American History Journal Entries

CONTEMPORARY ISSUES – JOURNAL ENTRIES Spring 2010

Journal Entries (JE) must be a minimum of 3 lines of writing in complete sentences (unless otherwise specified), and are worth up to 3 points for each entry. Since you are given in-class time to work on these each day, they will only be accepted for up to one week after their due dates.

3rd Quarter

In progress – not yet collected 1/25: Do you think people can learn from the mistakes of others, or do people need to make their own mistakes in order to learn? 1/26: Do you think that illegal immigration is a problem in the U.S. today? Why or why not?

Collected 1/22/10, will NOT be accepted after 1/29/10 1/19: For the last week, aftermath of the Haiti earthquake has dominated the news. Do you feel that people have become so saturated with these stories that interest is waning? Why or why not? 1/20: Do you think that Americans are still interested in capturing or killing Osama Bin Laden; or are we too focused on the economy and health care? Explain. 1/21: Do you think that single-sex classrooms would foster increased student achievement and higher overall grades? Why or why not? 1/22: Do you think there should be a limit to the total amount of money which can be spent on a candidate’s campaign? Explain.

Collected 1/15/10, will NOT be accepted after 1/22/10 1/5: Do you think that the media focuses too much on scandals concerning famous people? Explain. 1/6: Do you think that our society focuses more on protecting the rights of law-abiding citizens or the rights of criminals? Explain your answer.

1/11: Do you think our government “goes too far” in the interest of “national security”? Explain. 1/13: Mark McGwire admitted that he used steroids when he broke baseball’s homerun record in 1998. Should his record stand? Do you think sports or athletes are “tarnished” by such admissions? Why or why not? 1/14: When faced with pending natural disasters (such as hurricanes or wildfires), should residents be forced to evacuate? Why or why not? 1/15: Do you think that people whose homes are destroyed by natural disasters (flood, tornado, wild fire, earthquake, etc.) twice within 5 years should still be eligible to purchase insurance? Why or why not?