Aim: Why is “The Declaration of Independence” symbolized as a valuable document for our
society?
Do Now: 1) How would you explain what your rights are as an individual living in the United
States? Why? 2) Why do you believe an individual’s rights are so important to society?
Our team discussed the significance of freedom of speech and liberty to the United States.
These rights are important because they allow the working class to not be oppressed like it was
during the rule of the American colonies by Great Britain. Unlike other countries that took away
the rights of peasants under serfdom, the U.S. valued the rights of the working class. After all, it
was the peasants who allowed us to achieve freedom. As a result, the common citizen should
be given a voice and independence, as it was these values that led to the creation of our
country.
Notes: After the Do Now, our teams read this passage from the Declaration of Independence.
Afterwards, we discussed and answered the following questions.
Interpret what you believe the writers of this paragraph meant by “life,” “liberty,” and “the pursuit
of happiness”?
“Life” and “liberty” mean that Americans’ choices will not be bound by or controlled by another
country, like Great Britain. “Pursuit of happiness” means that Americans will have unlimited
opportunities in life. They can work hard and achieve their dreams.
Evaluate whether or not the typical person in the United States today has these rights.
Why/Why Not?
The typical person in the United States today does not always have these because there are
many xenophobic people who deny people of certain cultures, religions, sexualities, or genders
the same opportunities as everyone else. These biases infringe on the citizens’ right to
“equality” as well as “pursuit of happiness,” as it would be more difficult to find work.
Identify and explain the variety of things we do in the U.S. (today) to try to guarantee “equality”?
How would you grade/determine their success/failure? Why/Why Not?
What alternative(s) would you suggest?
Now there is a large emphasis on diversity in America. This is evident in the large numbers of
ethnicities portrayed in media such as movies. However, this is not a complete success because
some people may be prioritized more than others based on their ethnicity to maintain a good
appearance. Also, greater efforts are being produced to diversify schools, but this causes a
similar problem as with the media, as in some cases students may not be chosen purely on their
hard work. In addition, the U.S. enforces equality with police, but this is not foolproof, as the
system only works when people are brave enough to come forward and report cases. Lastly,
can offer classes to prepare students for the adult world, but, oftentimes, the low weight of these
classes leads to low effort in students. Overall, these actions to give American people equality
are steps forward, but they are not a complete success. Some alternatives may be to provide
more opportunities to have an education. Rather than picking a select few, education can be put
under greater emphasis in order to provide a means to a valuable education for all people.
Secondly, we can change the curriculum for career development classes to make them more
beneficial for our youth and make them have more value in our averages so students
understand their importance.
Do you believe these alternative ideas/methods might be more effective? Why/Why Not?
Of course, there is no perfect solution. If education is to be given top priority, taxes would have
to be increased. This would anger American citizens and cause strikes or revolts. Also, raising
the credits that career development classes provide would cause dissatisfaction in students who
believe that the class should not have that much influence on their average, as it is not a
traditional class.
Class Discussion & Address the Aim:
The Declaration of Independence is symbolized as a valuable document because it represents
the birth of our nation and the mission of the colonists—to give American citizens new rights.
However, we discovered in our groups and in class that by trying to make everybody equal, we
are actually being unfair by bringing extra attention to certain groups. Yesterday we applied this
idea to giving extra points to people who want their average to be slightly higher, and today
applied it to our country. Although we realized there is no perfect answer as to how we can fix
such issues, the Declaration of Independence remains a reminder of our founders’ visions for
this country. Though their ideals may have been distorted or imperfect, they represent the fight
of Americans to keep searching and fighting to reach a better answer, just as the colonists
fought for America.
Reflection:
Over the past few days in class, we explored the idea that the equality of our country is not
the “ideal” total equality that many wish for. We also realized that total equality is not the answer
after all. Today, we expanded on those ideas by analyzing the significance of our rights and how
we can guarantee them, if at all possible. We dove into the origins of our country by reading a
passage from the Declaration of Independence. After describing the meanings of the rights
written in the document, we questioned the intent of the writers. Although the rights were written
to include “all men”, they excluded women and, in reality, the rights only applied to wealthy,
white men. Now, we—as a society—are trying to reinterpret the document with our modern
morals, but have we achieved our goals? To answer this question, we worked within our teams
and then discussed it as a class. Together, we realized that the efforts of the U.S. have not
been a complete success. Not only is it difficult for the police to enforce our rights without
reports from people, but by placing special importance upon the inclusion of all types of people
in schools and the media, we have somewhat reversed the circumstances at the writing of the
Declaration of Independence, so that external factors are still exerting too much influence rather
than the internal factors (character, abilities, work-ethic) that matter most, but with minorities
having the advantage. This is especially evident in the college admissions process, which
sometimes results in ethnicity determining the outcome. Through our discussion, we found that
equality is more of a loaded word and an ideal rather than an achievable state. As we
deliberated about how we can guarantee equality, we gained a new perspective on the workings
of a society. We learned that society is so fragile, that equality is broken as someone tries to
create it! As we progress through our sophomore year curriculum, we will apply this insight to
analyze how dystopian literature portrays societies that attempt to achieve equality but do so in
harmful, oppressive, and corrupt ways. Perhaps we will identify trends that are similar to what
we discussed in class.
society?
