A Crucial Element of Democracy

This is a blog by Robert Gutierrez ...
While often taken for granted, civics education plays a crucial role in a democracy like ours. This Blog is dedicated to enticing its readers into taking an active role in the formulation of the civics curriculum found in their local schools. In order to do this, the Blog is offering a newer way to look at civics education, a newer construct - liberated federalism or federation theory. Daniel Elazar defines federalism as "the mode of political organization that unites separate polities within an overarching political system by distributing power among general and constituent governments in a manner designed to protect the existence and authority of both." It depends on its citizens acting in certain ways which Elazar calls federalism's processes. Federation theory, as applied to civics curriculum, has a set of aims. They are:
*Teach a view of government as a supra federated institution of society in which collective interests of the commonwealth are protected and advanced.
*Teach the philosophical basis of government's role as guardian of the grand partnership of citizens at both levels of individuals and associations of political and social intercourse.
*Convey the need of government to engender levels of support promoting a general sense of obligation and duty toward agreed upon goals and processes aimed at advancing the common betterment.
*Establish and justify a political morality which includes a process to assess whether that morality meets the needs of changing times while holding true to federalist values.
*Emphasize the integrity of the individual both in terms of liberty and equity in which each citizen is a member of a compacted arrangement and whose role is legally, politically, and socially congruent with the spirit of the Bill of Rights.
*Find a balance between a respect for national expertise and an encouragement of local, unsophisticated participation in policy decision-making and implementation.
Your input, as to the content of this Blog, is encouraged through this Blog directly or the Blog's email address: gravitascivics@gmail.com .
NOTE: This blog has led to the publication of a book. The title of that book is TOWARD A FEDERATED NATION: IMPLEMENTING NATIONAL CIVICS STANDARDS and it is available through Amazon in both ebook and paperback versions.

