POLITICAL PROBLEMS and CONTROVERSIES
Required and Optional Study - Second Session
  ..
WEEK SIX: PUBLIC EDUCATION
TOPIC #1:  “Should Public Schools Be Privatized?”
REQUIRED STUDY:

Listen:

Debate: Justice Talking: Feb. 4, 2002 "Privatization of the Public Schools"
Read: 

YES: John E. Chubb, "The Private Can Be Public."

 NO: Glenn Elert, "School Privatization and Choice: a Sociopolitical Analysis"

OPTIONAL STUDY LINKS: 

National Center for the Study of Privatization of Education (Teachers College, Columbia U.); Cato Institute, "Public School Privatization"; The Edison Schools; AFT: Student Achievment in Edison Schools: Mixed Results in an Ongoing Enterprise

TOPIC #2: "Is 'No Child Left Behind' an Effective Law That Congress Should Reauthorize?"

REQUIRED STUDY:

Listen:

Debate: Justice Talking, May 7, 2007: "No Child Left Behind: A Mid-Term Exam"

Optionally, you may also want to listen to the Justice Talking "No Child Left Behind" debate that was first broadcast on January 15, 2004

Read: 

YES: Interview with Rod Paige, former U.S. Secretary of Education (when the NCLB law was enacted)

ALSO YES: Brief Statement of Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings, now Secretary of Education, on the No Child Left Behind Act of 2007

NO: James McKenzie, "Killing NCLB in 2007: 17 Reasons Why NCLB Must Go"

ALSO NO: John Taylor Gatto,  “Why Schools Don’t Educate”

OPTIONAL STUDY LINKS:

NOTE: An Internet search will yield many resources on this topic. Below are only a few that I came across as I searched for appropriate required reading. J.G.

No ChildLeft.Com: a site opposed to NCLB (a wealth of links to articles)

NCLB Destop Reference

Wikipedia: No Child Left Behind (with Pros and Cons)

"Poor Report Card for 'No Child Left Behind'" (streaming audio from 12/01/05 NPR's "All Things Considered" program)

Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings: Discussion of Revisions to No Child Left Behind (interview with Ray Suarez on PBS News Hour) [Note: This link is to the transcript. This sitealso has links to streaming video and streaming audio if you prefer to watch or listen.]

“Can This Bill Live Up to its Name?” (PBS "Fronline" program

 
WEEK SEVEN: PUBLIC EDUCATION
TOPIC #1:  "Should Kids Have to Pledge Allegiance to 'One Nation, Under God...'?”

REQUIRED STUDY:

NOTE: Contrary to wide public belief (thanks in large part to mediocre and misleading press coverage), the United States Supreme Court did not setttle this question in its June 14, 2004 decision in Elk Grove Unified School District v. Newdow. The Supreme Court did reverse the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which had ruled that inclusion of the words "under God" in the pledge of allegiance was an endorsement of religion and therefore a violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. However, the Supreme Court ducked this substantive constitutional issue by finding that Michael Newdow, who no longer had custody of his child, had no legal standing to bring the lawsuit on her behalf in the first place. Wikipedia provides an excellent chronology and summary of this case from the Federal District Court to the U.S. Court of Appeals to the United States Supreme Court.--J.G.

Listen:

Debate : Justice Talking: Sept. 30, 2003, "Under God, Under Fire"

Read: 

YES: Clayton E. Cramer, "'One Nation, Under God'"

NO: David Greenberg, "The Pledge of Allegiance: Why we're not one nation 'under God'"

OPTIONAL STUDY LINKS:

US Supreme Court decision of June 14, 2004, reversing ELK GROVE UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT and DAVID W. GORDON, SUPERINTENDENT, PETITIONERS v. MICHAEL A. NEWDOW et al.; John W. Baer, "The Pledge of Allegiance: A Short History"; James Piereson, "Under God"; Under God ProCon.org: "Should the words 'under God' be in the U.S. Pledge of Allegiance?", Wikipedia: "Elk Grove Unified School District v. Newdow"

TOPIC #2: "Should Public Schools Be Allowed To Continue to Consider Race As a Factor In Order to Pursue Desegregation Or to Achieve Diversity and Equality?"

