Modern Studies: International Issues USA Worksheets



Section 5

Exam and assessment practice

Intermediate 1 practice: Answering an ‘exaggeration’ question

Source 1

Percent distribution of Hispanics by type: 2002

[pic]

Source: US Census Bureau; Current Population Survey, March 2002, PGP-S

Source 2

Hispanic population of the USA (000s)

| |2000 |2001 |2002 |

|Mexican |22,927 |23,934 |25,074 |

|Puerto Rican |3,172 |3,198 |3,222 |

|Cuban |1,366 |1,320 |1,376 |

|Central and South American |5,079 |5,355 |5,349 |

|Other Hispanic |2,229 |2,287 |2,416 |

The Hispanic population is made up of various different groups. Over 75% of the Hispanic population is Mexican. In 2002 there were over 3,000,000 Puerto Ricans in the USA. The population of all Hispanic groups continues to grow year after year.

Statement by State Senator

Write down two examples of exaggeration from the statement by the State Senator.

For each example, give one reason to explain why it is exaggerated.

Your reasons must be based entirely on Source 1 and 2 above.

Intermediate 2 practice: Answering ‘explain…’ questions

‘All Americans do not have the same standard of living.’

Explain, in detail, why all Americans do not have the same standard of living.

(8 marks)

Look carefully at what you are being asked to do. Underline the most important words and phrases in the statement ‘All Americans do not have the same standard of living’.

Plan your answer.

• different ethnic groups

• standards of living

• social and economic inequalities

• social inequalities (housing, health, education, crime)

• economic inequalities (employment, income, poverty)

Remember in ‘explain’ answers to use words like ‘because’, ‘due to’, ‘while’, ‘although’, ‘but’, ‘however’, ‘moreover’.

Introduction:

Paragraph 1

Why there are social inequalities

Paragraph 2

Why there are economic inequalities

Conclusion

Worksheet 1

Task 1

Add the names of the states to the map. Use a key for the smaller states.

Task 2

This is a map of Maryland. Add an arrow to the map in Task 1 to show the location of Washington DC.

[pic]

Task 3

Now add a few capital cities to your first map.

• Olympia, Washington

• Sacramento, California

• Austin, Texas

• Tallahassee, Florida

• Albany, New York

• Boston, Massachusetts

• Annapolis, Maryland

• Juneau, Alaska

• Honolulu, Hawaii

Task 4

Add in the names of the oceans and countries bordering the USA.

Worksheet 2

Cut out the pie charts. Complete and colour the pie charts using the summary of information in Table 1 on page 7. Stick them into your workbook. Add a key. Make sure each pie chart has a title.

Age Structure of Population

Religions in the USA

Languages Spoken

Worksheet 3

Writing extended answers to ‘Describe’ and ‘Explain’ questions

(i) Describe, in detail, the distribution of the African American population. Make sure your answer is up-to-date and gives examples.

A brief plan of the above answer may include:

• African American population in the South

• African American population in the North

• Reverse migration

In your answer, each of the points can be developed and an example given. Your answer could begin:

Point 1: The African American population of the USA is still concentrated in the South: half of the total African American population of the USA live in the South.

Expand: In Mississippi, African Americans make up 36.3% of the population.

Example: In some counties, such as Macon County in Alabama, 84.6% of the population is African American.

Point 2:

Expand:

Example:

Point 3:

Expand:

Example:

(ii) Explain, in detail, the settlement patterns of ethnic minorities in the USA.

‘Explain’-type questions demand different extended writing skills.

Remember in ‘explain’-type answers to use words like because, due to, while, although, but, however, moreover.

A brief plan of the above answer may include reasons for:

• African American settlement patterns

• Hispanic settlement patterns

• Asian and Pacific Islander settlement patterns

Point 1: Half of the African American population of the USA is concentrated in the South.

Explanation: This is because the ancestors of these people were brought to these states as slaves to work on the plantations.

Expand: While many migrated North after the Second World War to work in the industrial cities of the North, where many remain, in recent years there has been a reverse migration back to the South.

Example: This was due to rising unemployment in the North and new high technology industries in the ‘Sunbelt’ states.

Point 2:

Explanation:

Example:

Point 3:

Explanation:

Example:

Self-evaluation for Worksheet 3

Explain, in detail, the settlement patterns of ethnic minorities in the USA.

Structure

|• |Point 1 |/1 |

|• |Explanation |/1 |

|• |Example |/1 |

|• |Point 2 |/1 |

|• |Explanation |/1 |

|• |Example |/1 |

|• |Point 3 |/1 |

|• |Explanation |/1 |

|• |Example |/1 |

How many times have you used ‘explain-type’ words such as because, due to, while, although, but, however, moreover?

