Readings in Social Studies

Transcription

1 Touchstones Readings in Social Studies Touchstones Discussion Project

2 TOUCHSTONES READINGS IN SOCIAL STUDIES Published by

3 Other Available Touchstones Program Materials Elementary School Touchpebbles Volume A (Student and Teacher editions) Touchpebbles Volume B (Student and Teacher editions) Middle School Touchstones Volume A (Student and Teacher editions) Touchstones Volume B (Student and Teacher editions) Touchstones Volume C (Student and Teacher editions) Courage to Care, Building Community through Service (our community service volume for middle grades) (Student and Teacher editions) Where d They Get That Idea?: Issues and Ideas in Science and Mathematics - Vol. I (Student and Teacher editions) Where d They Get That Idea?: Issues and Ideas in Science and Mathematics - Vol. II (Student and Teacher editions) High School Touchstones Volume I (Student and Teacher editions) Touchstones Volume II (Student and Teacher editions) Discussing the African American Experience (Student and Teacher editions) Discussing U.S. History (Student and Teacher editions) Getting Ready for the Reading Section of the ACT (Student edition) Investigating Mathematics (Student edition) Readings in Social Studies (Anthology) SAT Preparation for Critical Reading (Student edition) Touchstones Alif: Readings from the Arab Tradition (Student and Teacher editions) Post-secondary Mapping the Future (Reader s guide and Leader s supplement) New Landscapes (Student edition) The Compass (College edition) Other volumes Courage to Care, Strength to Serve (our community service volume for older grades or adults) (Student and Leader editions) The Compass (Executive level) Discussion Leadership: Getting Started (Leader s guide) In support of your work to bring dialogue, increased critical thinking, collaborative leadership, and community to your students, Touchstones Discussion Project offers educators a range of professional development services. Contact us for more information or to schedule an introductory presentation. II TOUCHSTONES READINGS IN SOCIAL STUDIES

4 About the Touchstones Discussion Project The Touchstones Discussion Project is a nonprofit organization founded on the belief that all people can benefit from the listening, speaking, thinking, and interpersonal skills gained by engaging in active, focused discussions. Since 1984, Touchstones has helped millions of students and others develop and improve these skills in school, work, and life. For more information about the Touchstones Discussion Project, visit Texts selected, translated, and edited by Geoffrey Comber Howard Zeiderman Nicholas Maistrellis 1991, 2003, 2007, 2012 by Touchstones Discussion Project PO Box 2329 Annapolis, Maryland All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or repurposed in any form without prior written consent of the authors. ISBN: TOUCHSTONES READINGS IN SOCIAL STUDIES III

5 Introduction 1 I. Ancient History 1. The Iliad, Ch. VI, Hector meets his wife, by Homer 5 2. The Iliad, Ch. XXIV, Priam begs for his son s body, by Homer 7 3. The Life of Lycurgus, by Plutarch 9 4. The Life of Pericles, by Plutarch The Histories, by Herodotus Solon meets Croesus The Peloponnesian Wars,The Plague at Athens, by Thucydides The Peloponnesian Wars, Civil war in Corcyra, by Thucydides The Peloponnesian Wars, The Melian dialogue, by Thucydides 21 II. World Cultures C o n t e n t s 1. A Lesson for Kings, A Tale from India 27 2a. The Tortoise and the Rabbit, by Aesop 29 2b. The Tortoise and the Antelope, A Tale of The Ngini People An Unlucky Man?, A Tale from Nigeria The Parable of the Greedy Sons, A Tale from Persia The Story of Fire, A Sufi Tale Truth and Falsehood, A Middle Eastern Folktale God, the Devil, Death, and the Hungry Peasant, A Mexican Folktale The Secret of Caring for Life, by Chuang Tzu The Doctrine of the Middle Way, by Chung Yung The Seven Books, by Mencius Tao Te Ching, by Lao Tzu The Wise Man of Wei, by Chuang Tzu 57 TOUCHSTONES READINGS IN SOCIAL STUDIES V

