TITLE OF COURSE: CATHOLIC SOCIAL TEACHING 8-27-09
NUMBER OF HOURS; 62 hours. 18 weeks. 3 & 1/2 hours per week.
ADDITIONAL HOURS: Readings; three short papers; one college paper; three guest
speakers; one field trip; and one service project. The college paper will be written
according to the MLA guidelines and require choosing and limiting a topic that
probes creatively a current area of social justice and applies Catholic teachings.
Students taking the course as "non-credit" will participate in all activities except
the "college paper." All students will do: a formal research paper on one justice issue;
a paper and class presentation on a world religion; and an analysis of one book focusing
on aa justice issue. In addition there will be tests, quizzes, readings, the service project,
and the field trip. Study guides and group work will be accomplished in class, while
readings. essays, field trips and service projects will be completed outside of the classroom.
NUMBER OF CREDITS: 3 COST PER CREDIT: $50.00
TOTAL COST: $150.00
DEADLINE FOR REGISTRATION: Sept. 28, 2009 and Jan. 30, 2010 (Projected dates)
COURSE REQUIREMENTS:
Skill in applying gospel values to complex human
issues of justice and peace.
Familiarity with Catholic social encyclicals
Sensitivity to and knowledge of world cultures
Knowledge of the basic tenets and practices of the major world religions.
Daily readings; study guides; quarter tests; quizzes; class
discussions; guest speakers; field trip; interview with teacher; four service hours.
Four papers--book analysis; justice issue; world religion paper; a college paper
on a current justice issue.
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MAJOR TEXT: CATHOLIC SOCIAL TEACHING, by Michael Pennock. Ave Maria
Press, 2007.
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SUPPLEMENTARY TEXT: EXPLORING THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD, by Nancy Clemmons,SMN.
Ave Maria Press,1999.
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ASSIGNMENTS FOR ALL STUDENTS:
This outline in no way represents each and every exercise, work unit, study
sheet and/or units test/quiz that will be part of the student's daily work.
IT IS A LONG-RANGE VIEW OF MAJOR ASSIGNMENTS issued August 27, 2009.
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QUIZ: Sept. 4. and Jan 29.
BOOK COMMENTARY: Sept. 30 and Feb. 26.
QUARTER TESTS: TUES., October 13/ Jan.12. WEDS. March 25/April 28.
RESEARCH PAPERS (for entire class): Fri. October 23/Weds. Dec. 16.
Fri. March 5/Mon. Apr. 20.
RESEARCH PAPER (for college credit only): Fri. Dec. 4/ Mon. April 12.
FINAL EXAM: Tues., January 12/ Tues., May 18 (or that week, as agreed by administration)
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BOOK ANALYSIS. Read and report on at least 100 pages of a book/film below.
Your report is "essay style" which will include: 1) the point that the author is trying to make;
(We call this the author's 'thesis.') 2) Seven events/facts from the story that prove this point;
3) The issue(s) of social justice from the "Wheel of Justice" on pages 13-15 which are reflected
in this book/film. (If a book/film is not on the list, it must be approved by instructor.) LENGTH: 600
WORDS.
DUE: TUES. Oct. 6 and FRI. Feb. 2 see book selections below.....
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RESEARCH PAPER: For those taking the class for college credit a paper is
due: DEC. 4/APRIL 12 1000 words
This paper follows the MLA guidelines. It includes OUTLINE, CITATIONS,
BIBLIOGRAPHY. You must posit a THESIS and exhibit ability to prove or
disprove it by inductive and deductive reasoning based on solid sources.
(Sources include: internet data, periodicals, books, newspapers, etc. and
are cited appropriately when used.)
Topic, in dialogue with instructor, to fit student’s interest and ability.
Outline/bibliography and/or first draft: November 6/March 24
RESEARCH PAPER ON ONE OF THE WORLD RELIGIONS
presenting the religion in an original and unique way, using the
internet and other sources and discussing the religion with a person of
that faith and/or visiting their worship site. Video, photographs or pictorial
material should be included if possible. Include newspaper, magazine,
internet and encyclopedic information, indicating the SOURCE IN PARENTHESIS
of any fact, statistic or opinion/quote from and expert.
Choose one: Buddhism, Zen Buddhism, Confucionism, Hinduism, Islam, Janism,
Shinto, Sikhism, Taoism. Native Americans. Main-line Protestant: Methodist,
Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Lutheran. Anabaptists (Menonite. Amish.
Hutterite.) US-born Religions: Assembly of God, Christian Scientist,
Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints, Seventh-day Adventists,
Unitarian Universalist, Watchtower Bible and Tract Society.
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OTHER ASSIGNMENTS for the ENTIRE CLASS:
STUDY GUIDES: at least six, done in class, using the C.C.C., the text book,
and the internet.
PRACTICUM: All students will have a “practicum.” Chosen with the
approval of their family, a service/action for justice of 4 hours. (Hours
may also be used for SJHS “service hours” but they must be signed and
dated for this semester.) e.g. letters written to senators/representatives;
work at Habitat; march for a cause (1st sem: Walk for Hunger; 2nd sem:
March for Life).
