 |
|
 |
|
Math and Fahrenheit 9/11 Using mathematics to examine some of the issues raised in Fahrenheit 9/11 can help students gain important insights about our society. With math, students can gain insights, ask questions, and express ideas in ways they might not be able to do with traditional reading and writing assignments. This lesson addresses three topics: the vote in the 2000 Presidential election, the cost of the war in Iraq, and soldiers' pay versus pay for private contractors. Materials Needed
Suggested Procedure: 1. Explain to students that in this activity they will see the importance of mathematics as it relates to three controversial issues that were touched on in the movie. Tell them they will work in small groups on a specific problem and afterwards they will share what they learned with the full class. Explain that they should first carefully read the background information and then work together to answer the questions. When they finish answering the questions they should decide how they can best present to the whole group their perspective on the most important information they learned. (Note that in order to complete Problem #1, students should have some familiarity with the Electoral College, and how it's possible for one candidate to receive the most popular votes, as in 2000, and yet lose the election. You might briefly explain how the system works if you sense that students may not already understand it.) 2. Assign students to groups and review classroom procedures for working in groups, then assign a problem to each group. It's fine if multiple groups work on the same problem. Circulate among the groups providing assistance and helping students stay focused. When most groups seem to have nearly finished, announce that in the final ten or fifteen minutes they should plan how they will report to the whole class. 3. Call the entire class together and ask group representatives to present. Thanks to Bob Peterson (repmilw@aol.com) for this lesson. Bob teaches in Milwaukee, WI. Problem #1 ¥ Whose Vote Counts? The 2000 Presidential Election in Florida Background Information In the 2000 election, George W. Bush received about 500,000 fewer votes nationwide than his opponent Al Gore. Because the President is actually "elected" through the Electoral College, the results came down to the popular vote in Florida. According to certified Florida electoral results, Al Gore lost the 2000 Presidential vote in Florida by only 537 votes out of a total Florida vote count of 5,962,657, a victory margin for George W. Bush of 0.009 percent of the 5.9 million votes counted. This became the focus of national attention as many Civil Rights organizations claimed fraud. Several different types of fraud were charged, including the following:
Questions: 1) According to journalist Liam Sheft, writing in the Boston-based The Weekly Dig, his office carefully went through the scrub list and discovered that "at minimum, 90.2 percent of the people were completely innocent of any crime - except for being African American." There was no need to guess about race, because next to each voter's name his or her race was listed. (When Sheft questioned Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris' office about the high percentage of African Americans on the scrub list, they responded, "ÔWell, you know how many black people commit crimes.'") a. Assume that 90.2% of the so-called 57,700 felons had never been wrongly placed on that list. How many more people would have been allowed to vote in the 2000 election? b. Assume that 90% of those would have voted for Gore over Bush - roughly the percentage of blacks who voted Democratic in the 2000 election. Who would have won the Florida election? By how many votes? 2) Of the total number of people who had their ballot invalidated, 53% of them were black. How many blacks was that? Again, assuming that 90% of those would have voted for Gore, what would have been the impact of the election had those ballots not been invalidated? 3). Make a bar graph contrasting the total black voting population in Florida (13%) and the percentage of black ballots invalidated (53%). Write some observations about this discrepancy. 4) Develop a short presentation for the class explaining what you learned and what you think about these matters. Problem #2 ¥ How Much Does the War in Iraq Cost? Background Information During the presidential debates, John Kerry mentioned that the cumulative cost of the Iraq war had reached around $200 billion dollars. This is in addition to the nearly $400 billion military budget that the U.S. Congress appropriated for fiscal year 2004. There is great debate about how much should be spent on the military to protect the United States. Some people argue that if money spent on the military was instead spent on combating U.S. and global social and economic problems, we'd all be much safer. Dwight D. Eisenhower, Commander of Allied Forces in Europe during World War II and the 34th President of the United States (and a Republican) said on April 16, 1953: "Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed." A non-profit group called the Borgen Project (http://borgenproject.org) has estimated what it would cost to end certain global problems. They estimate for example: Top Global Issues and the Annual Amount Needed to Solve the Problem:
