MDG Goal #7

You can also click here to access the presentation, "MDG #7," CISS.

Contemporary Issues Library

Library

Your Turn: A Final First Quarter Essay

Now that we've taken a look at a few contemporary issues, it's time for you to have a say.

First, pick a recent event in the news (anything from any corner of the globe).

Next, compose a persuasive essay (using the traditional writing rubric!) explaining the event, its significance, and why it matters.  How does the event epitomize a contemporary issue of our time?

Write in the "Op-Ed" style.  To garner some inspiration, take a look at the following sites. . .

Wall Street Journal Opinion Columns

Opinion: Leaders & Letters to the Editor from The Economist

Opinion Pages from The New York Times

Remember that you can check the "News" tab in the "Scholarly Links" section at right for more links to local and international newspapers online.

You can receive bonus points for submitting your work to any publication and, of course, additional bonus points for published work.

Looking at "Life & Death" Decisions and Ethics in the Health Care Debate: El Mar Adentro

"Mi cine no es un cine de respuestas sino de preguntas." ("My movies are not movies of answers but of questions.")--Alejandro Amenábar

El Mar Adentro (The Sea Inside or Out to Sea) is Alejandro Amenábar's 2004 film which explores the questions raised by the life and death of Ramón Sampedro, the man who battled in Spanish courts for the "right to end his life with dignity."  Sampedro endured 28 years as a quadriplegic after suffering a diving accident at age 25.  The film (trailer below) addresses questions central to our health care debate and examines the roles and the decisions of the government, of caregivers, and of private individuals.  Visit the official site for Spain for the film here or the official site for the US here.  El Mar Adentro is the winner of numerous international film prizes including a 2004 Oscar and a 2004 Golden Globe for "Best Foreign Film" as well as 14 Goya Awards (highest prize in Spain for good film) among others.

Check out these short articles which chronicle the real-life story behind the film. . .

"Live and Let Die" from Time Magazine International

"A Suicide Tape on TV Inflames Spain" from The New York Times

Contemporary Issues Essay #2 for First Quarter

The second Contemporary Issues Essay for the first quarter will be due Thursday, October 7, 2010.  Please follow and attach this writing rubric,Writing Rubric for CISS Humanities & Social Science Courses, 2010-2011, to the hard copy of your essay which is due at the beginning of class. 

Please choose from one of the four general topics listed below.  Each topic relates to one of the documentaries/films we've (partially) viewed in class.  The following questions are meant as loose prompts.  Please be sure to say something original through your writing.  Back up your view with research, and cite your sources, giving credit where credit is due.  Reflect, respond, and offer possible responses to contemporary issues through your writing.  And, of course, proofread!

*The King Flyp Reality.  What does the Marvin Ulises Martínez story teach us about the possibilities of fame and change via the Worldwide Web?

*Invisible Children. Just another documentary or a beacon of hope in Africa's longest running civil war?

*Sicko.  Entertaining, outrageous, or accurate?

*El Mar Adentro. Is it plausible for government to make "life and death" decisions?


Looking for a place to start?  View other items tagged with "Contemporary Issues."

The Health Care Debate & UN Millenium Development Goals #4,5,&6

What does it mean to support universal health care? Should health care be on sale? What ought to be the role of private health care and private insurance companies? How is the price of life saving drugs for fighting AIDS and cancer determined? How much should cough medicine cost? What happens to those who can't afford it? Who should provide what? What ought be role of the government, the doctors, the taxpayers, the healthy, and the sick in achieving the UN's MDG's #4, 5, & 6? Do you agree with the goals and the target/strategies?

To facilitate our discussion regarding the questions above among others, working individually or in pairs, investigate a nation of your choice.  Download a copy of the assignment guide (below) here. 



 Here are some websites to help you in your research. Please be sure to use (and cite!) a variety of the following sites to give your investigation depth and credibility. . .

* Your Chosen Country's Official Government/Ministry/Department of Health website
*World Health Organization (See country profiles.)
*CEPALSTAT from the UN (This is for Latin America.  You can find the equivalent for other regions).
*Gapminder World (Be sure to check the data portion of the website as well as the interactive graphs.)
*Google Trends
*Ted Talks
*End Poverty (UN MDG's)
*World Bank Health Data
*MDG Monitor

Here are the two rubrics that will be used in grading:
-PPT Rubric
-Presentation Rubric

Issues at Heart: Invisible Children and King Flyp

In 2003, 3 teenage friends from California heard quick and scattered references to the crisis in the Sudan made occasionally by those in mainstream media. Unsatisfied by the ambiguous reports, the friends bought a camera off eBay and purchased one way plane tickets to Africa to investigate for themselves Africa's longest running war. They returned to the States to share their story and the story of the child soldiers of Uganda. Invisible Children is the name for not just the documentary but also the movement Larry, Jason, and Bobby began which has since swept high school and college campuses and attracted countless youth to come out and rally for change and peace in the Sudan. Check out a quick 3 minute trailer and see how you can get involved now by clicking here.

While Larry, Jason, and Bobby turned their video footage into a documentary, another teen with a vision was made a celebrity overnight when his friends uploaded their video footage to YouTube. Marvin Ulises Martínez León, of San Francisco Gotera, Morazán, better known now as "El King Flyp" used video as the medium to transfer his message to countless more youth, gaining some 170,000 hits on YouTube. Using his new found fame, Martínez León is making an effort to draw more peoples' attention and garner a wider audience of support for those in need locally in El Salvador. Watch an intro to King Flyp: El Reality with commentary from diverse, key Salvadoran voices here.

We'll look at both Invisible Children and King Flip: El Reality at the onset of the course as real-life examples of ways youth today are getting others to pay attention to some of the Contemporary Issues of our times. Your initial assignment will be to write a short essay explaining the issue you today which care most about. . .and what can be done in response.

SicKo, A Michael Moore Documentary

In June 2007 documentary, filmmaker Michael Moore explores the US health care system, exploring the doings of big name pharmaceuticals and the dominant private insurance companies. He compares and contrasts socialist health care systems in Canada, Cuba, England, and France with the US health care system, critically scrutinizing the privatization of health care in the US while making his case for the need for, as he sees it, universal health care. We'll watch Moore's documentary as an intro to our look at health care as a contemporary issue. . .one that directly encompasses 3 of 8 the UN's 8 Millennium Development Goals. You can check out the official Sicko site here to read current updates on the controversial movie and the movement that has won several Academy Awards.

8 Millenium Development Goals from the United Nations

As Contemporary Issues is a course sans an official textbook, we need a way to navigate the topics of the times. One starting point for identifying and examining some of these tricky topics is outlined by the United Nations.



In September 2009, 189 nations met in New York City at the United Nations. Together, they proposed 8 Millennium Development Goals to help eradicate poverty in the new millennium.


The EndPoverty Campaign has established the year 2015 as their target year by which the world needs to conquer the 8 MDG's.