Social Studies Grade 8 Assignment Week of 5-18-20

Directions:

Go to studentintranet.bpsma.org Log into Clever using your BPS username and password Click on Newsela Copy and paste this link into your browser: https://newsela.com/subject/other/2000266146

Instructions: Read the 3 articles below. Highlight in PINK any words you do not understand (or write them down). Complete the activities that follow.

Activity 1:

Define the following vocabulary terms: · mayor · city council · municipality · advocate · establish · fundamental · petition

Activity 2:

Brainstorm ideas about the different responsibilities of city governments. Name Brockton's Mayor and/or City Council members. If you do not know them, brainstorm ways you can find out this information. Why is it important to know the name of your city's elected officials?

As you read, highlight in YELLOW details about the structure of city governments and the responsibilities of city councils. Annotate anything you find that is an example of action taken by a mayor or city council member.

Activity 3:

Imagine you are a newspaper reporter. Create a mock interview with someone who has been denied voting rights, asking them the following questions (if you don't know anyone who has been denied voting rights, have them imagine what it might be like if this happened to them):

· What rights do you have? · How were your rights denied? · Why were your rights denied? · How are you planning to take action to prevent your voting rights from being violated? · Why do you consider it important to participate in civic life?

Activity 4:

Think about the one change you'd like to see in your community or state. How would you go about making this change? What action steps would you need to take to make your change happen? Explain in detail. How Government Works: State and local power By USHistory.org, adapted by Newsela staff on 02.16.17 Word Count 599 Level 790L

State and local governments do everything from creating laws to helping run municipal services. That means they help take care of our water, our streets, our public libraries, our schools and much more. Image by: Newsela staff.

The United States has one national government. It also has 50 state governments and 89,000 local governments.

Most government employees work for local and state governments. Ordinary citizens interact with these officials every day. For example, teachers and policemen are state and local workers.

Some people believe that local government helps bring government closer to the people. In turn, it makes our government more democratic. In order for this to be true, others argue, citizens must get involved in local politics.

State And Local Officials

Governors, lawmakers and other elected officials lead state governments. Judges sit on both state and local courts. Local officials include mayors, city council members and school board members.

Many local officials are nonpartisan. In other words, they do not run for election with a party, or political group. They just run on their own good names. Often local officials belong to both

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. political parties.

Not Much Interest In Local Politics

How invested are Americans in their local politics? Do they vote and attend meetings? Do they phone their local officials and keep up with the news surrounding local politics?

In general, citizens are not very interested in or informed about their local governments. They tend to be much more interested in the national government. They also know much more about what is happening at the national level.

In the last few presidential elections, a little more than half of eligible voters showed up at the polls. Far fewer people show up to vote in local elections, such as school board and city council elections. For these, only about one in every 10 eligible voters turns out to vote. Yet these elections have a much bigger impact on voters' daily lives. So why is there such a big difference in voter turnout?

Many Important Issues Involve Local Governments

Some of the reasons are understandable. After all, local governments are involved with everyday things. These governments provide fire and police service. They keep the roads in shape. They try to bring more jobs to the community. When these things are working correctly, they are not too exciting.

People tend to let local officials do their jobs until something happens that directly affects their lives. For example, people might be more likely to get involved after a neighbor's house is robbed. Then, they will want to know how their local officials are going to respond.

Overall, most people seem to have very little interest in local politics. If they were more interested, they would be more involved. Still, many important issues today directly involve state and local governments. People need protection from crime and violence. They depend on state and local officials for that. All governments have to deal with drugs, racism and poverty. Education, the protection of the environment and health care are all big problems in the United States today. All across the United States, thousands of people are trying to solve them. But to work properly, a democracy needs all of its citizens to participate.

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. Students sue for the right to learn civics By Christian Science Monitor, adapted by Newsela staff on 01.24.20 Word Count 972 Level 1050L

Image 1. Students, parents and lawyers cheer "Civics!" after a hearing in federal court on December 5, 2019, in Providence, Rhode Island. Through a lawsuit, they hope to establish a constitutional right to an adequate public education that prepares students for civic life. Photo: Riley Robinson/The Christian Science Monitor Photo: Riley Robinson/The Christian Science Monitor

On December 5, 2019, a federal judge began considering whether students have a constitutional right to a public education that prepares them for civic life. The matter has deep implications for the future of democracy.

Dozens of teenagers crammed the gallery of the U.S. District Court in Providence, Rhode Island. The lead plaintiff on the lawsuit was Aleita Cook, a recent graduate of a Providence high school.