Tuesday, October 10, 2017

FIRST CHOICES

Now that this blog has identified the content for a unit of study being developed for this blog in real time – concerning foreign trade and how that trade affects the availability of jobs in the US – and what the unit calls on students to do – organize a debate and carrying it out – it’s time for the next phase.  This posting begins the process to set that content in an order of presentation in formal lesson plans. 
To assist in that process, below is a listing, in one place, of all the insights the developer has presented in previous postings.  This rendition will be in shorten form with each attached footnote indicating in which posting the more lengthen form appeared.
For this posting, he wants to give the reader an opportunity to make his/her choices.  If he/she wants to “play” along, the idea is for the reader to go down the list and see which ones deserve being included in the unit.  To assist making those choices, the reader might first go through list and just arrange the insights according to how, in terms of timing, they should be presented; that is, which would be presented first, then second, and so on.
One constraint, if this was a real-life planning, is the amount of time a teacher has.  To remind the reader, this unit is the last unit of the course.  As the last unit, it was determined that it would be given two weeks.  That is nine class periods leaving one, last day for a unit test.
          Another constraint is the determined sophistication level of the student.  At the high school level, that would be, in terms of grade level, seniors.  Not all seniors are of the same level of accomplishment; the assumption here is that the class in question is of average ability, but it is a class of students who have “benefited” from the instruction associated with the previous units of the course that has led to this final one. 
The teacher, in this last unit, therefore, can count on students knowing that they are about to organize and carry out a debate.  The students have been given instruction that has addressed several of the skills upon which good debating calls.  They also know that their grades are dependent on how well they do.  After all, while one wants to be idealistic, one lives in the real world and in that world, grades matter.
So, here are the eighteen insights that have been identified.  The clear majority of them are derived from Edward Alden and his book, Failure to Adjust:  How Americans Got Left Behind in the Global Economy.[1]  There is one insight not taken from this Alden source and it is so designated
The first insight is:  Displaced workers who have lost their jobs to workers of other countries cannot follow those jobs due to practical reasons, such as language barriers.[2]
          The third insight is:  Agreements among nations that have had very detrimental effects on the availability of jobs in the US, but at the same time have offered Americans several benefits, such as lower consumer prices.  These agreements include NAFTA, WTO, and TPP.[4]
The fourth insight is:  The economic shortfalls to certain groups of workers in the US is not due to globalization, but the inability or aversion of the US government to adjust.[5]
The fifth insight is:  During the 1960s, the “rise of the rest,” led by Germany and Japan, took hold.  That poses threats to the US.  Reason:  failure of US to adjust as exemplified by US maintaining high currency evaluations.[6]
The seventh insight is:  After World War II, the US’ policy to assist devastated countries after WWII backfired as those countries did not become the markets for US products planners foresaw.[8]
The eighth insight is:  The Marshall Plan type thinking, that called for a liberal, general foreign economic policy to Europe and Japan, was held on to for too long a time.  This effort was to avoid resentment of defeated nations, but was by the 1970s causing the US too much economic harm.[9]
The ninth insight is:  After the initial period after World War II, low tariffs, less regulations, floating currency valuations was stated goals of US.  An example was the Trade Expansion Act (1962) pushed by the Kennedy Administration.  This served the interests of certain economic entities such as import/export service industry, large corporate entities, technology industries, and retail industries, but hurt workers.[10]
The tenth insight is:  Assisting the transfer of jobs abroad has been the rise of transnational corporations (MNCs and TNCs).[11]
The eleventh insight is:  Globalization in trade has lowered consumer prices and increased the spreading of technology.  Often this has been to lesser developed nations.[12] 
The twelfth insight is:  The Peterson memo was judged by the State Department as being as too dismissive of the need to establish better relations with other nations, too nationalistic, and an encouragement to Congress to pass higher tariffs and restrictive regulations on foreign trade.[13]
The thirteenth insight is:  Often in American discourse concerning international trade, it is portrayed as a zero-sum competition.  Unfortunately, this has been accomplished by nations, especially China and Japan, ascribing to “beggar thy neighbor” strategies.[14]
The fourteenth insight is:  In counter distinction to Asian countries, European countries use more pro-market strategies.[15] 
The fifteenth insight is:  In the US, state and city governments have become very aggressive in competing for jobs, especially in the manufacturing sector.  Some strategies are aimed at luring such jobs from other states.  Other strategies include tax incentives (mostly tax reduction plans); but best of all are investments in infrastructure (highways, bridges, communication facilities, schooling and training facilities, etc.).[16] 
Sixteenth insight is:  More important than China’s restrictive policies in displacing workers has been advanced technologies (artificial intelligence, automated and electronic manufacturing and management).  The result has been higher levels of efficiency and productivity through the ability of companies to eliminate manufacturing sector jobs.  Solution:  increase exports to China especially in high-tech products such as in aviation technologies.[17]
The seventeenth insight is:  In trying to nurture domestic businesses – so that they can bolster their prospects in foreign trade – the national government invests in education, invests in infrastructure, and subsidizes research and development.[18]
The eighteenth insight is:  In international trade, if a nation’s products are losing favor among customers, then its national currency will lose value.  The opposite happens when a nation’s products become more favored by customers.  Therefore, currency values can help stabilize the balances of trade/payments among nations.  But when a nation manipulates its currency, that policy aborts the market from arriving at such a balance.[19]
          That, then, is the eighteen insights.  After one reviews these insights, the chore is to place them in order.  Which will be “taught” first, which second, and so on.  Then, the lesser important insights are eliminated.  That is what this posting is hoping the reader considers and takes part in the process if only symbolically.
Later, this development will formulate a lesson objective (which will be further described in a future posting), identify lesson steps, supportive materials, and any other assets needed to teach the insight.  Of course, both previously identified factoids and concepts will be fitted-in appropriately in the various lessons.




[1] Edward Alden, Failure to Adjust:  How Americans Got Left Behind in the Global Economy (Lanham, MD:  Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, 2016).

[2] See “Problematic Consequences,” September 5, 2017.

[3] See “Problematic Consequences.”

[4] See “Problematic Consequences.”

[5] See “Is Globalization Inevitable?”, September 8, 2017.

[6] See “Counting on a Strong Position Too Heavily,” September 12, 2017.

[7] See “Counting on a Strong Position Too Heavily.”

[8] See “Excessive Marshall Plan Thinking?”, September 15, 2017.

[9] See Excessive Marshall Plan Thinking?”

[10] See Excessive Marshall Plan Thinking?”

[11] See “The Face of Globalization,” September 19, 2017.

[12] See “The Face of Globalization.”

[13] See “The Face of Globalization.”

[14] See “Restrictive or Liberalized,” September 22, 2017.

[15] See “Restrictive or Liberalized.”

[16] See “Restrictive or Liberalized.”

[17] Wang Wen, “A US-China Trade War Would Cause Huge Damage and Benefit Nobody,” Financial Times, March 27, 2017, accessed September 22, 2017, https://www.ft.com/content/3b49cd2a-10ad-11e7-b030-768954394623 .  See “Restrictive or Liberalized.”

[18] See “To Be Pro Market or Not,” September 26, 2017.

[19] See “To Be Pro Market or Not.”

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