WELCOME TO AMERICAN GOVERNMENT AND ECONOMIC

SYSTEMS!

AGENDA: THURS., FEBRUARY 19, 2015

• Opening Activity: Cartoons About Different Economic Systems (15 min.)

• Notes/Discussion: Economic Systems (20 min.)

• Guided Reading: China Tells Schools to Suppress Western Ideas, With One Big Exception (20 min.)

• Review Game: Unit I Jeopardy (20 min.)

• Closure: Why Democracy and Mixed Economy? (15 min.)

LEARNING OBJECTIVE

Students will be able to compare and contrast different economic systems.

ENDURING UNDERSTANDING

Students will understand that an effective government and economic system requires compromise between competing forces.

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS

•Why should you care about politics and economics?

•Why democracy and mixed economy?

OPENING ACTIVITYECONOMIC SYSTEMS CARTOONS

WHERE ARE THESE PEOPLE? HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THE SCENE?

OPENING ACTIVITYECONOMIC SYSTEMS CARTOONS

WHERE ARE THESE PEOPLE? HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THIS SCENE?

•Who or what decides what consumers get in each cartoon?

•What advantages and disadvantages do you see represented in each cartoon?

•Which store would you prefer to shop in?

OPENING ACTIVITYMIXED ECONOMY CARTOON

HOW DOES THIS CARTOON ILLUSTRATE THE DEFINITION OF MIXED ECONOMY?

ECONOMIC SYSTEMS

• Because resources are always scarce compared to people’s wants, all societies must make choices about what to have and what to give up.

•How those choices get made depends on a society’s economic system.

•Most countries today have a mixed economy, in which both the government and individuals have a voice in economic decisions.

•Who decides what varies greatly.

• Some countries, including the United States, minimize government regulation of the economy.

•Others, such as China, still exercise considerable government control over economic activities.

•Americans describe their economy as a free enterprise system.

This system has seven key characteristics:

1. Economic freedom to buy and sell what we want and work where we want

2. Competition among firms, which try to attract customers with new and better products

3. Equal opportunity to make the best use of our talents, abilities, and education

4. Property rights that allow us to buy, own, and sell goods and intellectual property

5. Binding contracts, which give us confidence that others will abide by their agreements

6. The profit motive, which provides an incentive to work and start new businesses

7. Limited government that regulates without controlling individuals, firms, or the market

GUIDED READINGCHINA TELLS SCHOOLS TO SUPPRESS

WESTERN IDEAS, WITH ONE BIG EXCEPTIONPre Reading

1. What type of government does China have?

2. How has America’s relationship with China changed in recent times?

3. Why does our relationship with China matter?

Words to Know

subversive = revolutionary, treasonous

discourse = discussion, talk

pedagogy = education, teaching

gird = restrain

ideological = political

incredulity = astonishment, suspicion

bastion = stronghold, upholder

delineate = define

ideologues = fanatic, partisan

GUIDED READINGCHINA TELLS SCHOOLS TO SUPPRESS

WESTERN IDEAS, WITH ONE BIG EXCEPTIONPost Reading

1. Why did a Communist Party official claim the young teachers and students are key targets of infiltration by enemy forces?

2. Why do teachers and students reject the idea that foreign pedagogy and textbooks pose a threat to the government’s survival?

3. How did Shen Kui, a professor at Peking University Law School in Beijing, challenge the government?

CLOSUREWHY DEMOCRACY AND MIXED ECONOMY?

Why do you think that we have an economic system known as a mixed economy and a democratic form of government? Do democracy and mixed economy work best for our country? Why or why not? Answer these questions on an exit slip.

HOMEWORK

Finish guided reading and study for tomorrow’s unit test.