Period 2: Turmoil in the Middle East, Day 14 - Class Recap

One of the promotional images for the film Promises that we are watching in class. Found on the official website, here.
Dear Period 2,

Thank you for the class today! I think that it went well, though I did notice a little lack of focus at times on the film - which is made all the worse because there is no way that you will be able to understand what the people are saying unless you can have your head up to see the subtitles! Anyway, I liked how it all went.

Essential Questions: In what ways are cultures and countries interconnected? What are the factors to consider in the development of a Palestinian state?

Soundtrack: "Dear Mama" by 2Pac. Lyrics here. Chosen because it is Mother's Day on Sunday! This is an excellent song - it is the ringtone for when my mom calls me! :-)

AGENDA 5/8/09:
Mother's Day
News Brief
Promises, Part II

Homework: Bring presentations and papers for Tuesday (for real)! Read blog recap!

As I said in class, next week we will be doing the presentations. As you could hopefully see, showing the film Promises was a great way to lead in to getting people to work together. There was a lot of it in the movie! Now I want to see your takes on it! Remember, both your final paper and presentation should be ready to go by Tuesday. Also, I want you to bring back your completed film notes (I am guessing there are about 2 more minutes to watch, so we will probably do that and then get on to the presentations). Thanks!

Mother's Day: At the start of class, I went over the essential questions, soundtrack, and agenda, which led into talking a little bit about what people were doing for Mother's Day. Please be good to your mom! She helped shape you into the person you are today! :-)

News Brief: After talking for a minute or so about the importance of mothers, we got to hear a little bit about what is going on in the world! Someone noted that the Statue of Liberty is finally reopening. They have that planned for July 4th! I would highly encourage you to check it out if you are ever in New York City. Very cool place. Source: CNN.com - Statue of Liberty's crown to re-open July 4.

Stephen asked about why the United States gives Israel 3 billion dollars a year. Here's at least one perspective: Israeli-United States Relations. A quote:

U.S.-Israeli relations have evolved from an initial American policy of sympathy and support for the creation of a Jewish homeland in 1948 to an unusual partnership that links a small but militarily powerful Israel, dependent on the United States for its economic and military strength, with the U. S. superpower trying to balance competing interests in the region. Some in the United States question the levels of aid and general commitment to Israel, and argue that a U. S. bias toward Israel operates at the expense of improved U. S. relations with various Arab states. Others maintain that democratic Israel is a strategic ally, and that U. S. relations with Israel strengthens the U. S. presence in the Middle East.

I mentioned that the U.S. also provides a lot of aid to Pakistan (in order to help it fight the Taliban and other Islamic extremists in the country), and that last summer a report came out about some of the wasteful spending. Specifically, I mentioned a fleet of cars that Pakistan bought with U.S. money. Here is a great article talking all about that: WashingtonPost.com - U.S. Funding to Pakistan Plagued With Problems, GAO Report Says. A relevant quote:

In one example, the report cited monthly payments averaging $19,000 per vehicle for 20 passenger vehicles used by the Pakistani navy that appeared to contain "duplicative charges," the GAO said. The Pentagon often did not document its basis for evaluating claims and did not check Pakistan's currency conversions, which could have led to overbilling, the report said.

Look, this is not to say that all the aid the United States gives to Pakistan is being spent terribly. I tend to disagree when people make the argument that all the money being put forth to a particular purpose must be not worthy because of individual specific cases of inefficiencies, where money is spent badly. That is the same sort of argument that some people use to say that schools should get less funding, because they waste a lot of money on bureaucrats, or other individual aspects. It just makes no sense in the grand scheme of things.

In fact, check out this current article from just this last Monday: CNN.com - Legislation would triple U.S. non-military aid to Pakistan. Currently, we provide 500 million dollars a year to Pakistan. This bill would up that to $1.5 million. Again, a HUGE reason why paying attention to the Middle East is important. These are our tax dollars! We need to know what is going on, in order to be well informed about why our money goes where it does!

Suzie brought in this article to talk about: NYTimes.com - Swine Flu Cases Worldwide Exceed 2,300. I noted that this is something to be still really careful about, especially because really deadly flu viruses tend to start slow and then evolve into something really dangerous. The 1918 flu epidemic killed millions and millions of people and started just this way.

Thanks for the article Suzie! Luke, you are up for next class. Any current article about anything going on outside the United States.

Promises, Part II: I did not get to stop this as much as I wanted (and there are still a couple of minutes left) but generally, I liked this. Again, hopefully you can see now why it is so important to find common ground between people! This is what your presentations should be all about. I am super excited to see what you bring in on Tuesday! :-)
---

Thanks go out to Haze, Krishna, and Stephen for playing hoops at lunch, and Iris for coming and watching. That was fun! Also, thanks go out to the rest of you as well, for being such amazing students!

Have a wonderful weekend and enjoy Mother's Day! I will be unavailable to post and respond to comments from 4-10 tonight (Friday), but other than that, I should be able to get back to you fairly quickly. Have fun in the sun! :-)