Threat List

What are the greatest threats facing the United States today?

We are social studies.  It's everywhere.  The land we live on.  The people we elect to lead us.  The way we use money.  It's what we believe about God or gods, and how we relate to our friends.  It's the culture in the TV shows we enjoy, and the headlines we pick up from... well... wherever we pick them up from.

It makes sense to teach social studies using what's going on in the world.  A respected colleague of  mine has had a lot of success teaching this way.  His students love him.

One of the things he has done in the past is keep a running "QV List."  I've often wanted to try that, but I was never quite sure how to go about it.

So this year, for the first time, I found myself keeping multiple lists with the classes, depending on the topic.  But one list has taken center-stage: The Threat List.

It's a running list of threats facing These United States.  They often have ties (sometime loose ties) to what we're talking about, or will be talking about.  Geography, government, the economy, religion...  Here's the list as it stands today:

In case the images are blocked, it reads:

• North Korea
• ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria)
• Disease (None pressing, as Ebola or Zika were recently)
• Opioid epidemic
• Forest fires (west)
• Hurricanes (major ones)
• Afghanistan
• Terrorism
• International (Outside our country)
• Domestic (Inside our country)
• Non-terroristic "Lone Wolf" attacks
• Crumbling infrastructure
• Russia's misinformation campaign
• Pollution

I wasn't sure what form this list would take.  It seems like we're adding things I hadn't thought of every other week.  I'm noticing differences in the ways we approach different threats.  Different political tones. While we studied the economy, I wondered about the economic toll these threats placed on our country.  When we study government, I'll be sure to bring up the primary purpose of government: keep it's citizens safe, and protect their rights.

We don't bring up the list everyday, but it has brought something new to the classroom.  I'm hoping that it will be a reminder to my students when they're older that America has always faced threats.  That when they grow up and people talk about how much better, and safer the world was when they were kids, they'll be able to recognize that we always faced threats, we always had problems, but we also worked to overcome and solve them.

And they're at the age where they'll start hearing about these things outside of the classroom.  As they get older, parents are sheltering them less and less.  While we can never be fully mentally prepared for the threats we as a nation face, acknowledging that they are there is a step.

Students can earn extra credit by reading and discussing the blog with an adult.  After you've read and discussed it with them, answer the following questions with that adult on a scrap of paper: What do you think about the list?  Should anything be added?  Should anything be removed?  Sign and date the scrap of paper, and have the adult do the same.  Turn it in tomorrow in the extra credit tray.