Politics 12
According to Aristotle: Politics is a practical science, since it is concerned with the noble action or happiness of the citizens (although it resembles a productive science in that it seeks to create, preserve, and reform political systems).
Welcome to Grade 12 Politics. You might be asking what we will be doing in the course, what you will learn and maybe even why are you taking it? Below are 2 videos that I hope will give you some insight into the types of things we will be discussing and examining. If either of these things interest you, you just might be in the right place.
Of Note:
- You must have a laptop computer with a headset for this class.
- You must be willing to communicate, debate and discuss issues in this class. Some issues may be controversial and require both an honest and open discussion, but also respect and a greater understanding of the experiences of some other people around you that you may not or I may not have had. If at any time you feel uncomfortable or stressed out, please come see me and we can work something out. The world is a challenging place, with challenging topics and at time opinions; I realize that.
- We do not have a textbook for this class, but most of the material I have is from Canadian Politics: Critical Approaches 9th Edition. It IS a university level textbook and thus I am pulling what I think is appropriate out of it for you. You do NOT have to purchase this.
- The first part of the course will go fast and I understand that and hope you will be on board to have some fun an participate in our Election #44. Again, time will be crunched, but I take that into consideration when evaluating as well.
Hope you enjoy the course as much as I will teaching it.
- Laffin
Of Note:
- You must have a laptop computer with a headset for this class.
- You must be willing to communicate, debate and discuss issues in this class. Some issues may be controversial and require both an honest and open discussion, but also respect and a greater understanding of the experiences of some other people around you that you may not or I may not have had. If at any time you feel uncomfortable or stressed out, please come see me and we can work something out. The world is a challenging place, with challenging topics and at time opinions; I realize that.
- We do not have a textbook for this class, but most of the material I have is from Canadian Politics: Critical Approaches 9th Edition. It IS a university level textbook and thus I am pulling what I think is appropriate out of it for you. You do NOT have to purchase this.
- The first part of the course will go fast and I understand that and hope you will be on board to have some fun an participate in our Election #44. Again, time will be crunched, but I take that into consideration when evaluating as well.
Hope you enjoy the course as much as I will teaching it.
- Laffin
Would you vote in person? Would you vote by mail?
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Why Vote? Why is Politics important?
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Assessments
Assessment FOR learning is more commonly known as formative & diagnostic assessments. Assessment FOR learning is the use of a task or an activity for the purpose of determining student progress during a unit or block of instruction. Teachers are now afforded the chance to adjust classroom instruction based upon the needs of the students. Similarly, students are provided valuable feedback on their own learning.
Assessment OF learning is the use of a task or an activity to measure, record and report on a student's level of achievement in regards to specific learning expectations. These are often known as summative assessments. (Evaluations Above)
Assessment AS learning is the use of a task or an activity to allow students the opportunity to use assessment to further their own learning. Self and peer assessments allow students to reflect on their own learning and identify areas of strength and need. These tasks offer students the chance to set their own personal goals and advocate for their own learning.
Important: Although only assessments of learning are graded formally, both assessments for and as learning are taken into account when determining your final grade. Determining a final grade does not simply involve a computer calculating numbers, it involves my professional judgement of your learning taking into account both your most recent and your most consistant performance. That means I monitor, record and assess you throughout the term and all of those conversations and your performance on tasks that are not 'formally evaluated' are taken into account when determining your final grade in the course.
Assessment OF learning is the use of a task or an activity to measure, record and report on a student's level of achievement in regards to specific learning expectations. These are often known as summative assessments. (Evaluations Above)
Assessment AS learning is the use of a task or an activity to allow students the opportunity to use assessment to further their own learning. Self and peer assessments allow students to reflect on their own learning and identify areas of strength and need. These tasks offer students the chance to set their own personal goals and advocate for their own learning.
Important: Although only assessments of learning are graded formally, both assessments for and as learning are taken into account when determining your final grade. Determining a final grade does not simply involve a computer calculating numbers, it involves my professional judgement of your learning taking into account both your most recent and your most consistant performance. That means I monitor, record and assess you throughout the term and all of those conversations and your performance on tasks that are not 'formally evaluated' are taken into account when determining your final grade in the course.
Course Outline
Ethics: Making Decisions
1. WHAT IS ETHICS?:
Ethics provides a set of standards for behavior that helps us decide how we ought to act in a range of situations. In a sense, we can say that ethics is all about making choices, and about providing reasons why we should make these choices.
Ethics is sometimes conflated or confused with other ways of making choices, including religion, law or morality. Many religions promote ethical decision-making but do not always address the full range of ethical choices that we face. Religions may also advocate or prohibit certain behaviors which may not be considered the proper domain of ethics, such as dietary restrictions or sexual behaviors. A good system of law should be ethical, but the law establishes precedent in trying to dictate universal guidelines, and is thus not able to respond to individual contexts. Law may have a difficult time designing or enforcing standards in some important areas, and may be slow to address new problems. Both law and ethics deal with questions of how we should live together with others, but ethics is sometimes also thought to apply to how individuals act even when others are not involved. Finally, many people use the terms morality and ethics interchangeably. Others reserve morality for the state of virtue while seeing ethics as a code that enables morality. Another way to think about the relationship between ethics and morality is to see ethics as providing a rational basis for morality, that is, ethics provides good reasons for why something is moral. (Brown University: framework-making-ethical-decisions)
Ethics provides a set of standards for behavior that helps us decide how we ought to act in a range of situations. In a sense, we can say that ethics is all about making choices, and about providing reasons why we should make these choices.
Ethics is sometimes conflated or confused with other ways of making choices, including religion, law or morality. Many religions promote ethical decision-making but do not always address the full range of ethical choices that we face. Religions may also advocate or prohibit certain behaviors which may not be considered the proper domain of ethics, such as dietary restrictions or sexual behaviors. A good system of law should be ethical, but the law establishes precedent in trying to dictate universal guidelines, and is thus not able to respond to individual contexts. Law may have a difficult time designing or enforcing standards in some important areas, and may be slow to address new problems. Both law and ethics deal with questions of how we should live together with others, but ethics is sometimes also thought to apply to how individuals act even when others are not involved. Finally, many people use the terms morality and ethics interchangeably. Others reserve morality for the state of virtue while seeing ethics as a code that enables morality. Another way to think about the relationship between ethics and morality is to see ethics as providing a rational basis for morality, that is, ethics provides good reasons for why something is moral. (Brown University: framework-making-ethical-decisions)
Metaethics
Before Watching: Are there ethical absolute truths or does 'everyone have an entitlement to their own opinion?"
During Watching: What should happen to the burglar? Terms: Moral Realism: - Moral Absolutism - Moral Relativism - Cultural Relativism Moral Anit realism: - Moral Subjectivism Groudning Problem: What is a moral principle? |
After Watching:
Reflect: Which one do you like the most? Why? Why is it dangerous for people to say, "everyone is entitled to their own opinion?" |