"Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own 
government whenever things get so far wrong as to attract their notice, they 
may be relied on to set them to rights." 
                      -Thomas Jefferson 

Thomas Jefferson put his trust in the common man.  He was concerned about 
giving the national government too much power, and he believed that a well-
informed public was needed to safeguard the personal rights and freedoms 
for which the American Revolution was fought.

The need for citizens to be well-informed is even more important in today's 
increasingly complex and diverse world.  Being aware of and understanding 
current events is a responsibility that goes with the privilege of living in a 
democracy. Therefore, discussions of current events will be an important part 
of this class.

Approximately once a month you will be responsible for a brief report on a 
current events NEWS (not sports or music) article of your choice.  Due dates 
will vary, so I will post them on our homework board and on the current events 
assignment log near the door.  Copies of the report form will be in a folder by 
the assignment log, and may also be downloaded from my webpage.  See 
LINKS for on-line access to several news organizations.

Each current events report must include:
     *	Title of current event
     *	Source (where it came from - specific newspaper, magazine, or website)             
     *	Date of article
     *	Type of news (local, state, national, world)
     * Summary (minimum 5 sentence paragraph)
     *	Personal response/opinion (minimum 5 sentence paragraph)
         - Why you chose the article
         - Why the information is important
         - How you feel about it
         - What action do you think should be taken
         - What you would do to solve the problem

Also, the actual article must be stapled/clipped to the report unless it is a 
specific article I have assigned.