The Best and the Worst

 

Only three short weeks ago, we were using stock prices from 1929 that quickly illustrated why so many people lost money in the crash, and we selected stocks on today’s market to monitor over the next month.  The rise of the market has been the lead story on the news for the past week as records of new highs have been broken. Make sure to check your stock picks to see how you are doing.  While saving money in a bank where it is insured by the US government will keep it safe, the amount of return is minimal.  Investing in the stock market has historically brought much bigger returns in the long run for those willing to ride out temporary ups and downs.  But risky bets aimed at quick rewards often end in catastrophe.

Modern America

This week we looked at the military strategy used by FDR and Churchill to defeat German and Japanese forces. Your worksheet gave you the opportunity to work through our readings and make notes on key information.  We reviewed the worksheet in class so you should have the information you need to prepare for the quiz on Monday or Tuesday. 

We also looked at the Four Freedom posters made famous by Norman Rockwell.  The posters were sold to the American public and ended up raising over $130 million for the war effort.

War can bring out the best and worse in people.  Reading about the internment of Japanese Americans you could see that this was a great injustice.  Even though they were citizens and accused of no crime, the government was concerned that they could aid the enemy and therefore placed them in detention camps.  These people lost all their property and legal rights for the duration of the war.  Despite the obvious violation of civil rights, many young Japanese Americans joined the armed services to prove their loyalty.  It is ironic that the 442^nd Regimental Combat Team, consisting almost entirely of Japanese-American soldiers, won the most medals for bravery of any unit in US history. You had a homework assignment that required you to write a letter to the editor of a newspaper opposing the internment by referencing the civil liberties contained in the Bill of Rights.  By last count, many of you have not turned in that assignment…don’t delay…make sure to finish the writing and turn it in to Ms. Averill.

You also had two days in the computer lab to complete your Voice Thread WW II poster task assignment.  You will earn in class credit for the analysis and comment and this will also be an assignment that can be uploaded to TieNet.  This is counted as a technology and social studies task.  Please hand in a hard copy of your analysis and comment to Ms. Averill.

International Speakers

Thank you to the NWC officers from Norway and Jordan for another informative brief on their countries.  Our next and last session will be April 5 and we will be hosting officers from Japan and Romania.  In order to encourage discussion, we will spend some class time preparing questions in advance.

World History

This week we continued our study of imperialism.  You had a worksheet that you used with your group and then we played jeopardy as a way to review key information.  Make sure to use the worksheet to help review for the quiz on Monday. You need to know the definition of imperialism, the reasons why a country would become imperialistic, and how the two poems we reviewed in class help tell the story of imperialism.  Below you will find a brief outline as to why countries became imperialistic…make sure to prepare for the quiz.

Economic Reasons:

Need for raw materials such as rubber, oil, metals, and timber

Need for new markets; additional places to sell products

Bankers needed places to invest money that had been made during the Industrial Revolution

Countries needed places for increased population to live; some countries in Europe were becoming too crowded

Political and Military Reasons:

Navy needed bases around the world for supplies such as coal and food

Sense of nationalism and competition between European nations; prestige

Concern that other European nations might get there first and gain an advantage

Humanitarian and Religious Reasons:

Concern for the less fortunate; a sense of duty to spread Christianity; a sense of obligation to bring advanced medicine to areas suffering from disease

Social Darwinism:

Belief that the white countries of Europe were superior and had every right to take over the weaker areas of Africa and Asia; a sense of racial superiority