6 13. Money Makes Cares, A Tale from China The Tale of Genji, by Lady Murasaki Hiawatha Sees Himself, A Tale of the Iroquois The Story of Creation, A Tale of the Eskimos A Blind Man and A Cripple, A Tale of the Hopi Life and Death, A Tale of the Blackfeet The Creation of Man, A Tale of the Miwoks 73 III. Civics 1. Leviathan, by Thomas Hobbes The Prince Ch. XV, by Niccolò Machiavelli The Prince Ch. XVII, by Niccolò Machiavelli The Second Treatise of Government, by John Locke On Liberty, by John Stuart Mill A Theological-Political Treatise, by Benedict de Spinoza Idea for a Universal History from a Cosmopolitan Point of View, by Immanuel Kant Use and Abuse of History, by Friedrich Nietzsche The Will To Power, by Friedrich Nietzsche Discourse on the Origins of Inequality Among Men, by Jean Jacques Rousseau The Philosophy of History, by Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel The German Ideology, by Karl Marx Forum on Art and Literature, by Mao Tse Tung Man the Reformer, by Ralph Waldo Emerson Democracy in America, On Associations, by Alexis de Tocqueville Civilization and Its Discontents, Sigmund Freud Letter from Birmingham Jail, by Martin Luther King Jr Passers-by, by Franz Kafka The Rights of Women, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley 121 IV. U.S. History 1. The Federalist Papers No. 10, by James Madison Democracy in America,by Alexis de Tocqueville 127 VI TOUCHSTONES READINGS IN SOCIAL STUDIES

7 3. A Plan for a Department of Peace for the United States , by Benjamin Banneker The Autobiography, by Benjamin Franklin Self-Reliance, by Ralph Waldo Emerson Up From Slavery, by Booker T. Washington A Sunday Evening Talk, by Booker T. Washington The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, by Frederick Douglass Letter to His Former Master, by Frederick Douglass The Labor Question, by Frederick Douglass Is Government by the Majority Right?, by Frederick Douglass 147 V. Humanities 1. The Qur an Bhagavad-Gita On Being Abused by Others, by the Buddha Writings on Non-Violence, Mahatma Gandhi The Art of War, by Sun Tzu Prisoners Listening to Music, by Kathe Kollwitz 163 7a. Melancholia I, by Albrecht Dürer 165 7b. Anatomy of Melancholy, by Robert Burton The Law, by Hippocrates The Republic Book VII, by Plato The Rhetoric, by Aristotle The Confessions, by Saint Augustine of Hippo Meditations, by René Descartes Pensées, by Blaise Pascal The Apology for Raymond Sebond, by Michel de Montaigne The Consolation of Philosophy, by Boethius On Suspicion, by Francis Bacon About Revenge, by Francis Bacon The Treasure of the City of Ladies: Advice to Princesses, by Christine de Pisan To a Certain Miss Nobody, by Fanny Burney The Letters, by Helisenne de Crenne The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vasa, the African, by Olaudah Equiano The Royal Commentaries of the Inca, by Inca Garcilaso de la Vega 197 TOUCHSTONES READINGS IN SOCIAL STUDIES VII

8 23. The Origin of Species, by Charles Darwin True and False Philanthropy, from McGuffey s Reader What is Man? A Little Story, by Mark Twain Almos a Man, by Richard Wright Buddy, by Langston Hughes The Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison 209 VIII TOUCHSTONES READINGS IN SOCIAL STUDIES