Fourteen named plaintiffs, both students and parents, filed the class-action lawsuit, Cook (A.C.) v. Raimondo, against Governor Gina Raimondo and other state officials last year. It argues that Rhode Island violates students' constitutional rights. Many have been left without the skills they need to participate in American citizenship.

The case goes to the heart of the relationship between education and the success of the American experiment.

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. "I didn't learn my voting rights through school," Cook says. Nor was she taught about the balancing roles of the three branches of government. Instead, the gaps in her civics education were filled by a youth activist group.

Real Life As Civics Lesson

The lawsuit noted many insufficiencies. One is that many immigrant students in Providence are not taught English well enough to serve on juries. Also, low-income schools lack activities such as debate and student newspaper, the types of training grounds that wealthier districts typically offer.

Working with lawyers and being involved in the case has already been the civics lesson of a lifetime for the young plaintiffs.

"You're really the national test case," Michael Rebell told the students. He is the head lawyer and an education equality advocate at Teachers College, Columbia University. "If we can win this, then all kids throughout the United States will have a federal constitutional right."

The current case could depend on how Judge William Smith interprets the 1973 Supreme Court opinion in San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez. The 5-4 decision left the funding equality matter in the state's hands and noted that the U.S. Constitution does not mention education specifically.

Rebell argued that Rodriguez left an opening for future cases. Lawyers just need to show a link between an inadequate education and the ability to exercise constitutional rights.

A Constitutional Right To Education

Anthony Cottone, representing Rhode Island education officials, countered that Rodriguez closed the door on federal involvement. There is "no fundamental right to education under the Constitution," he said.

Cottone argued that educational standards and funding are up to state and local school districts.

Judge Smith brought up a study showing that 86 percent of U.S. students lacked complex reading comprehension skills. They could not distinguish between fact and opinion in complex texts. He asked Cottone whether that might raise reasonable concerns about the future of the democracy.

Such concerns are valid, Cottone said, but a federal lawsuit is not the solution.

Two lawsuits in Rhode Island's state court to establish a state constitutional right to civics education have already failed. Local community groups are now bringing the case to the federal level.

Students Show Up For Court Hearing

Plaintiff June, a third-grader, sat in the jury box to observe with her mother, Moira Hinderer, and Cook.

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. Hinderer is lucky that she can take time off to bring her daughter and talk to her about court. "For a lot of families that's just not reality," she said. She believes schools need to provide an equal experience where students can learn how to participate in democracy.

For many of the teens attending the hearing, it was their first visit to a courthouse.

"The experience was really amazing," said Jayson Rodriguez, a junior at the Met High School, adding that the hearing added to his desire to become a lawyer. He joined other youth organizers for lunch at the office of the Rhode Island Center for Justice. Jennifer Wood, who runs the group, is a lawyer for the plaintiffs.

Symone Burrell found her first court hearing exciting but frustrating. "It was really concerning to hear [the state's lawyers] just keep stating the point that [civics] education was not a right," says the community college student. "It's kind of scary that the people who are running our education think that way."

Varied State Requirements

Kei Kawashima-Ginsberg is the director of the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts University. She explained that there are deep disagreements about who is responsible for civic preparation, schools or the home and community.

She also sees a need for "a long-term remedy that could address one of the fundamental issues in civic education, which is unequal funding."

The majority of states now require a civics course to graduate. Rhode Island and others address it only in broader social studies standards.

Meg Geoghegan is a spokeswoman for the Rhode Island Department of Education. She said the state provides support and a framework for social studies and civics. However, "the responsibility for implementing these tools rests at the local level."

Niamiah Jefferson is a youth activist from Cranston, Rhode Island. She got a decent civics education only by going to school in Scituate, Massachusetts, where she is one of just a handful of black students. "My parents sacrificed traveling 45 minutes each day for the past three years for me to go to that school," she said. She hopes this case will help future students find such resources in their own communities.

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. Youth drive push to lower voting age in Somerville, Massachusetts By Wicked Local North, adapted by Newsela staff on 09.20.19 Word Count 973 Level 1040L

Photo from: Getty Images/hermosawave.

In Massachusetts, there are a record number of proposed state laws that could extend voting rights to youths under 18. One proposal was made in the city of Somerville, just outside of Boston.

Some think the volume of proposals represents a tipping point on this issue. Before anything changes, though, the bills have to make it through the State House. So far, no Massachusetts community has been successful in getting one through.

