Mr. Levine
WEBQUEST
SOCIAL INEQUALITY
IN
Imagine you attend a
party and meet a beautiful young lady. After
an evening of dancing and some serious talk you know you have to see her again
and she agrees to a date on Saturday night. When you arrive at her house she
meets you outside, in tears, explaining that because you come from a middle
class family, her parents have forbidden her from ever seeing you again. Is it possible that today, in the Bronx, there
are some people, some parents who are so aware of class that they date and
marry according to the importance they attach to the status of a person’s job
or financial position?
If you lived in
The people of India have
inherited a caste system that has developed
over thousands of years into a rigid social order that determines the limits of
your job, marriage, future, how people treat you and sometimes even the
neighborhoods in which you are allowed to live.
Imagine you are an
American GI stationed in
Your task is to write a three
page letter to your family back in the
Working in small
groups you will begin the process of analyzing the caste system, using the following worksheets to
help you research and organize the information you need for your letter:
1) Define the
problem ( what is the social inequality that resulted
from the caste system) using Worksheet #1
2) Gather evidence
of the problem (use the internet sources to gather evidence about the poverty,
lack of social mobility, poor living conditions and other social problems that
result from the caste system) using Worksheet#2
3) Determine the causes of the problem (what is
causing the social inequality and prejudice) using Worksheet#3
4) Evaluate the
policy (is the caste system working? Why?) using Worksheet#4
5) Do a
comparative analysis (how do the problems resulting from the caste system
compare to policy problems in other historical periods) using Worksheet#5
In writing
your letter you should be stating facts you have found in your research and
also adding analysis and your opinion as you would in a personal letter. Your
letter should be typed or neatly printed and addressed as personal letter.
Some
questions to consider.
·
Why
was the caste system started?
·
How
did the number of castes grow?
·
What
role does the Hindu religion play in the survival or the caste system?
·
Who
are the Untouchables?
·
How
did the caste system lead to social problems and what are these problems?
·
Why
are some of
Vocabulary
These are some of the names and words
you should be familiar with when you are finished with your letter, and some of
these should appear in your letter.
You
should also know how each of the following relates to the social history and
problems of the caste system.
·
caste
·
caste
system
·
Aryans
·
Mauryas
·
Guptas
·
Hinduism
·
Buddha
·
Brahmin
·
Kshatriya
·
Vaisya
·
Sudra
·
Untouchable
·
discrimination
·
prejudice
Search
Engines (to find websites on your own)
Websites
(already found for you)
www.mrdowling.com/612-caste.html
http://adaniel.tripod.com/origin.htm
http://eawc.evansville.edu/chronology/inpage.htm
www.csuch.edu/~cheinz/syllabi/asst001/spring98/india.htm
www.emory.edu/ENGLISH/Bahri/caste.htm
www.campus.northpark.edu/history/webChron/india/AryanMig.cp.html
http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~dec/ANCINDIA/ARYANS.htm
www.2bus.oregonstate.edu/students/G/GREMCO301/india/caste.htm
www.ambedkar.org (on this site click research, click child
labor)
http://david.snu.edu/~dwilliam.fs/s97/india/caste.htm
http://aad.english.ucsb.edu/docs/georgesept62001.html
Criteria Points
|
|
1-
Inaccurate |
2-
Needs improvement |
3-Satisfactory |
4-Execellent |
|
|
Quality of information
in written letter |
Inaccurate information |
General
information. Uses one specific
example. Has a vague
understanding of issue. |
Accurate
information. Uses one specific
example. |
Accurate
information. Uses two or more
specific examples. |
____ |
|
Accuracy |
Serious grammar errors. |
A few serious errors. |
Few spelling mistakes. |
Grammar is perfect |
____ |
|
Letter format |
No format used. |
A format is
followed. |
A general format
is followed. |
Format followed
is perfect. |
____ |
|
Oral presentation |
Not presented |
Did not communicate the main message
and facts of letter |
Communicated the main message and
facts in the letter |
Communicated all facts and the
spirit of the letter |
____ |
|
|
|
|
|
|
____ |
15 to 16 points is equal to the letter grade A
12 to 14 points is equal to the letter grade B
9 to 11 points is equal to the letter grade C
8 point is equal to the letter grade D
Less than 8 points is not satisfactory
Social Studies: 2:1.2:2
z The
student will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding
of major ideas, eras, themes, developments and turning points in world history,
and examine the broad sweep of history from a variety of perspective
English
Language Arts
Standard
4: Language for Social Interaction
Students
will listen, speak, read, and write for social interaction. Students will use
oral and written language that follows the accepted conventions of the English
language for effective social communication with a wide variety of people. As
readers and listeners, they will use the social communications of others to
enrich their understanding of people and their views.
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.
At the
end of this project, you should be able to demonstrate (through your written
letter and oral presentation) an understanding of the caste system in
You
should also be able to relate these social problems to other times, groups and
societies.
In
addition, you should all be proud that you have begun developing the skills needed
for oral presentations and public speaking.
My next webquest may be on an
aspect of communism.