The Daily Herald reports on how the gender gap in earning potential CANNOT be dismissed in Illinois where college graduate women will make just 82 cents for ever $1 their male graduated classmates will make in their first job.
Sarah Ridder and Liz Tsybulski are about to wrap up their studies at National Louis University and graduate with degrees in human services — credentials directing them to a traditionally female-dominated field where Ridder says they will "do a whole lot for a little money."
The two seniors say they are grateful for an education that has given them realistic salary expectations, but they're frustrated by one factor still entering the equation concerning their eventual earning potential: gender.
Reports recently released by the American Association of University Women indicate a gender pay gap not only still exists in the American workforce but often reveals itself the moment women accept their first job.
Women working full time one year after college graduation are paid an average of 18 percent less than men also working full time one year after receiving a bachelor's degree, according to "Graduating to a Pay Gap."
What changes could be made in #Africa if female leaders were in charge?
Across the world, women make up about half the population yet they never come close to holding 50 percent of the positions of power in any government.
In the US, only six out of 50 states have a female governor. In Africa, there are only two female presidents, out of 54 African Union member states. But are there more opportunities for women in the political arena in Africa today? Can female leaders make a real difference? And what are the struggles they face as women in leadership roles?
Remember on your day off to STUDY....Here is a good review post for Comparative (thanks to Ken Halla to collecting the ideas many of us use in one post)
BREAKING NEWS -- USTREAM.tv REVIEW Get one more chance to ask your questions to AP Government TEACHERS LIVE Monday night from 7 - 10 PM CST. I will also be simulcasting here on Political Warrior in the Comment section of this post.
REMEMBER POWER BREAKFAST, Tuesday, 6:30 AM, Rm. 262. Country review sheets. Fill out for each country. Any questions? Post in comment section.
Conceptual terms. Developed by Rebecca Small, who has served as a question leader in the past, it has all of the key terms for the course.
Comprehensive Review Wiki. Developed by question leader Andrew Conneen, it is an in depth look at each country with history, leaders, government, issues, cleavages. Truly a one stop review place.
Below, burried beneath the lead is the news that the youth vote decreased in 2012, from its upswing in 2008. We have a change that in two ways next week.
First, Naperville Township Clerk, Carol Bertulis will be here to register senior to vote on Thursday, May 16 during lunch periods.
Students need two (2) forms of ID (one with address) to register. You may get five (5 pts) of extra credit for showing your political efficacy by registering. At the very least, you will be living up to your responsibility as a citizen.
The Associated Press reported last week that black voter turnout surpassed whites for the first time, based on an analysis by experts of earlier data.
Second, continue to lobby your state senators for passage up of the Suffrage @ 17 bill. 2nd reading of #HB226 occurred today in the IL Senate. Next step = 3rd reading and Senate floor vote next week!
In all, about 66.2 percent of eligible black voters cast ballots in 2012, up from 64.7 percent in 2008, according to census data. That compares with non-Hispanic white turnout of 64.1 percent, which fell from 66.1 percent four years earlier. As recently as 1996, blacks had turnout rates 8 percentage points lower than non-Hispanic whites.
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Latino turnout dipped slightly, from 49.9 percent in 2008 to 48 percent, while Asian-American turnout was basically unchanged at 47 percent.
Voter turnout across all race and ethnic groups fell for a second consecutive presidential election, from 64 percent in 2004 to 62 percent in November, according to the census figures.
Tune in this Saturday May 12th at 9:15 AM EST (8:15 am CT) as teachers Dan Larsen and
Andrew Conneen from Adlai E. Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, Illinois
help A.P. Government and Politics students around the country prepare
for Tuesday's exam.
You can
also watch previous Cram for the Exam programs in the C-SPAN Video Library.
David Benson, who teaches in
Colorado Springs, sent this link to a 2011 Al Jazeera report (24 minutes total
in 3 segments) on Nigeria. There's more history than AP students need, but it
does an excellent job of describing ethnic cleavages, the effects of corruption,
and the results of military governments.
All the while, it offers
colorful images of what Nigeria is like.
Second
comparative practice test, for extra credit available in Social Studies ARC. Just ask for simple knowledge and practice.