FIELD TRIP: A field trip to centers of justice/world culture will be held
for one day in May for the entire senior class.
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ADDENDUM: Assignments will not be accepted after the date due
without a handwritten note from a parent/guardian stating the reason for the
delay which cannot exceed two class days. Instructor reserves the right to
issue a zero for the assignment on the third day. LATE ASSIGNMENTS, for whatever reason,
MUST BE LEFT IN THE FACULTY MAILBOX.
By advanced permission, assignments may be delivered via e-mail, in which
case the instructor agrees to download the assignment; in some cases the student
may be required to download the assignment here at school.
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BOOK COMMENTARY: Sept. 30/Feb. 28 (600 words)
The purpose of this assignment is to demonstrate that the student has the
ability to determine what is "fair" or "unfair" about social situations in
his or her own country and abroad...applying the 'wheel of justice" to
familiar issues before taking on more complex issues. Your 600 words must
include:
1. What did you discern to be the premise/thesis of this book? How did you arrive at that
conclusion?
2. Give 7 examples of how the author proves/documents his or her
thesis. e.g. events, statistics, stories, taken from the 100 pages
that you read.
3. Relate what you have read to the Human Dignity wheel on page 13
and the explanation on pages 14 and 15 of your text.
Choose one book from this list. Read a minimum of 100 consecutive
pages:
Ishmael Beah, A LONG WAY GONE: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier. 2007.
Though not grossly graphic, this personal narrative reveals the trauma and violence that one boy
experienced when captured and "trained" as a soldier. How he lived to tell his story is totally
amazing, if not miraculous. His eventual "rehabilitation" (when recaptured by the United Nations)
brought him to New York and eventually to college where he learned to write professionally.
Greg Campbell, BLOOD DIAMONDS, book. Or: BLOOD DIAMOND, film (2007).
Both document the fierce struggle in Sierra Leonne, Africa, that sacrifices
human life and safety for illegal diamonds. Brad Pitt stars in the film. The
book is an easy read, sensitive to political and social issues in Africa's
day-to-day trafficking of precious stones. The DeBeers Company of
Holland/London is implicated in both genres.
Tommy Chong, THE I-CHONG: MEDITATIONS FROM THE JOINT. Simon and Schuster,
2006. Irish, Chinese and Canadian, Tommy Chong (and his partner Cheech)
were often observed smoking pot; however, in later life, perhaps in response
to their satirical humor, Tommy was arrested for selling marajuana pipes on
the internet. Admitting his guilt, he was kept in prison for 9 months where
he wrote this memoir. A revealing look at daily prison life in the US
today. Chong wishes that he had read a book like this early-on that would
have prevented his incarceration. Easy read.
Barbara Ehrenreich, NICKLE AND DIMED. Henry Holt & Co., 2003.
Working for about 3 months each at: Waitressing. Cleaning homes
(in a company similar to ‘Merry Maids.’) Motel house-keeping. and Wal-Mart,
Barbara Ehrenreich tells the story of each experience in awesome
detail and we get to meet her fellow workers and know their families
trying to survive in the new ‘split culture’ of America. This book has
received several major awards and is the source of a television
documentary in 2006.
Barbara Ehrenreich, THIS LAND IS THEIR LAND. Henry Holt & Co., 2008;
A study of how the average American can gain less financially as corporations
gather higher profits and pass them on their directors and CEO's leaving less
for the workers who produce the company's success.
Al Gore, AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH.(2005, book or film) Much like a yearbook,
the publication tells the story in pictures, maps, charts and space
photography. Brilliant color documentation: One sees the earth
satellites, from planes, from within the crust of the earth. Captions and
factual material are included. An easy read, but also a scientific document
(made for the eyes of the average person. Since it is "pricey", settle into
a comfy chair at the book store and take some notes.
THE GREAT DEBATERS, 2007, FILM ONLY. "Ultimately an uplifing movie because it's
about triumph. But there are harrowing moments along the way."-- James Berardinelli, film
critic. Written and directed by Denzel Washington (who also plays the starring role based on a
real teacher) A newly formed debate team in an all-black college wins every debate for its first
ten years (historically beating Oxford University of England and University of Southern California
at Berkeley) The youngest member was actually in college at age 14 and was a star on the team.
The story features the first year of the team's existence, when the team establishes it's winning
record. The acting and the historical highlights are stunning! It is rated PG13.
John Howard Griffen, BLACK LIKE ME. (Also a 1964 film) The author,
using medication that darkened his skin to a deep brown, crosses the
color-line in the deep South of the 1950’s. As a journalist he documents
his experiences as a black man. His revelations about racism in the United
States are unsurpassed by any research, keeping the book in print, even
today. It is thought that his later death by skin cancer is directly
related to his risk with the chemicals that darkened his skin. A very easy
read!
Immaculee Ilibagiza, LEFT TO TELL: Discovering God in the Midst of the Rwandan Holocaust.
(2006) Her caring parents--one a superintendent of Catholic schools; another a teacher--send their
daughter to the home of a friend during the Rwandan holocaust hoping that she will escape harm.