States? Why? 2) Why do you believe an individual’s rights are so important to society?
Our team discussed the significance of freedom of speech and liberty to the United States.
These rights are important because they allow the working class to not be oppressed like it was
during the rule of the American colonies by Great Britain. Unlike other countries that took away
the rights of peasants under serfdom, the U.S. valued the rights of the working class. After all, it
was the peasants who allowed us to achieve freedom. As a result, the common citizen should
be given a voice and independence, as it was these values that led to the creation of our
country.
Notes: After the Do Now, our teams read this passage from the Declaration of Independence.
Interpret what you believe the writers of this paragraph meant by “life,” “liberty,” and “the pursuit
of happiness”?
“Life” and “liberty” mean that Americans’ choices will not be bound by or controlled by another
country, like Great Britain. “Pursuit of happiness” means that Americans will have unlimited
opportunities in life. They can work hard and achieve their dreams.
Evaluate whether or not the typical person in the United States today has these rights.
Why/Why Not?
The typical person in the United States today does not always have these because there are
many xenophobic people who deny people of certain cultures, religions, sexualities, or genders
the same opportunities as everyone else. These biases infringe on the citizens’ right to
“equality” as well as “pursuit of happiness,” as it would be more difficult to find work.
Identify and explain the variety of things we do in the U.S. (today) to try to guarantee “equality”?
How would you grade/determine their success/failure? Why/Why Not?
What alternative(s) would you suggest?
Now there is a large emphasis on diversity in America. This is evident in the large numbers of
ethnicities portrayed in media such as movies. However, this is not a complete success because
some people may be prioritized more than others based on their ethnicity to maintain a good
appearance. Also, greater efforts are being produced to diversify schools, but this causes a
similar problem as with the media, as in some cases students may not be chosen purely on their
hard work. In addition, the U.S. enforces equality with police, but this is not foolproof, as the
system only works when people are brave enough to come forward and report cases. Lastly,
can offer classes to prepare students for the adult world, but, oftentimes, the low weight of these
classes leads to low effort in students. Overall, these actions to give American people equality
are steps forward, but they are not a complete success. Some alternatives may be to provide
more opportunities to have an education. Rather than picking a select few, education can be put
under greater emphasis in order to provide a means to a valuable education for all people.
Secondly, we can change the curriculum for career development classes to make them more
beneficial for our youth and make them have more value in our averages so students
understand their importance.
Do you believe these alternative ideas/methods might be more effective? Why/Why Not?
Of course, there is no perfect solution. If education is to be given top priority, taxes would have
to be increased. This would anger American citizens and cause strikes or revolts. Also, raising
the credits that career development classes provide would cause dissatisfaction in students who
believe that the class should not have that much influence on their average, as it is not a
traditional class.
Class Discussion & Address the Aim:
The Declaration of Independence is symbolized as a valuable document because it represents
the birth of our nation and the mission of the colonists—to give American citizens new rights.
However, we discovered in our groups and in class that by trying to make everybody equal, we
are actually being unfair by bringing extra attention to certain groups. Yesterday we applied this
idea to giving extra points to people who want their average to be slightly higher, and today
applied it to our country. Although we realized there is no perfect answer as to how we can fix
such issues, the Declaration of Independence remains a reminder of our founders’ visions for
this country. Though their ideals may have been distorted or imperfect, they represent the fight
of Americans to keep searching and fighting to reach a better answer, just as the colonists
fought for America.
Over the past few days in class, we explored the idea that the equality of our country is not
the “ideal” total equality that many wish for. We also realized that total equality is not the answer
after all. Today, we expanded on those ideas by analyzing the significance of our rights and how
we can guarantee them, if at all possible. We dove into the origins of our country by reading a
passage from the Declaration of Independence. After describing the meanings of the rights
written in the document, we questioned the intent of the writers. Although the rights were written
to include “all men”, they excluded women and, in reality, the rights only applied to wealthy,
white men. Now, we—as a society—are trying to reinterpret the document with our modern
morals, but have we achieved our goals? To answer this question, we worked within our teams
and then discussed it as a class. Together, we realized that the efforts of the U.S. have not
been a complete success. Not only is it difficult for the police to enforce our rights without
reports from people, but by placing special importance upon the inclusion of all types of people
in schools and the media, we have somewhat reversed the circumstances at the writing of the
Declaration of Independence, so that external factors are still exerting too much influence rather
than the internal factors (character, abilities, work-ethic) that matter most, but with minorities
having the advantage. This is especially evident in the college admissions process, which
sometimes results in ethnicity determining the outcome. Through our discussion, we found that
equality is more of a loaded word and an ideal rather than an achievable state. As we
deliberated about how we can guarantee equality, we gained a new perspective on the workings
of a society. We learned that society is so fragile, that equality is broken as someone tries to
create it! As we progress through our sophomore year curriculum, we will apply this insight to
analyze how dystopian literature portrays societies that attempt to achieve equality but do so in
harmful, oppressive, and corrupt ways. Perhaps we will identify trends that are similar to what
we discussed in class.
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