During the past few months, the 2 Teachers have visited the University of Chicago's Institute of Politics to interview some IOP Fellows about various aspects of government and politics. Their videos are part of CitizenU, which help high-school students prepare for the AP Government exam. Watch them below:
Nearly 20,000 people will take an Advanced Placement examination for Comparative
Government and Politics next week. Some of them read this blog. These links are
for them.
Or Smarties.....I will add to the list of cases you should know on this post. But Virginia teacher Keith Hughes gives us a good, and entertaining (I think) start.
Here is an extensive list. Many will not be on the test, but a couple will. So best practice, know a bit about them all.
Here are some test tips from Political Warrior, The Two Teachers,
and Teaching Comparative.
Remember if you are taking
both tests on Tuesday, they do have minor fomat differences. The US Government
test is in the morning with a 15-minute break then the Comparative
Exam.
The Format of the Exam: Let’s begin by looking at
a breakdown of how the AP US Government Exam is structured:
Questions, Time allowed, Percentage of grade: 60
multiple choice 45 minutes 50%; 4 free response 100 minutes 50%
Strategies for Multiple-Choice Questions - Read
carefully.
The multiple-choice section will test your reading,
vocabulary and patience. Take as many practice exams as you have available.
There are only so many ways to write a question about judicial review or
cloture. Practice reading AP multiple-choice questions.
Strategies for Free-Response
Questions:
Do’s
1.
Write as neatly as possible (without wasting time). You’ll get a better score if
the reader can understand what you’re writing. If you make a mistake, simply
draw a line through it and write the correct information above it. And, don’t
use arrows or asterisk because they can be confusing to the readers.
2.
Read the question. And then read it again. Think about what you’re going to
write. Outline your answer. Make sure you’re only answering what has been
asked.
3. Reread your work and make sure you’ve answered each question
fully and correctly. Have you appropriately LINKED your answer to the
question?
4. Leave yourself a few minutes at the end to revise or
proofread your answers.
5. There is NO PENALTY for wrong information,
therefore, write as much as you can (use the Spare Tire) if a
question asks for two examples, brainstorm and write as many as you can think
-- a least three, your spare tire. 6. At the very least, use
the EXACT VOCABULARY from the question in each component of your answer. Most
rubrics ask for linkage back to the question. This is the sure fire way to move
in that direction.
Don'ts
1. Don’t give personal
opinions (like your political affiliation or whether you like the president’s
policies). The Exam is testing your knowledge and understanding of the political
process. Don’t waste time stating an opinion, unless you’re asked to do
so.
2. Don’t give long, unnecessary introductions. Get to the
point.
3. Don’t give information you weren’t asked for. You won’t get any
extra points if you do. So don’t waste your time writing it.
4. Don’t
spend more than 25 minutes on any one free-response question.
5. Don’t
fall asleep. Fight the fatigue. Time generally is not a factor. Wasted time is.
Spend the time that is provided. This is a high stakes exam, do not look back
and think about how you wasted it because you were tired, bored, or
indifferent.
The Founders did not include in the U.S.
Constitution an explicit statement of state powers but added it later in the
:
A) Second Amendment. B) Seventh Amendment. C)
Tenth Amendment. D) Fourteenth Amendment. E) None of the
above.
On-line discussions and 10 lessons led by The Two Teachers
available at Politico Prep
The AP exam for Comparative
Government and Politics
Tuesday, 15 May 2012
The exam
begins with a 45-minute session for reading and answering 55 multiple-choice
questions. (Remember, choose the best answer from among the 5 choices offered.)
This is same format (just 5 less Qs) as the US Test .
The second session
is 100 minutes long. During that time, you will write answers to 8 "Free
Response Questions." (As oppossed to 4 FRQs in US)
Five definitions
and descriptions in the "Short-Answer Concepts" section.
Make sure you define, describe and use one or two (spare tire)
descriptions of the concept,
One "Conceptual
Analysis" question (which will ask about one of the course's "big
ideas") ie: executive-legislative relationships -- parilmentary vs.
presidential systems Two "Country Context"
questions, which are most likely to require comparisons ie: civil
liberties, cleavages, federalism, legitimacy in one or two specific countires of
study. _____________________ Go to Ken Wedding's studying comparative blog spot to get several shots at practice-type comparative FRQ
questions.