9 Introduction Social studies classes prepare our students to live responsibly and thoughtfully in our constantly changing world. Through the study of history, civics, government, world cultures, humanities, and current events students will come to understand and work to resolve the problems that confront them, their communities, the nation, and the world. Students orient themselves within the history of their own country and the world. They become sensitive to and knowledgeable about the often vague and elusive forces that affect their social, political, and economic environments. They examine the points of view, attitudes, and presuppositions that are present in diverse cultures as well as their own. As a result, your students will learn to examine their individual desires and goals with respect to those of the larger community and become aware that they are affected by, and can have an affect on, the various local, national, and international communities of which they are members. Touchstones Readings in Social Studies is a comprehensive collection of primary source documents designed to be read aloud and explored in class as a part of your social studies curriculum. By regularly reading and discussing these texts, your students will not only improve their understanding of important issues, but they will also improve their ability to listen actively, speak clearly and thoughtfully, and think critically. They will learn to question their assumptions, consider different points of view, respect their classmates, and take responsibility for their ideas and opinions. Originally designed for use in Touchstones middle and high school programs across the country, these readings cover a wide spectrum of issues raised in social studies classes and invite student exploration. The richness of the content allows for multiple interpretations and depth of inquiry. The accessibility of these readings is TOUCHSTONES READINGS IN SOCIAL STUDIES 1

10 the result of careful editing to retain the complexity of the authors ideas while using contemporary syntax and vocabulary. The excerpts are also short, usually one to two pages in length, so that the texts can be easily read in three minutes or less. We hope that through the careful exploration and discussion of these texts, your students will realize the benefits that so many other students across the country have experienced through Touchstones programs, and that that your classroom is enlivened and your lessons enriched through the power of discussion. About the Touchstones Discussion Project The Touchstones Discussion Project is a nonprofit organization that improves students critical thinking and collaborative learning skills through discussion-based programs in language arts, social studies, math, and science. Each curriculum is based on Touchstones unique participant-centered discussion method and uses carefully compiled and edited short readings as the basis for group discussion. Most Touchstones lessons are held weekly and include individual worksheets and small group activities, culminating in a large group discussion. Early phases of the program focus heavily on group dynamics and full participation. As the discussions progress, students take on increased responsibility in guiding the content and direction of the discussion. They evaluate the discussions, monitor their own participation, and strategize on how to improve the overall effectiveness of the discussions. In taking these steps, students gain crucial experience in self-reflection and self-governance while building critical problem-solving skills. For more information about the Touchstones Discussion Project, classroom materials, or teacher training, please call or visit 2 TOUCHSTONES READINGS IN SOCIAL STUDIES

11 Ancient History The Iliad Chapter VI, Hector Meets His Wife by Homer In the tenth year of the war between the Greeks and Trojans, Agamemnon, leader of the Greeks, insulted Achilles, their greatest warrior. While Achilles, furious, refused to fight, the Trojans led by Hector became bolder than they had ever been. For the first time in ten years, they began fighting the Greeks away from the city. Yet, even as they won small victories, all the Trojans feared that Achilles, who had killed so many of them, would return to fight and catch them out in the open. After one of the battles, Hector returned to the city looking for his wife, Andromache. He found her with their infant son above the city gate. They stood together holding hands and looked at their child. Hector smiled in silence but Andromache had tears in her eyes as she began to speak. Your great courage will be what kills you. And you have no pity for me or your son. When the Greeks destroy you, it will be better if I die too. Without you, there is nothing for me but sorrow. In one battle Achilles killed my father and seven brothers. On the day he finally released my mother for ransom, she also died. You, my husband, are now also father, mother, and brother to me. Don t make your child an orphan. Don t let your wife become a widow. Draw your men up to the fig tree near the city. Don t go down and fight in the open spaces near the ships. Hector, wearing his shining bronze armor, answered her. I think about that too, woman, but how could I face my men and their wives if I stayed away from the battle? And my own spirit won t let me. Ever since I learned to fight, I ve always been the best of the Trojans. I ve won a great name for myself and my father. And there s one thing I know. A day will come when this city will be destroyed and my father s people will TOUCHSTONES READINGS IN SOCIAL STUDIES 5

