by Jeremy Solomons | 5 Sep 2024 | Educators' Catalog, History, Human Rights, Politics
Can even leaders on the wrong side of history be credited for good outcomes? Can awful leaders be awe-inspiring? Then-Libyan President Moammar Gaddafi arrives in Venezuela, 25 September 2009 to attend the Africa-South America, ASA, summit. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)...
As half the world goes to the polls this year, Jeremy Solomons asks: Can even leaders on the wrong side of history be credited for good outcomes? Can awful leaders be awe-inspiring? Explore leadership, leaders and their legacies with your class and push them to develop their critical thinking and argumentation skills.
Exercise: Choose a controversial leader, dead or alive. You may agree or disagree with their position, politics or legacy. Build a picture of some of their decisions that had widespread negative impacts and find some positive aspects to their leadership. Next, play devil’s advocate and try to argue the good or positives that may have come from negative decisions. How might people on both opinion sides see the leader’s legacy? To conclude, students can express their own views on the matter and find nuanced arguments and discourse to express these.
by Bernd Debusmann | 3 Sep 2024 | Decoders, Human Rights, Politics, United States, Wh-Y Vote
One candidate in the upcoming election vows to deport millions of people. The other wants complicated changes to current laws. Is either solution feasible? A group claiming to be from India sit in the shade of the border wall as they wait to be picked up by U.S....
by Alfonso Silva-Santisteban | 19 Aug 2024 | Health and Wellness, History, Human Rights
After four decades and some 40 millions deaths, can we end this worldwide health crisis? A human T cell (blue) under attack by HIV (yellow), the virus that causes AIDS. Credit: U.S. National Cancer Institute This article was produced exclusively for News Decoder’s...
by Samantha Crystal | 9 Jul 2024 | Contest winners, Hewitt, Human Rights, Student Posts, United States, Youth Voices
Immigrants seeking asylum in New York City struggle to get help meeting basic needs. Nonprofit organizations struggle to fill the vacuum. Migrants queue in the cold as they look for a shelter outside a migrant assistance center at St. Brigid Elementary School in lower...
by Bernd Debusmann | 3 Jul 2024 | Decoder Replay, Education, Human Rights, Media Literacy, Politics
The term “woke” is caught up in a divisive culture war in the United States. Why is the idea of social justice not universally accepted? A protest about book banning at the capitol building in Atlanta, Georgia in the United States, 12 February 2022....
by Rafiullah Nikzad | 26 Jun 2024 | Decoder Replay, Human Rights
The UN says that in places where women face severe discrimination we need to recognize that as apartheid. But the idea is not universally accepted. Afghan women walk through the old market as a Taliban fighter stands guard in downtown Kabul, Afghanistan. Taliban...
by Jessica Moody | 19 Jun 2024 | Africa, Decoder Replay, Human Rights, Politics
Civil war in Sudan is causing a humanitarian crisis in an already unstable region. This is not something the world can ignore. South Sudanese who fled from Sudan sit outside a nutrition clinic at a transit center in Renk, South Sudan, on 16 May 2023. (AP Photo/Sam...
by Tiziana Barghini | 17 Jun 2024 | Economy, Educators' Catalog, Human Rights, Politics, United States
Obstacles to building housing have created a homeless crisis in California. Can the “Golden State” find a way to house the people living on its streets? Tents house people experiencing homelessness in the Skid Row area of Los Angeles, California on 24...
Obstacles to building housing have created a homeless crisis in California. Can the “Golden State” find a way to house the people living on its streets? Correspondent Tiziana Barghini explores housing shortages, ineffective new legislation and the realities of California’s housing crisis.
Exercise: Explore some of the issues around homelessness. What are the issues that lead to people becoming homeless. Examine these on a personal, community, national and international level. Now look for videos and articles about homelessness and the experience of being homeless. You can use resources like Invisible People or Learning To Give which have films about many facets of homelessness. Present the information that you found in your article or video to the class or write a short piece about what it’s like to be homeless.
by Alistair Lyon | 27 May 2024 | Decoders, Educators' Catalog, Human Rights, Israel-Palestine, Middle East, Politics
The world’s attention is on Gaza. But Israel’s neighbors worry about their own stability as they fear the chaos will spread. Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud attends a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and...
The world’s attention is on Gaza. But Israel’s neighbors worry about their own stability as they fear the chaos will spread. News Decoder correspondent Alistair Lyon decodes the conflict’s effects on the region.
Exercise: Use the article as a starting point to understanding conflict and the effects of conflict on neighboring nations. Divide the students into groups. Each group represents a country in or bordering the conflict of your choice. Get students to research the root causes of the conflicts and the effects on their given country. Hold a crisis meeting in which each group voices its concerns about the conflict. Present and debate.
by Daniel Warner | 24 May 2024 | Decoders, Human Rights, Israel-Palestine, Middle East, Politics, Russia, United States
The rule of law applies when enemies commit crimes. For national allies, the same crime isn’t necessarily a crime. Vladimir Putin and Benjamin Netanyahu against a backdrop of a court. (Illustration by News Decoder) Is there a rule of law for the United States...