What has preserved the liberties of British
citizens in a system that lacks separation of powers?
Mr.
Wolak said: With a system of government based on Common Law, British
gradualism has grown to expand civil liberties of its citizens through laws like
the UK's National Human Rights Act and its membership in the EU's Convention on
Human Rights. All British law must be read against these instruments which
preserve the liberties of citizens.
British PM Gordon Brown spoke (while
he was still the Head of Government) about the British history of protecting
citizen rights.
"From the starting point at the time of the Magna Carta,
to the Civil Wars and the revolutions of the 17th Century, through the
liberalism of Victorian Britain and the widening and deepening of democracy and
fundamental rights throughout the last century, there has been a British
tradition if liberty -- what one writer has called Britain's 'Gift to the
World'."
Common Law tradition, national acts, modern EU membership and a
history as the world's longest-lasting democracy have preserved civil liberties
in the UK, despite the lack of a written constitution with a separation of
powers."
Take your shots here on these, post answers in the comment
section here or at the studying comparative site.
Here are two Short-Answer Concept questions.
You can submit responses as comments and I'll try to find time to apply my
rubric to them. Or you can do some research and write your own
rubrics.
(A)Explain two reasons we
would expect the British political system to be more amenable to change than the
Iranian system.
(B)In terms of being open to
change, how would the Mexican system compare with the British and Iranian
systems? Why?
(A)Identify two factors that
make the UK regime a parliamentary system.
(B)Identify two factors that
make the Nigerian regime a presidential system.
(C)Explain how the factors you
identified make one of those regimes better able to make effective social
welfare policies.
2012 - Question #10 –
Country Context question
(A) What is a "catch-all"
political party?
(B) What's an example of a party in the UK that is not a
"catch-all" party?
(C) Why is it not a "catch-all"
party?
Ken Wedding said...
This response
to #10 arrived from the great expanse of the Internet: "A
'catch-all' political party is a term devised in the 1960s to describe a new
type of political party that plays down ideology in favor of slogans, telegenic
candidates, and the like. In short, a “catch-all” party tries to gain as many
different people as possible, in order to gain the most amount of votes.
"In the UK, the Labor Party is typically not viewed as a
catch-all party, since it did not try to gain different votes by appealing to a
great range of people. However, the current party in power, the Conservatives
formed a coalition with the Lib Dems and tried to appeal to a great variety of
people in order to gain people and win the election. The Labor Party is
currently the shadow government and does not try to appeal to the
majority." ========================
The definition
offered here in response to part A is a good one. It matches the definitions in
most textbooks quite well. It earns the one point possible.
In
Part B, the identification of a British Party that is not a "catch-all" party is
clearly the Labour Party. Earning the point for the identification is dependent
upon the explanation offered in part C.
The explanation in part
C accurately describes the actions of a party that is not a "catch-all" party as
not appealing to a great range of people. However, the assertion that the Labour
Party does not appeal to "a great range of people" is outdated. In the past it
was true, but since Tony Blair's leadership of "New Labour," the party has tried
to appeal to all people based on its competence, ideas, and the charisma of its
leaders. (Oh, poor, charisma-less Gordon Brown.)
If
this response had identified the pre-1997 Labour Party explaining that it was an
ideological party appealing for votes only from workers and socialists, it might
earn credit.
However, the question "What's an example…" is in
the present tense and the rubric identifies the UK Independence Party, the
British National Party, and (with explanations) Sinn Fein and Plaid Cymru as
parties that are not "catch-all" parties.
This response earns 1
point (for the definition) out of 3 possible.
Ken Wedding
said...
Another response flew in on the wires of
the Internet:
"Catch-all parties refer to the political party
that plays down ideology in favor of slogans in hopes of getting the votes and
support from the widest spectrum of citizens as possible.
"The
most common non-catch-all party is the Liberal democrat party. It is not a
catch-all party because it is the product of the Liberals and the Social
Democrats merging together. Although the size is huge, they have never won more
than fourteen seas between 1945 and 1979.
