Welcome to The Dirksen Congressional
Center's Communicator - a web-based e-newsletter providing
educators with news and ideas to enhance civic education and
improve the understanding of Congress -- http://www.webcommunicator.org.
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NEWS FROM THE DIRKSEN CENTER
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Robert H. Michel Civic Education Grants
DEADLINE: October 1, 2002
The Dirksen Congressional Center invites applications for grants
totaling $50,000 in 2001-2002 to help teachers, curriculum developers,
and others improve the quality of civics instruction, with priority
on the role of Congress in our federal government. Areas of interest
include designing lesson plans, creating students activities,
and applying instructional technology in the classroom.
Final proposals must be submitted by no later than October 1,
2002. Complete information about eligibility and application
procedures can be found at The Center's Web site -- http://www.dirksencenter.org/grants_overview.htm.
MiddleWeb - Exploring Middle School Reform
Congress for Kids - http://www.congressforkids.net -
received a citation from MiddleWeb - Exploring Middle School
Reform and was listed as the "Hot Link of the Week." Find
this Web site at: http://www.middleweb.com/.
Scholastic News
In the September 6 issue of Scholastic News -- http://teacher.scholastic.com/newszone/snsenior.asp -- Congress
for Kids is recommended as a related Web site.
AFFIRMATIVE ACTION AND CIVIL RIGHTS
Remaining as one of the most debated topics in civil rights
is affirmative action. The Dirksen Congressional Center's Web
suite contains resources about this concept which refers to a
broad range of programs that are intended to correct for the
past effects of discrimination.
The 1960s marked a period of intense activity by the federal
government to protect minority rights. The 1964 Civil Rights
Act was a landmark in legislative attempts to improve the quality
of life for African Americans and other minority groups. Read
the CongressLink narrative, A Case History: The 1964 Civil
Rights Act, describing the process by which the Civil Rights
Act of 1964 became law. Find this narrative at: http://www.congresslink.org/print_basics_histmats_civilrights64_contents.htm.
In a controversial 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court ruled in Regents
of the University of California v. Bakke (1978)
that setting aside a specific number of places in a medical
school class for minorities violated both the Civil Rights
Act of 1964 and the Fourteenth Amendment. Teachers, on our
AboutGovernment site you will find a site that was developed
to provide teachers with a full range of resources and activities
to support the teaching of this landmark Supreme Court case,
among others. Find Landmark Supreme Court Cases - Regents
of the University of California v. Bakke (1978) at: http://www.aboutgovernment.org/print_usgov_jud_supreme.htm.
Do your students know certain characteristics of the membership
of Congress, such as ethnicity, age, gender, race, and political
party affiliation? If not, introduce our CongressLink lesson
plan, How Representative is Congress? This lesson will
help students determine if Congress is representative of the
public as a whole and will help them gain an understanding of
the sociopolitical and sociological nature of Congress, an important
aspect of "representation." Find this featured lesson plan at:
http://www.congresslink.org/print_lp_congressrep.htm.
To test your knowledge about affirmative action and other civil
rights issues, take the online interactive 3-tiered multiple-choice
self-quiz posted on our Congress for Kids site. Find Civil
Rights Self-Quiz at: http://www.congressforkids.net/games/makinglaws/2_makinglaws.htm.
You only get one chance to answer each question and you must
pass each quiz to advance to the next level.
Featured Project
The Dirksen Center is a proud supporter of the fourth annual America's Legislators
Back to School Week - September 16-20, 2002 - www.ncsl.org/public/backsch.htm.
Sponsored by the National Conference of State Legislatures,
this program is designed to teach young people about what it
is like to be a state legislator. In 2001, The National Conference
of State Legislatures (Denver and Washington, D.C.) received
a Robert H. Michel Grant of $4,100 from The Dirksen Center
for their project entitled Lesson Plans to Support America's
Legislators Back to School Week. Through NCSL's Trust for
Representative Democracy project, they produced online lesson
plans for grades 4-12 about representative democracy, online
support materials, and online evaluation instruments. This
project was completed in September 2001 and the results are
posted at: http://www.ncsl.org/public/trust/lessonplans.htm. NOTE:
If you open at the NCSL home page, register as a "Public User." To
learn more about this project and others funded by The Center
visit: http://www.dirksencenter.org/grants_overview.htm.
Affirmative Achievements
1. The Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978) decision
allowed affirmative action to promote diversity but permitted
race to be only one factor among many used to make college enrollment
decisions. Programs could not create _____ specifying the number
of African-Americans who would be admitted.
A) regulations
B) laws
C) formulas
D) quotas
2. In the Regents of the University of California v. Bakke
(1978) the Supreme Court held that a university medical
school, in admitting students, may...
A) use quotas for blacks and whites
B) use quotas for men and women
C) take gender into account
D) take race into account
Possible Essay Question:
Review the debate between those who favor equality of results
and those who favor equality of opportunity. Have your students
state and defend their position on the issue.
Answers to August's issue of Fun, Facts, and Trivia link
here: http://www.webcommunicator.org/funfactstrivia0802ans.htm.
Welcome back, teachers! Encourage your colleagues to subscribe
to the Communicator. If you have questions, comments, or suggestions,
contact Cindy Koeppel at ckoeppel@dirksencenter.org.
Your feedback makes a difference!
If you experience any problem, send an e-mail to Cindy Koeppel
at ckoeppel@dirksencenter.org. |
