the top of the empty column, write the Major Idea in a box.
3. Make a cursory review of the Major and Subordinate Concepts, asking the question "what's going to be covered in this Section?"
4. Aggressively, read the Section by answering questions as you tackle one concept after another. The whole Section can be covered in 5-10 minutes. Take notes sparingly in the Empty Column.
5. Review what you have learned, topic by topic.
6. Use the Assessments at the end of the Section to Review. Consider the Main Idea, again.
7. You are ready for class.

Last evening, President George W. Bush presented his seventh State of the Union Address to the American people before a packed audience of members of Congress, the Supreme Court, the Bush Administration, the Armed Services, and special guests. [Photo Credit: Doug Mills/The New York Times]


It was an historic occasion for many reasons, not the least of which was that "Madam Speaker" was spoken for the first time in U.S. history. The reference of course refers to Representative Nancy Pelosi, the first woman to hold the position of Speaker of the House, third in line to become President of the United States.


You are invited to explicate (analyze) the address with interactive features provided by The New York Times. You can find out, or example, what were the domestic and foreign policy priorities of the President's speech.

It is a tradition to afford the political opposition the opportunity to present their view to the American people after the State of the Union Address is completed. The Democrats chose Senator Jim Webb of Virginia to deliver the Response. [Photo Credit: Doug Mills/The New York Times]

The 2008 Republican National Convention is set for the Twin Cities, while Denver has been selected as the venue for the 2008 Democratic National Convention. Republican frontrunner Senator John McCain's campaign has Gov. Tim Pawlenty as it's co-chair, signaling the importance of Minnesota as a swing state.

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama, both vying for the same funding base have already announced that they are in the race to win the Democratic Party's nomination for President.
[Photo: Evan Vucci/AP]

Both candidates bring new excitement to the race for President because Senator Clinton, with 100% name recognition, and Barack Obama, with refinement and mult-culturalism, could change the face of the political establishment in the United States.

Whatever your politics, Campaign 2008 promises to offer something for everyone. It's up to you to become involved. Although U.S. Middle East Policy may be a current headliner, other critical issues are: Extending Health Care, Improving the Environment, Moving towards a Sustainable Economy, Energy Independence, Immigration, etc. And, there are always surprises: who imagined the political impacts of 9/11 or Katrina or the Muscle-Flexing of China.

President George W. Bush will address the American people Tuesday, January 23, for the sixth time in front of the government and the cameras to present The State of the Union Address. Bush faces a tough audience, including Democratic majorities in both Houses of Congress.

Analysts from various political perspectives believe that Iraq, Energy Independence, and Fixing Social Security will be among the key issues that President Bush will address.

The President's address will be followed by a speech from the "loyal opposition."

Over Congressional disquietude, President Bush is determined to put his administration's next phase into action. The operation is characterized by a surge of 21,000 embedded U.S. soldiers in Iraqi military units (but under U.S. command) into Baghdad to quell opposition. The surge would be followed by a massive reconstruction effort.

Is there a victory senario for the United States in a conflict that seems to be transforming itself into civil war among the Shia and Sunni ethnic groups? Could such deterioration spread to international involvement? Historically, what approaches have been used to end internicine struggles?

President Bush has said that winning in Iraq is essential, but that we're not likely to see a surrender ceremony on the deck of a battleship (he's referring to the surrender of Japan at the close of WWII on the battleship, Missouri). Some have observed that it is hard to escape the irony, however, of President Bush's declaration of victory adeck the battleship USS Abraham Lincoln in May 2003.

It will be interesting to tune into the political power struggle between the Legislative and Executive branches of government as a new approach develops to U.S. Iraq policy.
Photo: AP May 3, 2003

The Political Spectrum is a model which expresses the range of differences in people's opinions on political issues, usually expressed in relation to the polar extremes of Left and Right.

These terms not only refer to the directions from the center on the spectral line itself, but also have their roots in the French Revolutionary era. They referred originally to the seating arrangement in the Legislative Assembly of France in 1791, where the liberal members of the Estates General were seated to the Left and the conservative members to the Right.

Eventually, this traditional political spectrum came to be defined along an axis with socialism and communism on the Far Left and nationalism and Fascism on the Far Right, with social liberalism in the Center. The Center is THE place to be going into the 2008 elections, which is already under way.

Differences in the use of these terms are common, especially when given other political and economic systems around the world. Another alternative spectrum has been offered by the conservative American Federalist Journal which empasizes the degree of political control. Hence, the totalitarian systems of Communist China (a Command Economy with a Totalitarian State Party and Nazi Germany may be at one extreme and anarchism (no government) on the other.

