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CV4. Questions/Core Values

This section includes questions related to the following topics: Common Good, Life, Diversity, Equality, First Amendment, Justice, Pursuit of Happiness, Tolerance.

Common Good

1. Select four cases to describe the tension between common good and individualism.
2. When and to what extent is it acceptable for the government to place the needs of the nation over the rights of the individual?

Life

1. What if anything seems to you to be worth dying for? Select four cases where others thought that something was worth dying for? Do you agree that the cause was worth dying for?
2. How can you tell good guys from bad guys? How can good be distinguished from evil? Select four historical figures to support your claims.

Diversity

1. What is diversity?
2. How does diversity shape the need for tolerance?
3. Who decides what a person should tolerate? Why?
4. Should we be tolerant of those who do not tolerate us? Why? Present cases that support your argument.
5. How has tolerance become a mainstay of American culture? What events or movements have shaped this belief?
6. How does separation of church and state help preserve religious diversity?

Equality

1. What is equality? Everyone is different so how can everyone be equal? Equal opportunity? Equal treatment under the law? Equal treatment in similar situations?
2. Can you have peace without equality? Why or why not?
3. Do you think it is necessary to constitutionally guarantee equal treatment for women? Why or why not?
4. Is the Constitution color-blind?
5. What do you think is meant by the phrase "all men are created equal?"Present four cases that support your definition.
6. How has the US government protected personal equality and individual rights? Select four cases from four different decades.

First Amendment

1. What are the benefits of a free press? What limits, if any, should society place on the press?

Justice

1. What is justice? What is injustice?
2. Develop a working definition of justice. Present four cases that support your definition and describe the role of government in each case.
3. How has justice been applied in the 20th century and beginning of 21st century?
4. What steps have people taken to bring attention to social injustices? Choose two cases of nonviolent and two cases violent acts? Compare and contrast the four cases.
5. Select cases that illustrate the Bill of Rights, Preamble of Constitution, and Constitutional Amendments.

Pursuit of Happiness

1. How has the US government tried to protect people's safety and happiness?
2. Why is it important for government to protect people's safety and happiness? Is this possible?

Tolerance

1. Define tolerance and intolerance.
2. Evaluate this statement. The US is an ever-renewing society. It needs to change.

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