12 Ancient History perish. And though my brothers and parents will be killed, I think about you most of all. On that day a Greek will lead you away in tears. You will be a slave in someone s home. Someday, seeing you cry, a Greek will say, This is the wife of Hector, greatest of the Trojans. I pray that before I hear you crying as they take you away, I will be dead and buried in the ground. As Hector finished, he held out his arms for his baby boy. The child screamed and pressed back harder against his nurse s bosom. His father frightened the boy, since he wore on his head a bronze helmet crested with horsehair and looked like some strange animal. Hector and Andromache both laughed. The smiling warrior took off his helmet and picked up his son. He tossed him in the air and kissed him. He looked up to the sky and prayed, Let my boy be as I am, first among the Trojans. Someday let men say of him, He is better by far than his father when he comes home from battle. 6 TOUCHSTONES READINGS IN SOCIAL STUDIES

13 World Cultures The Parable of the Greedy Sons A Tale from Persia There was once a hardworking and generous farmer who had several lazy and greedy sons. On his deathbed he told them that they would find his treasure if they would dig in a certain field. As soon as the old man was dead, the sons hurried to the field which they dug up from one end to the other. They found no gold at all. Believing that their generous father must have given the gold away, they abandoned the search. Finally, they decided that since they had already dug up the land, they might as well plant a crop. They planted wheat, had a good harvest, sold it, and made a big profit. After they harvested the wheat, they wondered again whether the gold might still be there. So they dug the field again. Once again, they found no gold, but they planted more wheat with the same result. After several years of this they stopped being lazy, got used to hard work, and became honest and happy farmers. They also became wealthy through their hard work and stopped thinking about the treasure. Then they understood the reason for their father s way of teaching them. This is how it is when you try to teach someone about the meaning of human life. The teacher is faced with students who are impatient, confused, and greedy. He has to get them to do something which he knows is good for them, but whose true purpose is hidden from them because they are so young. TOUCHSTONES READINGS IN SOCIAL STUDIES 35

14 Civics The Prince Ch. XVII Should a Ruler be Loved or Feared? by Niccolò Machiavelli Is it better for a ruler to be loved by his people or feared by them? Most people want to be both feared and loved. However, it is hard to be both feared and loved, and if you can t have both, it is safer to be feared. This is so because human beings generally have the following characteristics: they are ungrateful, undependable, liars, cheats, cowards, and greedy for money. As long as you take care of them, they will do whatever you want. They will pretend they love you. They will offer to give you their property and their children, if they are sure you neither want them nor need them. If you ever do need them, they will turn against you. Since their friendship has been bought for a price, and does not depend on their goodness, you cannot count on it. They will not hesitate to hurt their friends if they think they can profit by it. They will break the bonds of friendship every time they think it is in their interest to do so. However, they will not betray you if they fear you and think you can punish them. Although a ruler must make himself feared, he should not also make himself hated. It is, in fact, possible for a ruler to be feared but not hated. He can do this by keeping his hands off the women and property of his subjects. If he has to kill someone, he should do it when he has a good reason for it. Anyway, most men will hate you more if you take their property than if you kill their friends and relatives. TOUCHSTONES READINGS IN SOCIAL STUDIES 81

15 U.S. History Letter to His Former Master by Frederick Douglass Thomas Auld: Sir The long and intimate, though by no means friendly relation which unhappily existed between you and myself, leads me to hope that you will easily account for the great liberty which I now take in addressing you in this open and public manner. The same fact may possibly remove any disagreeable surprise which you may experience on again finding your name coupled with mine, in any other way than in an advertisement, accurately describing my person, and offering a large sum for my arrest. In thus dragging you again before the public, I am aware that I shall subject myself to no small amount of blame. I shall probably be charged with an unwarrantable, if not a wanton and reckless disregard of the rights and properties of private life. There are those North as well as South who entertain a much higher respect for rights which are merely conventional, than they do for rights which are personal and essential. Not a few there are in our country, who, while they have no scruples against robbing the laborer of the hard earned results of his patient industry, will be shocked by the extremely indelicate manner of bringing your name before the public. I have selected this day on which to address you, because it is the anniversary of my emancipation; and knowing of no better way, I am led to this as the best mode of celebrating that truly important event. Just ten years ago this beautiful September morning, yon bright sun beheld me a slave a poor, degraded chattel trembling at the sound of your voice, lamenting that I was a man, and wishing myself a brute. The hopes which I treasured up for weeks of a safe and successful escape from your grasp, TOUCHSTONES READINGS IN SOCIAL STUDIES 141