For alternative spectra consider the list offered in Wikipedia. Modern American political parties tend to blur the distinctions between Left and Right on a variety of issues. Consider the following interpretations from Wikipedia, p. 3:

Multiplicity of interpretation of the left-right axis

• Equality of outcome (left) versus equality of opportunity (right).
• Redistribution of wealth and income (left), or acceptance of inequalities as a result of the free market (right).
• Whether the government's policy on the economy should be interventionist (left) or laissez-faire (right).
• Support for widened lifestyle choices (left), or support for traditional values (right).
• Whether human nature is more malleable (left) or intrinsic (right).
• Whether the government should promote secularism (left) or religious morality (right).
• Collectivism (left) versus individualism (right).
• Support for internationalism (left), or national interest (right).Support for cultural and economic autonomy (left), or support for globalization (right)

For fun, try out the political spectrum quizzes taken from the Internet. Do the results confirm or distort the spectral terms with which you might feel comfortable?

Link to Planner: https://sahsplanner.stillwater.k12.mn.us/sahs.php
Link to Mr. Greenberg/Mr. Graupner

U.S. Government:

• Tuesday: U.S. Gov't: The Political Spectrum
• Wednesday: Political Systems in the World
• Thursday: Global Issues
• Friday: The Global Economy

Economics:

• Tuesday: Papers and Presentations Due/International Trade
• Wednesday: Comparative Economic Systems
• Thursday: Global Economic Challenges
• Friday: Boiler Room

When the President of the United States directly addresses the American people, it is always a significant event. President Franklin Delano Rooseveldt had his famous radio addresses to the American people both in the reconstruction of the economy after the Great Depression and during World War II. When Senator Richard Nixon was running with Presidential-candidate Dwight Eisenhower in 1952, and was accused of illegal use of campaign contributions, he masterfully spoke directly to the American people in his "Checker's Speech"--so named because he spoke live on television with a crackling fire in the background and his dog, Checkers, at his side. President John F. Kennedy's eloquent oratorical style enchanted the American people and made his speeches memorable.

President George W. Bush has used the direct approach very effectively, both while standing on the rubble of the fallen Twin Towers after the 9/11 terrorist attack, and declaring victory on the deck of an aircraft carrier after the collapse of the Hussein regime in Iraq. Presidents have tremendous resources at their disposal to ensure that these important events provide the best possible context and most persuasive approach. These elements of persuasion date all the way back to Aristotle's logos, pathos, and ethos. It's prudent for the American people to go beyond the address itself and consider opposing views and engage in some level of rhetorical analysis.

A Transcript of President Bush's 10 January 2007 Iraq speech is available from the sources like the NEW YORK TIMES. The TIMES also provides access to The Democratic Response by Senator Durbin .

Many of you are researching well-known immigrants (one or several) for your Economic's paper/presentation. You'll be discussing reasons for imigrating to the United States and their contributions to our society. Remember that these projects are withing the framework of economics. Examples of well-known immigrants include:

Albert Einstein, Bob Hope, Charlie Chaplin, Seiji Ozawa, Joseph Pulitzer, Felix Frankfurter, Jacob Riis, Enrico Fermi, Samuel Gompers, Madeleine Albright, Elizabeth Blackwell, John J. Audubon, Wernher von Braun, Andrew Carnegie, Marlene Dietrich, Maura N. Donohue, E. L. Godkin, Cary Grant, Sonja Henie, Gianni Versace, Gabriela Mistral, Alexander Hamilton, Arnold Schwarzenegger, among many others.

[Note: Those researching the role and structure of the Federal Reserve Bank under the past and current chairpeople (Alan Greenspan and Ben Bernanke) might want to check out this article from today's FINANCIAL TIMES. For quick information on inflation check out an easy or better version of the basics.

Announcing a new feature of "Journey"-- it's the Assessment Basket, found on the right side bar. Simply click on your course title and view the topics that will be added over time into the Basket. These topics, in some form, will be the basis of the "final". Actually it's not a course final because it only assesses the study undertaken after Winter Break.

Both the US Gov and Economic's finals will be created with applications of concepts you've learned rather than primary emphasis on identification or recall. For example, students might be given a news article and asked to draw inferences from it. There may be an illustration, graph or chart that might require interpretation. You might be asked to develop a "Voter's Guide" or draw out sceneria from a reported economic development. These are hypothetical examples.

Check it out.

Last week the class considered the overarching topic of Macroeconomic Policies and important policy goals: full employment, economic growth, price stability, and favorable balance of payments. We learned that media dealing with the economy focus on a surprisingly wide range of information that affect the overall, global economic picture. Student began to understand the effects and consequences of economic developments, as measured by indicies like Gross Domestic Product and reported by economic institutions. For example, they took the news of a "surprising" growth in the job sector in 2006 and analyzed what the impact would be on interest rates set by the Federal Reserve Bank, on fueling consumer spending, the strength of the U.S. dollar, and raising the spector of inflation.

