Capitalism Vs. Communism Lesson Cycle

Capitalism vs. Communism Lesson Cycle

Callanan Middle School

Patterson

Students take away knowledge should be:

The pros and cons of a communist and capitalist system, along with a general understanding of the conflict in Korea.

(W) = Resource is on 7th Grade Global Studies Website

Highlighted blue word = hold down “ctrl” and click on the blue word to take you to the site

Day 1

Warm Up
What do you think has caused this to happen?
Intro Video - Link
Korean Reading
-page 3
Part 1 & 2 /

Day 2

Warm Up
Korean Reading
Part 3
Track Starr Assignment
-page 3
Computers Needed / CNN Missile Development - Link
CNN Attack - Link
North Korea Missile Attack- Link
Propaganda films
- Cartoon - Link
Working Conditions - Link

Day 3

Warm Up
Inside North Korea Documentary (W)

Day 4

Warm Up
East Asia GDP Thematic Map (W)
Propaganda films
- Cartoon - Link
Working Conditions - Link / Cultural Grams – comparative graph of communist/capitalist countries, life expectancy, per capita

Day 5

Warm Up
-page 165
South Korean History
-3rd world country to 1st world country
-graph of economic growth
-read 163-165, 1-2 on class jump
Sign in to Class Jump to answer questions
-What is the “Miracle on the Han River?”
Computers / Propaganda films
- Cartoon - Link
Working Conditions - Link
Research North Korea
-Amber article
-history
-culture
-manifesto
Research North Korea
-Average Citizen beliefs and progress
Pro - faithful interactions
Cons- people who left/fled
Computers

Day 6

Warm Up
Capitalism vs. Communism
1. Tabs, definitions, sample notecard
2. Pros of Side
Computers / South Korean History
Samsung/Asian Tiger
Corruption
Wealth Gap
Computers

Day 7

Warm Up
Income Inequality (North Koreans)
- Video Link
Finish pro side, write on notecards research
Computers / Motivation
Brain Flight
Sample Quiz – Averaging (Multiple Choice)

Day 8

Warm Up
Car Activity (South Koreans)
2. Cons of other Side
Computers / Inequality
Pros/Cons Democracies
Triangle/Vocab
/Map Quiz

Day 9

Warm Up
Finish cons side, write on notecards research, find political cartoons to back up point.
-Examples
Computers / Inequality in the United States
Richest 1%
Wealth Influences Elections
Social Problem

Day 10

Warm Up
Share Notecards with fellow group’s members, fill out student sheet.
Preamble to the Constitution
Using I-Civics and page 88 of the Civics book look at the preamble of the Constitution for our country’s goals.
Computers / Inequality in the United States
Richest 1%
Wealth Influences Elections
Social Problem

Day 11

Warm Up
Groups use their note cards to write their own preamble for a unified Korea. Also, must keep in mind their own groups within.

Name:

Block: Two Koreas

Teacher:

Directions: Answer the following questions on a separate piece of paper. You do not need to write down the question, you just need to make sure that the part and question that you are working is clearly marked on your paper. When you finish each part you will need to check with Mr. Patterson before you move on.

Part 1 - The Two Koreas

1. What separates North and South Korea? What is on either side of this separation?

2. How were they split post World War II? Why?

3. What was the Cold War?

Part 2 - The Two Koreas after the War

1. South Korea remained closely tied to whom? What did it pursue after the war? What does that mean?

2. North Korea tried to distance itself from whom? What did it still continue to practice?

3. What destroyed South Korea? Who paid for it to be rebuilt?

4. Describe the government of South Korea.

5. What did Kim II Sung devote (focus) North Korean’s resources on?

6. Why do you think North Koreans wanted to self-reliant? Explain the quote “hold fast to independence.”

7. Between the years 1995-1998, what happened in North Korea?

Part 3 - The United States and the Two Koreas Today

1. Describe South Korea’s and the United States’ relationship. Describe the North Korea’s and the United States’ relationship.

2. How did President Bush feel about North Korea? Why did he feel this way?

Part 4 – TrackStar

1. Log in to the computer

2. Click “ok” to any boxes that pop up

3. Click on the internet and go to “Google”

4. Search for “trackstar” and click on the top option

5. There is a box that says View Track# and type “454274”

6. Click on “view text”

For each link that you watch please do the following.

1. What is the title of the news clip?

2. What type of video is it? Is it for TV, for YouTube or a propaganda video?

3. What is the purpose of clip?

4. Was it successful in accomplishing its goal? Cite specific things in the video to justify your opinion.

South Korean Research Prompt

Callanan Middle School

Patterson

Directions: In order to prepare for the upcoming summit, your group will examine the pros and cons of both capitalist democracy’s and communist countries. The following pages will provide general starting points for your group to build upon. You will need to do research to reinforce/prove the points put forth on the following pages.

Key Definitions

South Korea is currently a capitalist democracy. Capitalist means that individuals can own their own property. Democracy means that the citizens (people living in the country) vote or choose their leaders every couple of years.

North Korea is currently a communist country. Communist means that the government owns everything and the people don’t get to choose their leaders.

______

Pros for Democracy/Capitalist Countries

Democracy is a term that describes countries that elect their leaders. Those leaders write laws that rule the country. If people don’t like those laws then they vote for people to replace those leaders.