You can only score a maximum of 6 marks if you fail to give some suitable explanations.

/8

Note on marking

In the exam, you will be awarded up to 3 marks for each developed point: one mark for each different point, one for the development of a point and another mark for a relevant example.

In the exam, these questions may be out of 4 marks, 6 marks or 8 marks. In the above example, which is worth 8 marks, if you give these three points well developed with examples you will actually have given more than you need for full marks.

Self-evaluation for Worksheet 3 (contd.)

Comment on your answer. What are the strengths and weaknesses?

Extended answer

Areas for development

Worksheet 4

The Immigration Debate

The House Motion is that the USA should open its Mexican border.

|People enter the USA for work illegally in large | |The smuggling of immigrants into rich countries |

|numbers. | |allows them to be exploited by the gangs who do it. |

| | | |

|Illegal immigrants pay no taxes. | |Mexican immigrants often become involved in |

| | |prostitution or crime because they are marginalised |

| | |from society. |

| | | |

|Illegal immigrants are exploited by employers who | |The USA is already under huge environmental pressure |

|don’t follow regulations on pay or conditions. | |because of its large population. |

| | | |

|US companies will not sponsor students and trainees | |The welfare system that supports the elderly is one |

|from their own country if can import cheaper labour.| |of the great attractions for immigrants. |

| | | |

|US companies can afford to stay where they are if | |There is a housing shortage. |

|they do not have to move for cheap labour into | | |

|developing countries. | | |

| | | |

|Immigration will lead to a brain drain from Mexico. | |Immigrants are extremely keen to work and work hard |

| | |in their new country. |

| | | |

|The willingness of immigrants to accept less than minimum wages will prevent US workers from getting work and fair |

|pay. |

Worksheet 5

Read the following information about housing in the USA.

There is still evidence of segregation in housing in the USA. The inner cities of the North still have high concentrations of African American people. But there has been a rise in the black middle class and many African American people now live in the suburbs. In 2000, 47% of African Americans owned their own homes.

However, there are more signs of progress and housing policy planners are increasingly taking into consideration the needs of inner-city communities.

A stereotypical description of an inner-city area would include the following: run-down housing; poor plumbing and sanitation; poorly kept streets; vandalism; junkies and people living on the streets.

Although some of the attempts to regenerate housing have come in for much criticism (for example, the building of the ‘projects’ such as in the Bronx, New York), there have been successful attempts by communities to improve these areas.

[pic]

After years in the suburbs, many blacks return to city life

By Kris Axtman, Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

Ken Cowan grew up black in inner-city Omaha, surrounded by African-American doctors and lawyers who took pride in their community and were ‘the kind of people you dreamed of growing up to be’.

That childhood molded him into the person he is today. After the birth of their first child, Ken and his wife moved to the Houston suburbs and fell into that mind-set: ‘young couples with two kids, a dog, and an SUV (Sports Utility Vehicle). But after living there for seven years, we had a strong sense that we wanted to get back to areas that were similar to where we grew up.’

Mainly, he says, it was for their children’s sake. Now the 6- and 8-year-olds swing on century-old trees, play with kids who look like them, and listen to stories from their 90-year-old neighbor, one of the first African-Americans to move to the area, known as the Third Ward.

The Cowans are part of a growing number of affluent and middle-class African-Americans moving back into traditionally black inner-city areas across America. It’s a dramatic reversal from the days when many African-Americans believed a home in the suburbs was a measure of ‘making it’.

Now that concept is waning, replaced by the idea that roots and community are more important than new homes and manicured lives.

As a result, city neighborhoods from Atlanta to Chicago are in the throes of renewal – with all the vibrancy, anxiety, and transformation that entails. New York’s Harlem is, perhaps, the most famous current example, but neighborhoods from Pittsburgh to Washington are metamorphosing too.

And in Houston, where downtown redevelopment has brought a new rush of interest in urban life, and swift gentrification of the Fourth Ward neighborhood has awakened the Third Ward to the inevitable losses and change of population shifts, this reclaiming of the inner city brings a rare introspection, and a consciousness of all that can go wrong.

‘For many of these African-Americans moving back in, there is a sense that they are recapturing a history,’ says Roderick Harrison, data-bank director for the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a Washington think-tank that provides research to black elected officials. ‘They say, It’s not just another house. It’s making a meaningful statement about our lives and our community.’