"They have earned
many votes, not because the voters supported the Liberals but because the voters
were originally Conservative or Labour supporters but felt that they no longer
supported their party, so they voted for their rivals, as in this instance is
the Liberal Democratic party. "They don't try to appeal to a wide
spectrum of voters, but because they are a merger between two parties, it is
somewhat more restricted in ideas and unessential views than a single party with
clear
objectives."
================== The
definition here is barely adequate, but it is adequate. It earns a
point.
The example chosen of a non-catch-all party is the
Liberal Democratic Party. Earning a point for the identification is dependent
upon the explanation of how it falls outside the definition of a catch-all
party.
The argument is that it's a party created by a merger of
dissidents from other parties and that it hasn't been very successful. (If that
was true, David Cameron would not have a Lib Dem deputy
PM.) Indeed the merger that created the Liberal
Democrats sought to carve out the great middle ground of British politics
because the Conservatives had become so backward and Labour had become so
radical. The politicians who created the Lib Dems sought to win elections by
marginalizing their main opposition. In doing so, they sought votes from the
broad, moderate middle of the spectrum of British politics.
If
you look at the rubric mentioned above, there were 4 parties mentioned as
examples of non-catch-all parties. The Lib Dems were not on the
list.
This response earns 1 point out of 3
possible.
Ken Wedding's No.1 piece of advice on the FRQ
section: READ THE
VERBS
2012 - Question #4 – short answer/concept
question
(A) What is an example of political corporatism in
Mexico?
(B) Has that corporatism been strengthened or weakened by events
of the past 12 years?
(C) Why?
From Colorado comes this
response:
(A) Political corporatism
involves collaboration between elite business, labor, and state interest groups
to shape policy. An example of this in Mexico is the Confederation of Mexican
Workers, which is the largest labor union in Mexico. It used to be an essential
pillar of the PRI and was thus politically powerful.
(B) The PRI's system of political corporatism has
been declining steadily for some time now, but it has been dramatically weakened
in the past 12 years. This is mainly due to the fact that the PRI was voted out
of the Presidency, despite the plurality the party holds in Congress.
============================= The
example of corporatism in Mexico is a good one and meets the rubric's
requirement. The addition of the definition is good and
helpful.
The explanation for the weakening of the PRI's
corporatism is also good. Even though it would have benefited by more detail.
This response would earn 3 of a possible 3
points. Another response from
Colorado:
Political corporatism involved Giving political
positions to the organizers of the 1968 student reports. Current: cooperations
of labor union's leaders with the government.
Corporatism has
been weakened because there is no more a solidifying PRI that would guarantee
the "spoils". The old ties are no longer ensured, and there are other ways of
political participation. For example, now, there is no unified, all-national
women's rights movement, but there is a plethora of grass-root feminist
organizations. Drug-related violence, too, has increased during the last decade
because the cartel leaders are no longer co-opted by the PRI as
effectively.
==============================
This
example of corporatism in Mexico is not adequate. The reference to the
"organizers of the 1968 student reports" is confusing. Corporatism involves a
lot more and more comprehensive involvement than
"cooperations."
The assertion is that corporatism
has been weakened, and that seems reasonable, but in this rubric, you cannot
earn a point for that assertion without an accurate explanation ("Why?"). The
PRI, as shown by the current presidential campaign is still a political force
and its ability to deny the last two PAN presidents from accomplishing much in
the national legislature testifies to its unity.
The development
of alternatives to PRI "corporations" does suggest that other groups can be
effective, but doesn't therefore demonstrate that the PRI is weaker than it once
was.
I don't think this response earns any of the
three points possible.
Today we start to review for next Tuesday's two high stakes tests. Wear your college T-shirt to think about the tuition money you will save by scoring well.
Here's a sample question on federalism. Be the first to post an answer with your reason why it is the answer in the comment section and you will win a prize:
Some critics of the Bo Child Left Behind Act claim the act is contrary to the principle of:
A. Separation of powers
B. Judicial Review
C. Popular sovereignty
D. Federalism
E. Executive privilage