Limit to how long a person can run the country

Since the leaders must re-apply for the job on a regular basis, they must keep the people who voted for them happy. If they don’t keep the people happy then they won’t receive enough votes the next elections cycle. Also, most countries have limits of how long a person can be in office. This helps ensure peace

Research suggestion: Look up term limits of major countries, look at GDP per capita for those countries. Is there a connection? Use Culture Grams data charts to easily compare.

People are more informed about what is going on

A country that is a democracy encourages people to pay attention to what is going on in their country; they are the ones responsible for choosing their next leaders.

Research suggestion: Since people have a reason to stay informed there tends to be a greater focus on education in a democracy/capitalist country. Google “why is literacy important to success?” How would this help out a country if the majority of people were literate?

Individuals decide

A democratic system gives power to the individual, each voter gets a say in how they are to be governed and by whom.

Research suggestion: What is important for the people is what’s important for the leaders of that country. Look up “lobby groups in the United States.” A lobby group collects money and unites supporters in the hope influencing lawmakers to believe them. How would this help keep people happy?

Performance report

In a democracy most leaders must be re-elected from time to time. They are required to defend their decisions and explain their. This makes them accountable for their weaknesses and encourages leaders who can deliver results.

Research suggestion: Bad leaders can be removed peacefully. Look up how Richard Nixon quit being president. Was there any violence? Look at other examples of people resigning from positions of power. Communist countries usually have coups or pass power down to their children. Why would this make people angry?

______

Cons of Communism

Dictators in power

Communist country’s tend to have dictatorial leaders (someone who is in complete control) whose ideas are forced on the population. However, they often see themselves as good dictators, who put the interests of their people first. This is debatable, though, when so many dictators live in much better housing and have far much more in their life than the average people in their country.

Research suggestion: Research some of the famous dictators in history (Stalin, Mao, Hitler…) and the bad things that they did. Why would this not happen in a capitalist democracy such as South Korea and the United States? Also, look into how much money these leaders spend on themselves.

Doesn’t work in reality

It can be argued that because the government controls the economy, business is less competitive, as there is no reward for business leaders to be creative. There is too much government influence and everything does not work smoothly, which is why it is so easy for corruption to take place. There will always be individuals prepared to take more than they deserve, even though this goes against what a communist community should be. If they are in a powerful position, they are unlikely to be found and attacked, so they have nothing to worry about.

Research suggestion: The Soviet Union, the most powerful communist country in history, collapsed. Why did this happen? Also, think back to the rock paper scissors game, was there any point in playing the game if every turn we took all the Starbursts and gave them out equally, regardless of effort? Also, look into corruption cases in both China and when the Soviet Union broke apart in the early 90’s.

The people have no voice

The same can’t be said for the ordinary population, though, because if they protest against the government, for instance, they could be imprisoned for treason (crime of betraying one’s country), and many are not given a fair trial. There is no such thing as freedom of speech, which means that in communist countries the government controls what’s on the internet and what people can say on the news. Individuals can’t express their dissatisfaction with the government and explore other options, because they will be punished for doing so. Consequently, with the help of the military and the news, the communist officials can remain in control. Thus, change is often slow, and sometimes even non-existent, in communist countries.

Research suggestion: The average citizen feels that they don’t have a voice or a way to shape what is going on in the country. 1989 Chinese citizens protested their communist government. Why were they protesting and how did the Chinese government react?

Also, look into how China is monitoring internet access in within the country.

North Korean Research Prompt

Callanan Middle School

Patterson

Key Definitions

North Korea is currently a communist country. Communist means that the government owns everything and the people don’t get to choose their leaders.

______

Pros of Communism

Communism is a political theory where the government controls what is produced/made in the country. Unlike capitalist countries, the economy is not focused on creating a profit, but on making sure that every person has the same to access to education, employment and health care.

Chairman Mao (China) and Joseph Stalin (Soviet Union) mentioned working for the greater good of the country could be painful in the short term but would be worth it in the long term.

Everyone is equal

Living in a communist country every person is treated equally based on their needs. That means if you collect garbage or run a school you would have equal access to food, clothes, and education. There are no rich or poor people.

Research suggestion: The United States, which is a capitalist/democratic country, has had a long history of inequality. Since everyone is not “equal” in the United States investigate “gender” and “race” gaps that exist to this day. Why would this not be a problem in a communist country?

Less Debate

Since a communist country is run by people who aren’t elected, they can make decisions quickly, without the need for debate.

Research suggestion: Communist countries can reach difficult decisions quickly and effectively. They don’t waste money on elections and sometimes are able to do things that would be impossible in other countries. For example China had a problem with having too many people, so they passed the One Child Policy, which most people credit for lowering the population growth. Could countries like the United States pass a law like that? Even if it was needed?

Profit is invested in the Community

Since the government ‘owns’ everything and making a profit is not the driving force behind business, more money can be invested in services that everyone has to use. Thus, the education and health systems benefit, which means ordinary people can go to school and receive medical care when they need it.

Research suggestion: The government is there to provide for the community. Instead of having very few people with an extremely high standard of living that wealth is given to everyone. Look up the top forty wealthiest people, how would their wealth be better used in a communist government?

______

Cons of Democracy

Decisions requiring the vote of the people take time and can result in waste.

People who vote can be easily influenced

In a Capitalist/Democracy people who vote can be easily influenced, especially with today’s twenty-four hour news shows. These news shows can often shape the public’s perception of an issue. Law makers in turn have to please the people that voted for them, which can force them to make poor decisions and pass ill-advised laws.

Research suggestion: Sometime the average person can’t think of the long term benefits. Anytime the state of California wants to raise taxes it must ask it’s citizens for