16 U.S. History were powerfully confronted at this last hour by dark clouds of doubt and fear, making my person shake and my bosom to heave with the heavy contest between hope and fear. I have no words to describe to you the deep agony of soul which I experienced on that never to be forgotten morning for I left by daylight. I was making a leap in the dark. The probabilities, so far as I could by reason determine them, were stoutly against the undertaking. The preliminaries and precautions I had adopted previously, all worked badly. I was like one going to war without weapons ten chances of defeat to one of victory. One in whom I had confided, and one who had promised me assistance, appalled by fear at the trial hour, deserted me, thus leaving the responsibility of success or failure solely with myself. You, sir, can never know my feelings. As I look back to them, I can scarcely realize that I have passed through a scene so trying. Trying however as they were, and gloomy as was the prospect, thanks be to the Most High, who is ever the God of the oppressed, at the moment which was to determine my whole earthly career. His grace was sufficient, my mind was made up, I embraced the golden opportunity, took the morning tide at the flood, and a free man, young, active and strong, is the result. After remaining in New Bedford for three years, I met with Wm. Lloyd Garrison, a person of whom you have probably heard, as he is pretty generally known among slave-holders. He put it into my head that I might make myself serviceable to the cause of the slave by devoting a portion of my time to telling my own sorrows, and those of other slaves which had come under my observation. This was the commencement of a higher state of existence than any to which I had ever aspired. I was thrown into society the most pure, enlightened and benevolent that the country affords. Among these I have never forgotten you, but have invariably made you the topic of conversation thus giving you all the notoriety I could do. I need not tell you that the opinion formed of you in these circles, is far from being favorable. They have little respect for your honesty, and less for your religion. But I was going on to relate to you something of my interesting experience. I had not long enjoyed the excellent society to which I have referred, before the light of its excellence exerted a beneficial influence on my mind and heart. Much of my early dislike of white persons was removed, and their manners, habits and customs, so entirely unlike what I had been used to in the kitchen-quarters on the plantations of the South, fairly charmed me, and gave me a strong disrelish for the coarse and degrading customs of my former condition. I therefore made an effort so to improve my mind and deportment as to be somewhat fitted to the station to which I seemed almost providentially called. The transition from degradation to respectability was indeed great, and to get from one to the other without carrying some marks of one s 142 TOUCHSTONES READINGS IN SOCIAL STUDIES

17 U.S. History former condition, is truly a difficult matter. I would not have you think that I am now entirely clear of all plantation peculiarities, but my friends here, while they entertain the strongest dislike to them, regard me with that charity to which my past life somewhat entitles me, so that my condition in this respect is exceedingly pleasant. So far as my domestic affairs are concerned, I can boast of as comfortable a dwelling as your own. I have an industrious and neat companion and four dear children. Oh! Sir, a slave-holder never appears to me so completely an agent of hell, as when I think of and look upon my dear children. It is then that my feelings rise above my control. I meant to have said more with respect to my own prosperity and happiness, but thoughts and feelings which this recital has awakened unfit me to proceed further in that direction. The grim horrors of slavery rise in all their ghastly terror before me; the wails of millions pierce my heart, and chill my blood. I remember the chain, the gag, the bloody whip, the death-like gloom overshadowing the broken spirit of the fettered bondman, the appalling liability of his being torn away from wife and children, and sold like a beast in the market. Say not that this is a picture of fancy. You well know that I carry scars on my back inflicted by your direction: and that you, while we were brothers in the same church, caused this right hand, with which I am now penning this letter, to be closely tied to my left, and my person dragged at the pistol s mouth, fifteen miles, from the Bay side to Easton to be sold like a beast in the market, for the alleged crime of intending to escape from your possession. All this and more you remember, and know to be perfectly true, not only of yourself, but of nearly all of the slaveholders around you. At this moment, you are probably the guilty holder of at least three of my own dear sisters, and my only brother in bondage. These you regard as your property. They are recorded on your ledger, or perhaps have been sold to human flesh-mongers, with a view to filling your own ever-hungry purse. Sir, I desire to know how and where these dear sisters are. Let me know all about them. I would write to them, and learn all I want to know of them, without disturbing you in any way, but that, through your unrighteous conduct, they have been entirely deprived of the power to read and write. You have kept them in utter ignorance, and have therefore robbed them of the sweet enjoyments of writing or receiving letters from absent friends and relatives. Your wickedness and cruelty committed in this respect on your fellow-creatures are greater than all the blows you have laid upon my back, or theirs. It is an outrage upon the soul a war upon the immortal spirit, and one for which you must give account at the bar of our common Father and Creator. I will now bring this letter to a close; you shall hear from me again unless you let me hear from you. I intend to make use of you as a weapon with which to assail the TOUCHSTONES READINGS IN SOCIAL STUDIES 143