Figures are from the World Game Institute, based on an annual budget with a 10-year period needed to achieve success. Questions: 1) Assume you are able to set down a one-dollar bill on your desk every second without stopping. First have each student in your group record on paper your estimates of how long it would take to set down one million dollars, one billion dollars, and $200 billion. After recording your guesses, use a calculator to figure out how long each would take. Compare your estimates to your calculated answer. 2) Look at the estimates of how much it would cost to solve the major global issues as defined by the Borgen Project. How much does the total cost compare to the cost of the war in Iraq? (Note that each of the Borgen estimates is an annual figure requiring ten years of spending.) 3) A full scholarship to an out-of-state, four year, major university like the University of Wisconsin-Madison, including dorm, food, books, tuition and fees costs about $27,000 a year. Calculate how many high school seniors could receive a fully paid 4 year college experience if the monies spent on the Iraq war - as of September 2004 - had been set aside for college scholarships instead. 4) A group called the National Priorities Project (http://www.nationalpriorities.org/Issues/Military/Iraq/CostOfWar.html) has estimated the amount of taxes the people in different states and cities have paid to fund the war in Iraq. Go to the web site, find your state and/or city, and find out how much you have paid for the war. Using this number, calculate how many additional teachers and nurses could be hired in your community, assuming that each new teacher made the average national salary for their profession. The national average teacher salary is $43,250 (according to http://www.aft.org/research/survey01/tables/tableI-1.html) and the national average nurse salary is $41,642 (according to: http://www.allied-physicians.com/salary_surveys/nurse-salaries.htm). 5) Reread the above quotation from former President Eisenhower. What do you think about the quotation and how does it relate to our current political situation? 6) Develop a short presentation for the class explaining what you learned and what you think about these matters. Problem #3 ¥ Pay for Military versus Private Contractors Background Information According to a scene near the end of the Fahrenheit 9/11 a U.S. soldier complains that his pay while serving in Iraq is considerably less than a private contractor driving trucks in the same region. The issue of military pay and benefits has been a long-running controversy in the United States, dating as far back as the American Revolutionary War when soldiers received payment in "continental dollars" which turned out to be nearly worthless. The current war in Iraq ushered a new factor into the debate about military pay: the large percentage of quasi-military personnel who are private contractors, but who perform military-related work. These individuals do not work for or under the direct supervision of the U.S. military, but rather for private companies like Halliburton and General Dynamics. According to an April 19, 2004, New York Times article, 20,000 private soldiers - some call them mercenaries - do "security" work in Iraq along side the roughly 130,000 soldiers from the United States, but earning as much as $1,000 per day, 10 times the average Marine's salary. By surfing the internet one can find various advertisements encouraging people to seek jobs in Iraq. Here is one from www.jobline.net/jobiraq1.htm:
Questions: 1a) In the fall of 2003, the Bush administration proposed cutting the pay of American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. It proposed cutting "imminent danger pay," which goes to soldiers in combat zones by $75 a month. Assuming there are about 130,000 soldiers in Iraq, how much would this save the U.S. government each month? b. What percent of the total war expenditure - which by September 2004 is expected to have reached $200 billion dollars - does this savings represent? 2. The Bush administration also cut by $150 the "family separation allowance," which helps families pay rent, childcare, or other expenses while soldiers are away. The Administration claimed the cut was necessary because of "other priorities." Assume that 50% of soldiers serving in Iraq are entitled to the "family separation allowance," how much would the administration save by cutting this allowance? What percent of the total war expenditure does this savings represent (assuming the Sept. 2004 figure of $200 billion of total war expenditure)? 3a) The starting base pay for a private in the U.S. Army is around $15,000 a year with additional allowances for clothing, housing, and subsistence. (See http://money.cnn.com/2003/03/20/pf/saving/war_military_pay/index.htm) In Joshua Hammer's New Republic article, he writes that pay for some private contractors is 10 times that of U.S. soldiers. Using the starting base pay for an army private, how much more per year would a contractor make than the private? b. Assuming a contractor stays in Iraq for two years, how much greater would his or her total salary be than a private making starting base pay? 4) In the advertisement for jobs in Iraq at www.jobline what does it say about income taxes? Assuming a federal income tax rate of 25% and someone making $80,000 (with no deductions, for simplicity), how much money would this individual save by working in Iraq? What do you think is the reason for paying civilians so much better than soldiers? 5) Develop a short presentation for the class explaining what you learned and what you think about these matters.
You can also download the Bowling For Columbine TEACHER'S GUIDE
Welcome to the Bowling For Columbine TEACHER'S GUIDE. The lessons and activities in this GUIDE are designed to help students develop critical thinking skills, historical analysis, and open their minds on many universal issues. The individual units may easily be adapted to many levels and taught across the curriculum - Social Science, [History, Civics, Psychology, Sociology, Political Science] Language Arts, [English, Writing, Poetry], Humanities, Drama/Theatre, Film, ESL, Media/Journalism, Speech/Communications... You can review the guide page by page on the website, download a PDF of each section or the whole guide. So, go do that magic we call education! And, be sure to share, share, share! We would love to hear from you. Send your feedback or ideas to share with other educators to: teacher@michaelmoore.com. Click here for the full, chapter by chapter Bowling For Columbine TEACHER'S GUIDE
|
Table of Contents 2. General questions for class discussion or written essays 4. More in-depth questions for discussion or essays by topic 5. The United States and Iraq: Choices & Predictions 6. Math and Fahrenheit 9/11 7. Silent Discussion of Fahrenheit 9/11 10. Thinking in Pictures, Feeling in Words 11. What is Terrorism? Who are the Terrorists? 13. Acknowledgements and Contributors
|
 |
|