Over recent years, there has been a push to lower the voting age to 16. It gained popularity with the March for Our Lives movement, a huge, youth-led movement to prevent gun violence. March for Our Lives was followed by a wave of youth-led protests across the country focused on climate change.

Representatives Not Accountable

Young activists say they are fighting for their future. Yet they do not have the power of the vote to motivate their representatives to act. Their representatives, they say, are not accountable to them.

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. Some representatives have recently expressed support for lowering the voting age to 16. Most of the successful activism has occurred around municipal elections only, though. A lower voting age for federal and state elections appears to be a more distant possibility.

In Massachusetts, there were efforts to lower the municipal voting age as early as 2002 and 2006 in Cambridge. Harwich and Lowell took a stab at it in 2007 and 2011, respectively.

The first community in the country to successfully extend voting rights to 16- and 17-year-olds in municipal elections was Takoma Park, Maryland, in 2013. Hyattsville, Maryland, followed suit in 2015, along with Greenbelt and Riverdale Park in 2018. In 2016, the city of Berkeley, California, extended voting rights to 16-year-olds in school board elections.

In 2017, Western Massachusetts communities Ashfield, Shelborne and Wendell voted to pursue legislation for a 16-year-old municipal voting age. In 2018, Northampton did the same. Concord voted to send a request to the State House to lower the voting age to 17. When a similar request came before the Malden City Council, however, they rejected it in a 7-4 vote.

Complicated Process

In Boston, no specific proposal on the issue has been introduced. The Boston City Council has passed a resolution, however, urging the State Legislature to adopt what has come to be known as the Empower Act. The Empower Act is a bill that would allow any municipality across the commonwealth to choose to lower their local voting age to 16 or 17. Right now, each municipality has to get permission from the state, which can be a complicated process.

Somerville's leadership is strongly in support of lowering the municipal voting age. Congressional Representative Ayanna Pressley is on board, and so is City Council President Katjana Ballantyne.

In April, Somerville officially asked for permission from the state Legislature to lower the municipal voting age to 16. Many such requests die before they ever make to a formal vote. If the request is approved, however, it would set a new standard in Massachusetts.

Mayor Joseph Curtatone has been an outspoken supporter from the beginning.

"We're all impacted immediately by the decisions made at City Hall every day," he said. "We believe that our young people, our young leaders, deserve a voice in those decisions."

Ballantyne believes extending the right to vote will only make the democratic conversation richer. Young people have a lot to contribute, she said.

"They talk to me about gun violence, they talk to me about recycling in the public schools, they talk to me about allowing girls and women to have sanitary pads and tampons in the public schools," she said. She listed even more issues young voters had expressed an interest in. "They talk to me about these important issues, and they're close to them," she said.

Rey Junco is the director of research at CIRCLE, a Tufts University program dedicated to researching civic learning and engagement. He has been studying this topic for years.

Importance Of Early Engagement

"What we know from research is the younger someone gets involved — the younger they are civically engaged — the more likely they are going to do it for a lifetime," he said.

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. For this reason, Pressley introduced an amendment to lower the federal voting age. She supports a lower voting age across the board.

"I support this because it is ridiculous that we think that young people are going to spontaneously combust at the age of 18 and suddenly care about their government and their relationship with it," she said. She said civic participation should be encouraged, not blocked.

She acknowledged the youth and voting rights supporters across the country who have elevated this to a national conversation.

"Young people are at the fore of every social movement in this country," she noted. "They are leading on gun violence prevention and climate change, working on campaigns, laboring and expending sweat equity, making sacrifices to get people elected, even though they can't cast a ballot. They are disenfranchised."

Jack Torres, a 17-year-old Somerville High School student, activist and rock climber, agrees. He doesn't buy many of the arguments against the effort.

"Something I hear a lot is that we're checked out, so why even offer us the right? That is shown to not be true," he said. He pointed to high youth voter turnout in Maryland.

"When you're 16 and 17 you're in a more stable place than you are when you're 18," Torres continued. "You're usually still going to high school and living at home."

He also emphasized the unique and valuable perspective youth can offer if they are allowed to vote. "Sixteen-year-olds are close to the pain," he said. "It's really good to reintroduce 16-year-olds and students into the system to be able to help write solutions to the problems they face on a daily basis."