18 U.S. History system of slavery as a means of concentrating public attention on the system, and deepening their horror of trafficking in the souls and bodies of men. I shall make use of you as a means of bringing this guilty nation with yourself to repentance. In doing this I entertain no malice towards you personally. There is no roof under which you would be more safe than mine, and there is nothing in my house which you might need for your comfort, which I would not readily grant. Indeed, I should esteem it a privilege, to set you an example as to how mankind ought to treat each other. I am your fellow man, but not your slave, Frederick Douglass 144 TOUCHSTONES READINGS IN SOCIAL STUDIES

19 Humanities The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African by Olaudah Equiano Slavery was not confined to particular places or individuals. In all the different islands in which I have been (and I have visited no less than fifteen), the treatment of slaves has been nearly the same. Indeed, the history of slavery in one island or even on one plantation might well serve as a history for the whole practice. The slave-trade destroys men s minds and hardens them to every feeling of humanity. For I refuse to believe that the dealers in slaves are born worse than other men. No, it is the result of this mistaken greed that it corrupts the milk of human kindness and turns it into bitter gall. Had these men pursued different activities they might have been as generous, as tender-hearted, and as just as they are now unfeeling, greedy, and cruel. Surely, this trade in slaves can not be good. It spreads like a disease and changes everything it touches. It violates the first natural rights of mankind equality and independence. The practice of slavery gives one man a rule and a dominion over his fellow men which God could never have intended. It raises the slave-owner to a state far above a human being, for it forces the slave into a position below it. One pretends to be a god, the other is made an animal. Through the arrogance of human pride it places a difference between them which is immeasurable in distance and endless in time. Yet how mistaken and self-defeating is even the owner s greed! Are slaves more useful by being made animals than they would be if they were allowed to be men? When you make men slaves, you take away half of their virtue and ability. And by your own action you set for them the example of fraud, rape, and cruelty. You force them to live in a state of war with you, and then you complain that they are not honest or faithful. TOUCHSTONES READINGS IN SOCIAL STUDIES 195

20 Humanities You beat them; you keep them ignorant; and then you claim that they cannot learn. You claim their minds are such poor soil that education would be lost on them. Yet they come originally from a climate where nature has given great riches to everything. Should we think that men from there alone were left unfinished and incapable of enjoying the treasures nature has poured out for them? Such a claim is absurd! Why do you use those instruments of torture? Should one rational being use them on another? Aren t you ashamed to see people of the same nature as you brought so low? And aren t there great dangers for you in treating others this way? Aren t you always afraid of revolt by them? But by changing your conduct and treating your slaves as men, every cause of fear would be banished. They would be faithful, intelligent, and vigorous; and peace, prosperity, and happiness would be yours. 196 TOUCHSTONES READINGS IN SOCIAL STUDIES