Knowledge vs. Ignorance: Fahrenheit 451

Mr. Sherry

English 11R

Cicero-North Syracuse High School

ksherry@nscsd.org

Image:marquetteeducator.wordpress.com

“Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.”

—Martin Luther King, Jr.

INTRODUCTION

Keeping ourselves knowledgeable is not only wise, it is imperative. In Fahrenheit 451 you will recall that the price of ignorance is steep. Guy Montag is forced to live in a world where books are banned and knowledge is a rare and precious commodity. For the citizens of Bradbury’s dystopic society, ignorance is supposed to be bliss; yet, no one seems to be happy.

The cost of education is high and more and more students are forced to learn in overcrowded classrooms and many are unable to viably attain a higher education. Why is cost of providing education soaring? Does it matter that we have made it increasingly difficult to provide affordable education?

TASK

1. In this webquest, you will study the increase in cost of public education. Using the PPA process (found below), you will write a series of newspaper articles that

A. examines the problem,

B. explain the causes for the increase, and

C. illustrates the danger of the problem.

2. You will be responsible for creating a PowerPoint presentation for the board of education showing the necessity for adequately funding your school. This presentation must include research to support your claims. PowerPoint.

PROCESS

Use these steps to help understand your problem and to aid you in research for your newspaper articles and PowerPoint presentation.

· Defining the Social Problem

· Gathering Evidence of the Problem

· Identifying the Causes of the Problem

· Examining the Existing Policy

· Creating New Public Policy Solutions

· Selecting the Best Public Policy Solution

RESOURCES

General Resources:

· Google

· Yahoo

· Ask

(Please, use only .edu and .gov sites.)

Specific Resources:

School Finance (Education Week)

School Funding (PBS)

Per-Pupil Spending (GAO)

Public School Funding

Cost of Education

Adequate School Funding

US Dept. of Education

EVALUATION

· Newspaper Article Rubric

· PowerPoint Rubric

CONCLUSION

Upon completing this webquest, you will have a better grasp of the importance of school funding.

STANDARDS

New York State Standards

English Language Arts

Standard 1: Language for Information and Understanding Students will listen, speak, read, and write for information and understanding. As listeners and readers, students will collect data, facts, and ideas; discover relationships, concepts, and generalizations; and use knowledge generated from oral, written, and electronically produced texts. As speakers and writers, they will use oral and written language that follows the accepted conventions of the English language to acquire, interpret, apply, and transmit information.

Technology Education

Standard 2: Information Systems
Students will access, generate, process, and transfer information using appropriate technologies.

Social Studies

Standard 5: Civics, Citizenship, and Government

Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of the necessity for establishing governments; the governmental system of the United States and other nations; the United States Constitution; the basic civic values of American constitutional democracy; and the roles, rights, and responsibilities of citizenship, including avenues of participation.