ABOUT COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS: Community Connections is a lesson collection designed for adult learners and community colleges, with the goal of inspiring student civic action. This might be respectful debate or conversation about a local issue, planning a community event, or a creative project that helps connect local, national and global issues.
To use this lesson: First, watch the video and answer the questions below as a warm up. Next, choose one or more of the activities under "Take Action" that best fits your classroom. Or, use the segment above to inspire your own original classroom activities — the spirit of these lessons is to connect current events to actions that make your community a better place for everyone!
SUMMARY
The role of the federal government has been at the center of a national debate over the last few months. But who really is our government and what is it made of? Judy Woodruff set out for answers in her ongoing series, America at a Crossroads.
View the transcript of the story.
WARM-UP QUESTIONS
- How did Christopher Mark use his expertise to save lives?
- Who is Michael Lewis, and what is his background?
- Why did Lewis write the book "Who is Government"?
- How has the Trump administration slashed federal government, and what is their goal?
- When did the modern federal government begin to take shape, according to this segment?
FOCUS QUESTIONS
Christopher Marks argues that if a private company such as a mining firm had controlled his innovation to make mines safer, it would have held onto the innovation as a trade secret to gain an advantage over competitors. But because the idea was developed within the federal government, it could be shared with everyone who needed it.
- Do you think this is a good reason to invest in public research, such as through federal programs?
- Do you think there are any downsides to public ownership of innovations?
- How else do you think research and innovation by the federal government differs from private companies or individuals?
Media literacy: Michael Lewis explains that the contributions of civil servants such as Christopher Mark are often invisible to the public, and so he developed "Who is Government" to give a face to often anonymous work. Do you think knowing more about the work of federal public servants might change U.S. citizens' attitudes toward the value of federal programs?
TAKE ACTION
Many in the U.S. think of the federal government and federal agencies as all being clustered in Washington, D.C., but there are federal buildings and workers all throughout the U.S.
Use this resource from the General Services Administration to find out what federal offices are doing in your community. Do you know if they've been impacted by federal cuts? How do you think your community would be effected if the offices near you closed down entirely?
Then use this activity with a focus on local news about federal cuts. As a class, debate which cuts you think might have the biggest impact on the local community.
This project was funded under the 2024 Leonore Annenberg Civic Mission of the Nation Initiative, sponsored by the Leonore Annenberg Institute for Civics. LAIC is a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania.
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