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. Opinion: Why kids can be leaders and send powerful messages By Washington Post, adapted by Newsela on 03.12.19 Word Count 967 Level 1050L

Image 1. Malala Yousafzai talks to more than 6,000 people at ICC Sydney Theatre in December 2018, in Sydney, Australia. Yousafzai is a Pakistani activist for female education and the youngest Nobel Prize laureate. Photo: James D. Morgan/Getty Images for The Growth Faculty

A senator from California met with a group of people from her district recently. Her name is Dianne Feinstein. The meeting was far from a routine visit with voters, however. The visitors were mostly children, from third grade to high school.

They carried a large handwritten letter asking the senator to vote "yes" for the Green New Deal. It is a plan to slow climate change or global warming, the heating up of Earth's climate.

"That resolution will not pass the Senate," Feinstein, a Democrat, said. She pointed to the high cost of the program and the lack of Republican support. "I know what can pass, and I know what can't pass."

The video of the meeting became popular online, prompting a range of reactions, with some accusing adults of using children as political tools. However, others called Feinstein "rude" and

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. "dismissive." The senator responded that she heard the children and remains "committed to doing everything I can to enact real, meaningful climate change legislation."

Children often call on us to do better, inspiring us by example to speak up or join a cause.

Children Can Sway Public Opinion

Clayborne Carson is the director of the Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford University. He believes the Children's Crusade, the 1963 children's march in Birmingham, Alabama, turned the tide of the civil rights movement.

Police officers responded to the children as if they were adults. However, "pictures of the bravery and determination of the Birmingham children as they faced the brutal fire hoses and vicious police dogs were splashed on the front pages of newspapers all across America, and helped turn the tide of public opinion," says Marian Wright Edelman. She is the founder and president of the Children's Defense Fund.

Getting Honest Answers To Tough Questions

What gives children the moral authority and boldness to take action for causes? Feinstein's meeting shows that children's voices can sometimes get people to talk more directly about concerns. While some children might simply be following the lead of adults, those who work with children know that kids often ask tough questions and want honest answers.

The honesty and sincerity of children's questions and actions have a strong appeal. I have heard kindergartners gasp when I tell them about Malala Yousafzai's campaign for global education and that girls do not go to school in many parts of the world.

There is also the commitment of kids. It's rarely even possible for adults. Most adults have daily duties, lacking the time and energy that author Phillip Hoose says are critical to youthful success.

Young people can truly devote themselves to their commitments of marching or rounding up followers. In the process, they are often able to reach grown-ups who can bring change. In his book "It's Our World, Too!" Hoose also points to the importance of young activists' firmly defined senses of right and wrong, as well as the power of being underestimated and the availability of school as a place to organize.

Kids Take On Climate Change

Children, especially by their teenage years, also display bravery in the face of risk, which is often boosted by their frustration with being under the rules of adults. The title of Hoose's book comes from an 11-year-old boy's words. He was told he could not sign a petition to stop the spread of nuclear weapons because he was too young. "It's our world, too!" the boy said, and he started a petition for kids.

Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg initiated school strikes last year calling for action to stop global warming. Her commitment, time and energy, as well as the truth of her arguments, brought

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. attention to her cause. She sat outside the parliament building in Stockholm, Sweden, every day for three weeks. Thousands of young supporters staged school strikes in Germany, France, Britain, Belgium and Australia.

Amy Neugebauer is the founder of Giving Square, a youth charity organization based in Montgomery County, Maryland. She said Feinstein missed an opportunity with the children "to engage them around why they believe what they do."

Environmentalist Bill McKibben said in The New Yorker magazine that Feinstein had gracious moments with the children. However, she showed "why climate change exemplifies an issue on which older people should listen to the young. Because, to put it bluntly, older generations will be dead before the worst of it hits," he said.

"They Will Make Us Think"

The Internet plays a role in the reach of children's voices. Young adults have organized protests on Twitter and other social media.

Emma González and her fellow students from Parkland, Florida, worked to get attention for their #NeverAgain response to the deadly shooting at their school. She quickly built a Twitter following of 1.2 million.

Yousafzai was shot as a teen in Pakistan by the Taliban for her support of girls' education. She has rallied supporters worldwide because of her honesty and determination to change the world.

Young people relate to Malala because of her age. However, it is also because she speaks with the authority of one willing to risk danger to continue speaking.

"Listen to kids, their ideas, their concerns," Neugebauer said, "because they will make us think and make us better people."

Karen Leggett is a freelance journalist and children's book author living in Silver Spring, Maryland. Her nonfiction picture books include "Hands Around the Library: Protecting Egypt's Treasured Books" (2012) and "Malala Yousafzai: Warrior with Words" (2019).

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com.