REQUIRED STUDY:

Please note that this topic's study materials are heavy on media resources but light on reading:

Listen:

Debate #1 :  Justice Talking: Feb. 23, 2004 “Still Segregated? Race in American's Schools” and:

Debate #2: Justice Talking: Jan. 8, 2007: "Race and Public School Assignments"

Read, Listen or Watch:: 

YES and NO: PBS News Hour - June 28, 2007, "Court Strikes Down Racial Criteria in School Diversity Plans" (You have the option to read the transcript, to listen to the streaming audio or view the streaming video)

OPTIONAL STUDY LINKS:

Brown v. the Board of Education I; Brown v. the Board of Education II

Another Justice Talking Debate (April 23, 2001): "Public Schools in Black and White

Wikipedia: Summary of S.Ct. opinion in Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1

Nicholas Lemann, "Reversals" (New Yorker)

Michael C. Dorf, "The Supreme Court's Split Over Public School Integration: Who Really Betrayed Brown's Legacy?"

Bill Fletcher, ZNET Daily Commentaries - July 4, 2007, "Does It Matter Whether Schools are Desegregated?"

San Francisco Chronicle Editorial - June 29, 2007, "A Setback to Equality"

Douglas Kmiec, "Why the Supreme Court is Right to Be Skeptical of Race-Based Assignment Systems for Public School Students"

George Will, Washington Post - July 5, 2007, "The Court Returns to Brown"

 
WEEK EIGHT: ENVIRONMENT AND HEALTH E
TOPIC #1:  "Should the United States Adopt a Universal Health Care System That Guarantees Medical Coverage for All Americans?"
REQUIRED STUDY:

Listen:

Debate: Justice Talking, October 12, 2004: "Health Care for All?"

Read:

YES: Marcia Angell, M.D., "Introducing the National Health Insurance Bill"

NO: Robert Sade, M.D., "The Political Fallacy that Medical Care Is a Right"

OPTIONAL STUDY LINKS:

"Should the Government Provide Free Universal Health Care for All Americans? Pros and Cons in a Nutshell"

Single-Payer Frequently Asked Questons (Physicians for a National Health Program)

"Myths as Barriers to Health Care Reform in the United States"

Physicians for a National Health Program Research: The Case for a National Health Program

PNHP Single-Payer National Health Insurance Resources

John Goodman, Cato's Letter, "Five Myths of Socialized Medicine"

Michael Tanner, Cato Institute Policy Analysis, "Individual Mandates for Health Insurance: Slippery Slope to National Health Care"

TOPIC #2: "Is it Appropriate for Government to Provide Funding for Research That Uses Human Embryonic Stem Cells?"
REQUIRED STUDY:

Listen:

Debate: Justice Talking, January 11, 2005: "Stem Cell Research"
Read: 

YES: Rebecca Dudzik Ham, Ph.D (Progressive Policy Institute Report, June 2001), "Stem Cell Research: The Case for Federal Funding" - PDF

NO: Richard Doerflinger (U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops), "Giving Artificial Priority to Embryonic Over Adult Stem Research in State Funding" (Testimony Before the Senate Finance Committee, Maryland General Assembly against Senate Bill 59) - PDF

OPTIONAL STUDY LINKS:

National Instites of Health: Stem Cell Basics

Another Justice Talking Debate (Sept. 24, 2001): "Stem Cell Research: A Question of Life?"

Wikipedia: "Stem cell controversy

Embryonic Stem Cell Research: For and Against

Jonathan D. Moreno & Richard O. Hynes, "Guidelines for Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research"

Rachel Benson Gold, "Embryonic Stem Cell Research - Old Controversy; New Debate"

Website of DoNoHarm: The Coalition of Americans for Research Ethics

The Coalition of Americans for Research Ethics, "The 'Political Science' of Stem Cells"

 

 
WEEK NINE: CIVIL LIBERTIES AND SECURITY
TOPIC #1:  "Is the United States in Need of Immigration Reform?" 
REQUIRED STUDY:

  Listen:

Debate: Justice Talking: "Immigration Reform "

Read:

YES: Jack Martin, Federation for American Immigration Reform, Immigration Run Amok: Why We Need Reform"

NO: Jacob Weisberg, "First, Do No Harm: Why We Don't Need an Immigration Reform Bill"

 

OPTIONAL STUDY LINKS:

 

TOPIC #2: "Should the Government Be Allowed to Eavesdrop on Phone Calls and Internet Use Inside the United States Without a Warrant or Court Supervision?"

REQUIRED STUDY:

  Listen:

Debate: Justice Talking: Domestic Spying: What are the Checks on Presidential Power"

Read:

YES: President George W. Bush, Radio Address of December 17, 2005

NO: Akia Muhammad (Perspectives, FinalCall.Com, Aug. 19, 2007), "Police State: Congress Authorizes Domestic Spying"

OPTIONAL STUDY LINKS:

Another Justice Talking Debate (March 8, 2004 ): "Domestic Spying"

Nancy Chang, Center for Constitutional Rights, "The USA Patriot Act: What's So Patriotic About Trampling on the Bill of Rights?"

