Essay Topics Done in the Global 10 Regents: Use Focus Groups for Your Future Incentives

Essay Topics Done in the Global 10 Regents: Use Focus Groups for Your Future IncentivesAs a history major, I'm most familiar with the standardized nature of our coursework, but as a teacher who has taught Global Issues and United States International Relations, I feel this rigidity needs to be lifted. Let's see if we can ask some tough questions here and see what we can come up with.I've seen stories lately about a changing of the guard at the University of Wisconsin at Madison as their president recently rescinded the university's mission statement. Now, granted, there are good reasons for such a change, but it does seem a little too hasty for my liking. Indeed, I know some new students have the 'new' U.W. Madison patch proudly on their clothing and bumper stickers. Can we ask these students how they feel about being in the university's Institute of Politics if the fact that it no longer represents the beliefs of their school?At another university, I recently read a story about prof essors not using religion to teach global issues anymore. It didn't take long for me to think of my own efforts with some college assignments, when the assignment stated that I needed to read more about Islam. Or the difficulty of writing about the 'woman's place' in the Holy Quran, with a topic that only one side of the issue, Islam, could truly consider appropriate to explore. And there was my answer to an essay topic on how difficult it is to read the Bible when God is so present in your life, but the problem is that you cannot acknowledge that God is so present in your life. The writer was forced to miss out on God because of her desire to make a point.That being said, I understand that the original assignment was vague in order to not offend anyone. There is a much better way to do this type of assignment. It's the same as assigning a focus group for the next semester.Let's look at a 'focus group' as a way to study two things. The first is to cover questions and concerns that t he group may have regarding a topic that has come up in class. That may be related to their experience in church or at a non-denominational club or ministry.The second thing to look at is to hear what the group members have to say about their experiences attending this type of meeting. How does that sound to you? Do you think it would be helpful to the individual student who is assigned this work? Not only would it be of great benefit to the student who was assigned this work, but it would also provide an amazing education for the future scholar who would view a completed work and feel a sense of pride that they were part of such a worthwhile project.An example of the difficulty with an assignment done in the Global 10 regents was someone having to write a paper about U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. She had to write about what happened in the years following the fall of Saigon, but she was not allowed to speak to any of the subjects that brought about the conflict. They did all ow her to discuss the aftermath of the war but it was completely controlled by the teacher who was not open to her ideas and opinions. She was not allowed to address the failures of the U.S. Government in Vietnam as well as the supporting crimes that were committed, nor could she address the war's impact on Vietnam or South Vietnam.I would love to see someone get to the root of some of these problems in a class and ask a whole list of questions to make sure that no one feels excluded. The person who came up with the structure for this assignment was right to ask for input.