Discussion 5

Discussion 5: Contemporary American Presidents:

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

AMH 2020              

Calvo

Due April 2, 11:59 pm

I will not grade work submitted after April 23, 11:59 pm.  

 

This is meant to be a sort of “light” or “fun” exercise as we wind down the semester. 

For this discussion students will match a more modern American President to the following categories:

 

Good: identify an American President that you have an affinity for, and then explain what makes that President “good.”

Bad: identify an American President that you think performed poorly in his constitutional duties, and then explain what makes that President “bad.”

Ugly: identify an American President that you think brought shame to the executive office, and then explain what makes that President’s behavior/policies “ugly.”

 

Students can only assess the following Presidents:

Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush I, or Clinton. 

Students can focus on one President, or write about two or three, depending on their assessments.  For instance, if you think Ford met all three categories, then explain why.  Or if you think Nixon was “good,” but Bush I was both “bad” and “ugly,” explain why. 

 

Three categories, up to three Presidents. 

Criteria:

--Each assessment should be a paragraph long.  3 categories, 3 paragraphs long.

--Students will also respond to a classmates’ post.  Your response to a classmates’ post should be about a paragraph long and of substance.  Be cordial in your response to a classmates’ post. You only need to respond to one part of your classmates’ post. 

--The entire exercise should be 4 paragraphs.   The first paragraph should be an introduction. 

--Because this discussion is less formal than the essays and allows students to express their “opinions” without the accompanying “academic research,” students do not need to reference sources.  Still, the discussion should be informed by the readings associated with module 8 on Contemporary American history and students need to base their assessments on actual historical information.  

 

Purpose

This discussion asks you to apply the concepts from the module's readings to evaluate a recent U.S. President. This practice helps you to develop the skill of defending a position using logic and evidence. You have the opportunity here to practice applying, translating, and re-working what you have learned to function in unexpected ways.

Learning Objectives

1. Discuss key events, figures, and ideas of the recent history of the United States. 

2. Contextualize, criticize, defend, and debate significant ideas found in historical primary sources of the recent history of the United States.