We also considered issues related to another important measurement: Disposible Personal Income, including consumer habits, investment choices, debt, and debt servicing impacts on DPI.

This week (8 January - 12 January) and into next week, we will consider Economic Performance, with a focus on GDP and Population; Economic Instability, with a focus on business cycles, employment, inflation, and poverty; The Fed and Monetary Policy; and Achieving Economic Stability, with a focus on stabilization policies in the face of the cost of economic instability.

Paper or Presentation: Assignment

Students will have a choice of writing an up-to 1,000 word paper or making an up-to 15-minute in-class presentation on one of an array of economic topics within the framework of Macroeconomic Policy. The soft due date will be Friday, 12 January; the hard due date will be Tuesday, 16 January. The following are a list of topic examples:

1. Debate: Income Inequality (Pro and Con)
2. Well-known immigrants: reasons for immigration and contributions to our society
3. The Great Depression: Causes and Recovery Policies
4. Inflation: Causes and Consequences
5. Poverty & the Effectiveness of Remediation
6. Comparison: U.S. Federal Reserve System with Great Britain's
7. Compare Approaches of Fed Chairmen: Alan Greenspan & Ben Bernanke
8. Cost of Economic Instability
9. Economics & Politics
10. The Era of Reagonomics
11. Importance of International Trade in Today's Economy
12. Economic Impact of the Green Revolution
13. Other

Last week was poignant in that we witnessed several political firsts: for Minnesotans, we saw the first woman, Senator Amy Klobuchar, take the oath of office from U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney (Cheney, a Republican, is the President of the Senate and thereby, has the power to cast a tie-breaking vote in the Democrat-controlled Senate); for the United States, we saw U.S. Representative Nancy Pelosi (a Democrat) take the gavel to become the first woman to become Speaker of the House and third in line to the Presidency; finally, we saw both Congressional bodies switch their majorities from the Republican side to the Democrats. We learned that such a change in political fortunes gives the Democrats more Legislative power, but because of the thinness of the majorities and the presidency in Republican hands, getting the agenda of the Democrats passed into legislation will still be a significant challenge for them.

Clearly, these last two years for the George W. Bush Presidency will be characterized by both parties working hard to prevail in the 2008 elections. Will partisanship or partnership characterize the work of the U. S. Government as a lame duck administration tries to build its legacy.

THIS WEEK (8 January - 12 January):

Students have been divided into four teams, each presenting important information about participation in government. Monday has been set aside for each group organizing their presentations among its members.

Group 1 will discuss Political Parties: their development, party organization, and nominating candidates.

Group 2 will discuss Elections and Voting: election campaigns, expanding voting rights, developing a Voter's Handbook, and influences on voting.

Group 3 will discuss Interest Groups and Public Opinion: interest group organization, affecting public policy, shaping public opinion, and measuring public opinion.

Group 4 will discuss The Mass Media: how media impact government, regulating print and broadcast media, and the internet and democracy.

Economics: National Income Accountng:

The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) measures the dollar value of goods and services produced annually within a nation's borders. It includes only the value of output that passes through official markets, however. It does not include activities of homemakers, do-it-yourselfers, or unreported income from crime or unrecorded employment. Such unrecorded items are excluded from the national income accounts.

GDP: caluculated by multiplying all of the final goods and services produced in a 12-month period by their prices, and then adding them up to get the total dollar value of production. Some things are excluded. There are limitations to what GDP informs us about. GDP is the best measure of economic health.

Other measures:

Gross National Product (GNP)
Net National Product (NNP)
National Income (NI)
Personal Income (PI)
Disposable Personal Income (DI)

Economic Sectors: Consumer, Investment, Government, Foreign

The Output-Expenditure Model: Macroeconomic model showing aggregate sector demands

Critical Thinking:

• What would be the effects of a decline in GDP?
• What effect do you think the computer industry has had on the GDP? Use examples to support your claim.

The Thread: Western Civilization and American Political Life

It all began with the Greeks:

• Plato (Socrates): The unexamined life is not worth living/Plato's Republic
• Sophocles: Reason is Man's crowning achievement
• Aristotle: Father of all Science: Rational Thought vs. Myth
• Sparta vs. Athens: The Peloponnesian Wars

Roman Contributions:

• Corpus Juris Civilis: Justinian
• Application of Greek Culture
• Organizational Systems

Middle Ages:

• Christianity
• St. Thomas Acquinus: Reason and Faith
• Claricos Laicos (exemption of taxes), Unum Sanctum, Estates General
• Medieval Universities

Renaissance:

• Individualism
• Humanism
• Martin Luther: Protestant Reformation
• Galileo: Science vs. Church Authority

Age of Enlightenment:

• Age of Reason
• Rise of the Common Man
• Age of Science and Discovery
• Voltaire, John Locke, Jean Jacques Rousseau, Thomas Paine, Thomas Hobbes

English Civil War:

• Magna Carta 1215, King John (limited government)
• Petition of Right 1625, Charles I (no: taxes w/o consent of Parliament, imprison w/o just cause, quarter troops in private homes, declare martial law w/o war)
• English Bill of Rights 1688, William & Mary invited to rule after Parliament removed James II as a tyrant. Rights applied to all Englishmen: no absolute power of monarchs, Parliament's consent needed for suspending laws, levying taxes, or maintianing an army; monarch may not interfere with parliamentary elections and debates; right to petition government and right to fair and speedy trial with a jury of peers; no cruel and unusual punishments or excessive fines or bail.

