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by Michael Hutchison
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The WIDE ANGLE episode "Mixed Blessings" depicts the mixed blessings that a "tiger economy" has had on the nation of Ireland and the city of Limerick. The "Celtic Tiger," which has brought rapid economic growth along with a higher standard of living, has also brought significant upheaval to traditional Irish society and culture, including a decline in the influence of the Catholic Church, high interest rates and inflation, and a turning away from farming as part of the Irish economy.
In this lesson, students will investigate how the Celtic Tiger has affected Ireland both positively and negatively, particularly the impact on traditional society and culture. This investigation will culminate with a "town hall meeting" in which the class collaborates to come up with possible outcomes and solutions to problems that affect them from their sudden, explosive economic growth.
Grade Level: 9-12
Subject Matter: World history, Sociology, Economics, Global Affairs, or World Culture
Time Allotment: : 4 to 6 days (based on a 50-minute class period)
As a result of completing the lesson, the students will be able to:
- Identify the typical characteristics of a "tiger economy."
- Determine possible positive and negative results of the impact of such an economy.
- Identify traditional facets of Irish culture and how that culture has been changed by rapid economic growth.
- Work cooperatively to develop strategies and solutions to issues and controversies affecting rapid economic growth in Ireland, particularly ways of encouraging that growth while maintaining historic and cultural Irish lifestyles, religion, and government.
World History (Grades 9-12):
Benchmark 2.
Understands the impact of increasing economic interdependence in different regions of the world (e.g., how global communications and changing international labor demands have shaped new patterns of world migration since World War II, the effects of the European Economic Community and its growth on economic productivity and political integration in Europe, the emergence of the Pacific Rim economy and economic growth in South Korea and Singapore in recent decades, the effects of new transport and communications technology on patterns of world trade and finance).
Benchmark 5.
Understands scientific and technological trends of the second half of the 20th century (e.g, worldwide implications of the revolution in nuclear, electronic, and computer technology; the social and cultural implications of medical successes such as the development of antibiotics and vaccines and the conquest of smallpox; the "consumer societies" of industrialized nations compared with those in predominantly agrarian nations).
Benchmark 13.
Understands how global political change has altered the world economy (e.g., what participation in the world economy can mean for different countries; the relationship between demands for democratic reform and the trend toward privatization and economic liberalization in developing economies and former communist states, and how multilateral aid organizations and multinational corporations have supported or challenged these trends).
Benchmark 14.
Understands how specific countries have implemented social and cultural changes (e.g., the different manifestations of China's contingency quest for a "new culture" throughout the 20th century, and what the Cultural Revolution meant for Chinese people in the late 1960s; models for family life, the economy, and social and political institutions suggested by modern Muslim intellectuals).
Economics (Grades 9-12):
Benchmark 2.
Knows the difference between "nominal" GDP (i.e., GDP stated in current dollars where an increase in GDP may reflect not only increases in the production of goods and services, but also increases in general prices) and "real" GDP (i.e., GDP which has been adjusted for price level changes).
Benchmark 5.
Understands that economic growth can alleviate poverty, raise standards of living, create new employment and profit opportunities in some industries, but can also reduce opportunities in other industries.
Behavioral Sciences (Grades 9-12):
Benchmark 1.
Understands that each culture has distinctive patterns of behavior that are usually practiced by most of the people who grow up in it.
Standard 4, Benchmark 1.
Understands that conflict between people or groups may arise from competition over ideas, resources, power, and/or status.
Benchmark 2.
Understands that social change, or the prospect of it, promotes conflict because social, economic, and political changes usually benefit some groups more than others (which is also true of the status quo).
Benchmark 8.
Understands how various institutions (e.g., social, religious, political) develop and change over time (i.e., what is taught in school and school policies toward student behavior have changed over the years in response to family and community pressures), and how they further both continuity and change in societies.
Benchmark 10.
Understands that the decisions of one generation both provide and limit the range of possibilities open to the next generation.
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