‘We may not have all the fancy things that they do in the suburbs, but I wanted my kids to grow up with a sense of community,’ Ken’s wife says. ‘In the ’burbs, you don’t even know your next-door neighbor.’ Her porch is lined with reminders of her neighbors – and her roots: plants that neighbors brought over when she moved. ‘I love it here,’ she says.

Worksheet 6

The Affirmative Action Debate

The house motion is that ‘Affirmative Action is the Best Way to Balance Years of Prejudice and Discrimination’.

Arrange into two groups to make arguments to support and arguments to oppose the motion. Add some points of your own to those listed below.

|Affirmative action leads to reverse discrimination. | |Without affirmative action, diversity in society is |

| | |much less likely to occur due to segregation in |

| | |housing and education. |

| | | |

|Affirmative action lowers standards and benefits | |Minorities usually come from lower-income families |

|no-one. | |and have less opportunity to go to private schools |

| | |than white students. |

| | | |

|If people start at a disadvantage they need | |Affirmative action leads to resentment. |

|assistance. Minority students are usually | | |

|disadvantaged. | | |

| | | |

|It is US society that needs to change. People | |Stereotypes will remain until affirmative action |

|shouldn’t be categorised in groups. Affirmative | |programmes bring about the progress which will get |

|action reinforces these differences. | |rid of them. |

| | | |

|The achievements of minorities are undermined. | |Affirmative action is needed to compensate minorities|

|Success is seen as a result of affirmative action | |for centuries of slavery or oppression. |

|rather than hard work and ability. | | |

| | | |

| | | |

| | | |

| | | |

Worksheet 7

1. Collect a blank map of the US (supplied overleaf). Using the table below, plot on the map the number of Electoral College votes each state had in the 2004 Presidential Election.

|State |Votes |State |Votes |State |Votes |

|2000 |2004 | |2000 |2004 | |2000 |2004 | |Alabama |9(R) |9(R) |Kentucky |8(R) |8(R) |North Dakota |3(R) |3(R) | |Alaska |3(R) |3(R) |Louisiana |9(R) |9(R) |Ohio |21(R) |20(R) | |Arizona |8(R) |10(R) |Maine |4(D) |4(D) |Oklahoma |8(R) |7(R) | |Arkansas |6(R) |6(R) |Maryland |10(D) |10(D) |Oregon |7(D) |7(D) | |California |54(D) |55(D) |Massachusetts |12(D) |12(D) |Pennsylvania |23(D) |21(D) | |Colorado |8 (R) |9(R) |Michigan |18(D) |17(D) |Rhode Island |4(D) |4(D) | |Connecticut |8(D) |7(D) |Minnesota |10(D) |10(D) |South Carolina |8(R) |8(R) | |Delaware |3(D) |3(D) |Mississippi |7(R) |6(R) |South Dakota |3(R) |3(R) | |District of

Columbia |2(D) |3(D) |Missouri |11(R) |11(R) |Tennessee |11(R) |11(R) | |Florida |25(R) |27(R) |Montana |3(R) |3(R) |Texas |32(R) |34(R) | |Georgia |13(R) |15(R) |Nebraska |5(R) |5(R) |Utah |5(R) |5(R) | |Hawaii |4(D) |4(D) |Nevada |4(R) |4(R) |Vermont |3(D) |3(D) | |Idaho |4(R) |4(R) |New Hampshire |4(R) |4(D) |Virginia |13(R) |13(R) | |Illinois |22(D) |21(D) |New Jersey |15(D) |15(D) |Washington |11(D) |11(D) | |Indiana |12(R) |11(R) |New Mexico |5(D) |5(R) |West Virginia |5(R) |5(R) | |Iowa |7(D) |7(R) |New York |33(D) |31(D) |Wisconsin |11(D) |11(D) | |Kansas |6(R) |6(R) |North Carolina | | |Wyoming |3(R) |3(R) | |

2. Colour the states won by the Republicans red, and the states won by the Democrats blue.

3. How many states (including District of Columbia) did the Republicans / Democrats win in 2004?

4. How many states (including District of Columbia) did the Republicans / Democrats win in 2000?

5. In 2000 George Bush, the Republican candidate won 47.9% of the popular vote, and Al Gore, the Democratic candidate won 48.4% of the popular vote. Why was the result of the Presidential election controversial in that year?

Worksheet 7 (contd.)

Electoral College votes in 2004, to be shown red for states won by the Republicans, blue for the Democrats.

-----------------------

Other Hispanic

6.5%

Central and South American

14.3%

Mexican

66.9%

Cuban

3.7%

Puerto Rican

8.6%

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