Letter to Congress from 14 Prominent Constitutional Scholars (Feb. 2, 2006)

NSA Watch

NSA Website

Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, Prepared Remarks at Georgetown University Law Center (Jan. 24, 2006)


WEEK TEN: CIVIL LIBERTIES AND SECURITY IN TIME OF WAR ,   continued
TOPIC #1: “Does Homeland Security Against Terrorism Require Extraordinary Measures That Limit or Take Away Civil Liberties?”
REQUIRED STUDY:

Listen:

Debate:  Justice Talking: Sept. 09, 2002, “Limited Liberty Post 9/11” 
Read:

PLEASE NOTE:  Do not conclude that any of the reading below is outdated because it refers to Attorney General John Ashcroft, who was replaced by Alberto Gonzales in 2005.  Ashcroft was the chief architect of the Patriot Act, and Gonzales has defended the Act with about the same vigor.  For our study, what counts are the ideas from the Attorney General's Office that led to the Patriot Act and, critics say, contribute to the erosion of civil liberties. Those of you who may want to study any differences in Ashcroft's and Gonzales' advocacy, can read Gonzales' testimony to the House Judiciary Committee on April 6, 2005 and to the Senate Judiciary Committee on April 5, 2005 as well as his joint testimony with FBI Director Robert S. Mueller before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence on April 27, 2005
BACKGROUND:
"U.S.A. Patroit Act: A Sketch" by the the Congressional Research Service - PDF File, 4 pages, and: 
"Attorney General Ashcroft's Assault on Civil Liberites," - 2-page summary by the ACLU.

YES:

"Ashcroft Calls Patriot Act 'Key Weapon' in Fighting Terrorism," Testimony before the House Judiciary Committee, June 5, 2003, and:
"U.S. Seeks to Balance Security, Rights in War on Terrorism," James Keith, United States Consul General in Hong Kong

NO:

"Breaking the Vicious Cycle: Preserving Our Liberties While Fighting Terrorism By Timothy Lynch, Cato Institute Policy Analysis #443 -  PDF File, 21 pages.
OPTIONAL STUDY LINKS:
"Civil Liberties After 9-11" (ACLU Publication);  "Freedom Under Fire: Dissent in Post-9/11 America" (ACLU);  "Summary of the USA PATRIOT Act and Other Government Acts" (ACLU); "Insatiable Appetite Report" (ACLU);  "Seeking Truth From Justice: PATRIOT Propaganda - The Justice Department's Campaign to Mislead The Public About the USA PATRIOT Act" (ACLU);  "After 9/11: The New War on Terror" (NPR);  "Fighting Terrorism, Preserving Civil Liberties" (video, Cato Institute Policy Forum); The War on Terrorism (a collection of features from The Atlantic Monthly and Atlantic Unbound); CIA, DOD and other Federal and State Government Web Sites on the War on Terrorism (Findlaw);  War on Terrorism Documents (Findlaw);  Commentary on the War on Terrorism (Findlaw);  War on Terrorism Cases (Findlaw);  Laws Regarding Terrorism (Findlaw);  News about the War on Terrorism (Findlaw)
TOPIC #2: "Is Racial Profiling an Appropriate Tool of Policing?"

REQUIRED STUDY:

Listen:

Debate: Justice Talking: April 26, 1999, "Driving While Black: Racial Profiling on America`s Highways " 
Read:

YES: Debbie Schlussel, "Why We Need Racial Profiling"

NO: Gene Callahan and William Anderson , "The Roots of Racial Profiling"

UPDATE: Sherry F.Colb, "The New Face of Racial Profiling: How Terrorism Affects the Debate"

Please be sure to pursue some of the optional links below.

OPTIONAL STUDY LINKS:

Heather McDonald, "The Myth of Racial Profiling"; EthnicMajority.com on Racial Profiling; Stuart Taylor Jr., "The Case for Using Racial Profiling at Airports"; ACLU, "Racial Equality: Racial Profiling" (several articles); "A Resource Guide to Racial Profiling Data Collection Systems"; Peter Siggens, "Racial Profiling in an Age of Terrorism"

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Racial Profiling and Arab Americans & Muslim (for next summer):
http://www.npr.org/news/specials/091102reflections/civil_liberties/
http://writ.news.findlaw.com/colb/20011010.html