American Revolutionary War:

• Thomas Paine, Common Sense
• Declaration of Independence: Duty to overthrow tyrrany
• Life, Liberty, Pursuit of Happiness
• States/Federal
• U.S. Constitution: "We the People..."

French Revolution:

• Estates General
• Political Spectrum
• Liberty, Equality, Fraternity (nationalism)
• Cycle of Revolution
• Political Parties
• Napoleon Bonaparte
• Metric System, Encyclopedia, Napoleonic Code
• Art of Western Civilization: the Visual Arts and Music (Beethoven)

Liberalism/Reaction/Industrial Revolution

American Civil War:

• Gettysburg Address
• Brown vs. The Board of Education

U.S. Government:

Using the elections of our current elected officials on the Federal and State levels, two of the three levels of government in the United States, we introduced the nature of the Two-Party System in the United States and its impact on the Executive and Legislative branches of Government. We'll expand our discussion to the origin of the party system in the United States and the growth of the American party types. We'll consider third party systems and obstacles they face.

New Terms: political party, theocracy, ideologies, coalition government, third party, single-member district, proportional representation, Bull Moose Party, Green Party, American Independent Party.

Economics:

The use of Journey was demonstrated for use as a review of class activity, topics, assignments, and links to enrichment sources. Students developed a Bubble Chart of Macroeconomic Policies, understanding that macroeconomics examines the behavior of the economy as a whole, with our government's policy goals including: economic growth, price stability, full employment, and attaining a sustainable balance of payments between the United States and other countries. The Bubble Chart was a first step in helping us realize how far reaching are macroeconomic policies.

On Thursday, we'll take a look at the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) discussed in Chapter 13: Section 1, "Measuring the Nation's Output." Students should be apprised of the Chapter Overview for activities in class.

U.S. Government:

• Turn in "Elected Officials List" and "The Ford Funeral: National Drama" on Thursday
• Read Chapter 16: Development of Parties for Thursday. For an overview to chapter content and key terms, access "Chapter 16: Chapter Overview."

Economics:

• Peruse the front page of any of the following: New York Times, Wall Street Journal, or Financial Times. Identify the media source and list an array of topics covered in the newspaper.
• Read the Overview for Section 1 of Chapter 13: "Measuring the Nation's Output."
  

Economics Class Assignment for Wednesday, 3 January 2007:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macroeconomic

* List four U.S. Macroeconomic Policies

* Generically, what are Macroeconomic Policies?

* Bring to class a copy of one article related to one of the U.S. Macroeconomic Policies.

I enjoyed meeting Mr. Greenberg's scholars today. We began by considering the journey on which we embarked last fall with Mr. Greenberg in both U.S. Government and Economics. For each of these courses, we wrote an outline which informs us about the nature of our journeys.

Of course the most important aspect of the journey is knowing what our destination is (where I'm going to be by the end of the journey as a result of the new experiences, new information, new skills, and activities undertaken along the way). The structure of the outline includes:

Course Title
Thesis: Destination
A. Where have we been? What activities have we undertaken?
B. Where are we now? Is there an unfinished task I need to take care of?
C. What new learning is ahead of me before I reach the destination (end of Term)?
For what endeavor/expectation will I be better prepared as a result of this journey?

http://www.state.mn.us/portal/mn/jsp/content.do?id=-8494&agency=NorthStar

Provides access to State of Minnesota government and links to the Federal government.

U.S. Gov't Class Assignment for Wednesday: List your elected officials and their party affiliation on the State and Federal levels.

U.S. President:
U.S. Vice President:
U.S. Senators (2) from Minnesota:
Your U.S. Representative (1) and your Congressional District:
Minnesota Governor:
Your MN State Senator and your District:
Your MN State Representative and your District:

• Macroeconomic Policies and Policy Goals
• Role of the Federal Reserve Bank
• Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as a Measurement of Economic Health
• The Importance of the Disposable Personal Income (DPI) Measurement

• The thread of Western Civilization embodied in the American Revolution and U.S. Constitution
• Elected Officials on the Three Levels of Government
• System of Checks and Balances built into the U.S.Constitution
• Participation in our Democracy