I submit two new “Enduring Issue” essay prompt modeled on the New Regents examinations in New York State. This Enduring Issue Essay presents the students with five documents, from which they select three to support some enduring issue they see through history.
Available at our TeachersPayTeachers store:
- Regents Global 9 Enduring Issue Essay, “Of Decandance and Empire’s Fall”
- Regents Global 10 Enduring Issue Essay, “On Students in Revolt”
Both products include access to video lessons with embedded questions here at Innovation so your students can review the historical context before writing their analysis.
Video Lesson previews
- Ancient Rome part 1, [preview]
- Ancient Rome part 2., [preview]
- Ancient Rome part 3., [preview]
- Transforming the Roman Republic, [preview]
- Ancient Rome part 4, [preview]
- Early China and the Qin Dynasty, [preview]
- Han Dynasty, [preview]
- Competing Ideologies of the 20th Century part A, [preview]
- Competing Ideologies of the 20th Century part B, [preview]
- China in the 20th Century part 1, [preview]
- China in the 20th Century part 2, [preview]
- Clash with Modernity: Iran, [preview]
Of Decadence and Empire’s Fall
When empires start to crumble, the “group feeling” that Ibn Khaldun noted as the binding force of society begins to unravel. In the face of the stress of migrations, invasions, internal political polarization, economic distress there comes a disintegration of morals and customs of courtesy. This does not go unnoticed by everyone. In Of Decadence and Empire’s Fall, students explore primary sources from the Roman Empire and the Han Dynasty. They may see the warnings from the wise about a decline in moral behavior. They may piece together similar contributing factors to the disintegration of a political unit.
Document excerpts included in this essay prompt:
- Excerpt, The Conspiracy of Catiline, Gaius Sallustius Crispus, 63 BCE
- Excerpt, Sima Qian and Laissez-Faire:Manifestations of a “Discordant and Degenerate Age”
- Excerpt, St. Jerome, “Letter 127: To Principia”, 412CE
- Excerpt, A Translation of the Chronicle on the ‘Western Regions’ from the Hou Hanshu, the dynastic history of the Han dynasty
- Painting, The Course of Empire: Destruction (1836) by Thomas Cole
On Students in Revolt
Those of us who have taught high school for decades are well acquainted with adolescent rebelliousness. Frankly, I respect it, I expect it, and I wonder about the young person who is not a little instinctively resistant. Be that said, I know that I am usually right anyway. : )
When the proportion of young in the population gets high, such as in Iran in the late ’70s and the US when the Baby Boomers came to late teens, you can bet there will be social upheaval! In “On Students in Revolt”, students in Global Studies 10 (New York State curriculum) will examine primary sources related to times in history when students were the impetus for change. These are not generally positive, which I hope does not reveal a middle aged bias on my part.
Document excerpts included in this essay prompt:
- Report by Louis P. Lochner, Head of the Berlin Bureau of the Associated Press (10 May 1933)
- Mr. Dai, a sociologist in Beijing, attended Tsinghua University High School, where the first Red Guard groups were formed.
- On the Hostages’ Release, AFP Press Release, 14 January 1980
- The Prague Spring of 1968, image
- Paris: May 1968, Eyewitness Account