Both they and their eight sons, all of whom have college degrees, are massacred while Immaculee is
hidden in a small bathroom with seven other women.....After three months, when the women leave
their "shelter," they discover the horrors which have been committed.
Jonathan Kozol, THE SHAME OF THE NATION. Crown, 2006. Author of
Savage Inequalities (1991) and Death at an Early Age, has visited 60
public schools for this book and has listened to the children! His
observations are unsettling as to what the children experience in the name
of education in less affluent neighborhoods. He concludes that we have
begun the “restoration of appaartheid schooling in America.”
Latifa, FORBIDDEN FACE: GROWING UP UNDER THE TALIBAN. (2003)
THE LOLITA EFFECT. 2008.
Available from the Allegheny Valley Library, this is the newest of three books to come out last
fall about the early sexualization of children. The book investigates marketing, media, and
scientific data that impacts children, especially girls, at an early age causing rapid development
of their consciousness of sex, but not their ability to handle this complex issue in their young
lives. (Not graphic. Very sensitive. Well researched but enjoyable to read.)
Patricia McCormick, SOLD. Hyperion paperbacks, 2006.
Lakshmi is a 13-year-old girl who lives in poverty with her family in Nepal. Lakshmi's stepfather says
she must take a job to support her family and introduces her to a glamorous stranger who tells her
she will find her a job as a maid in the city. Lakshmi journeys to India only to learn the unthink-
able truth: she has been sold into prostitution. The book is a tribute to the ingenuity, courage and
daring of the main character! It is one woman's story in the hundreds of thousands who are victim's
of human traficking.
Pelzar, David. A CHILD CALLED IT. THE LOST BOY. and other books in the series.
David was an abused child who narrowly escaped death at the hands of his mother!
Two teachers at school risked their careers to help him and were able to rescue him from his
family and get him a foster family. Both teachers were subsequently fired; but David went on
to lecture and write about his experience with profound success. He is now married and the
father of his own children.
T.R.Reid, THE HEALING OF AMERICA: A global quest for better, cheaper and fairer. Penquin, 2007.
P.W. Singer, CHILDREN AT WAR. New York, Pantheon Books, 2005. The
growing and global use of children as soldiers is investigated in this
compelling book by P.W. Singer. Its use of the quoted words of the children
themselves--given in italics throughout the book--is its most valuable
contribution to this growing trend. Charts and graphs clarify the
statistics. The rold of the United States and the international community
is brought to bear. Full disclosure on the practice dramtically pictured in
the movie Blood Diamond.
Harriet Beecher Stowe, UNCLE TOM’S CABIN. Homewood Publishing Co.
A book of her personal experience. If you want to look into the
eyes of slaves. If you want to meet their family members... If you want
to know white people who struggled to protect their slaves... If you love a
romantic story...you need to catch up and read the saga by the woman
that Abraham Lincoln called: “The lady who started the Civil War.”
Traumatic...and, a very easy read! (Begin your 100pp in the last half.)
Walsh, John, TEARS OF RAGE.
The original story that changed the life of John Walsh and led to the popular television series
AMERICA'S MOST WANTED. John's six-year-old child Adam was missing from a department
store where he was with his mother shopping. His body was found weeks later. The evidence
suggests that he was used for making pornographic films and then disposed of.
BOOKS, PART II. Books on the religions will be a help in your world religions paper. If you wish to do
a second book report for extra credit, just follow the directions above and apply it to a book below:
Walpola Sri Rahula, WHAT THE BUDDHA TAUGHT. Published by: Buddhist Cultural Centre, 125
Anderson Road, Nedimala, Dehiwala, Sri Lanka. www.buddhistcc.com
This is a meticulous study of the details of major Buddhist teachings. Generous excerpts from the
major Buddhist writings are included, along with photographs, a glossary and a bibliography.
Fascinating reading for those interested in finding the heart of Buddhism.
Rev. Siridhamma, THE LIFE OF THE BUDDHA. Published by the Buddhist Cultural Center (above).
A very readable simple story of the Buddha from his birth to his death. Lavishly illustrated with
easy summaries of the teachings of Buddhism and questions to check comprehension. Nifty stories
that took place during the Buddha's life now read like parables...and each has a meaning or teaching.
List will be continued and passed to you shortly.
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Participation Grade. 100 points. Each student begins with 100 points and
can win or lose points for the following: bringing materials to class
(folder, pencil, pen, notebook to take notes, etc.) Contributing to the
academic momentum of the class. Working well in two's or in groups as
assigned. Taking leadership. Completing assignments on time.
PARENTS MAY VIEW THE GRADES THAT THEIR SON/DAUGHTER RECEIVES ABOUT A WEEK
LATER ONLINE.
WHEN ABSENT FROM CLASS, the responsibility to obtain all class notes,
handouts, and announcements rests with the student who was absent. Asking a
friend to keep track of these while you are absent is a good idea!
NOTE: When a seriously ill or hospitalized student cannot keep this policy,
and the quarter ends, no grade will be given until he/she recovers and
finishes the work.
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