America Now, High School Edition

2. LANGUAGE: DO WORDS MATTER?

Deborah Tannen, ‘Bossy’ Is More than a Word to Women (USA Today, March 11, 2014)

Spotlight on Research: Arika Okrent, Everybody in Almost Every Language Says "Huh"? HUH?! (Smithsonian Magazine, March 2014)

In Brief: Sound Bites: What’s in a Name?

Student Essay: Greg Nasif, Washington, Yea! Redskins, Boo! (The Diamondback, The University of Maryland, October 13, 2011)

Scott Russell Sanders, Language Versus Lies (The Progressive, January 2013)

America Then…1953: Langston Hughes, That Word Black (The Chicago Defender, November 3, 1951)

3. FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION: IS IT ENDANGERED ON CAMPUS?

Jennifer Medina, Warning, The Literary Canon Could Make Students Squirm (The New York Times, May 17, 2014)

Student Debate:

Brianne Richson, Colleges Should Adopt Trigger Warnings (The Daily Iowan, The University of Iowa, May 6, 2014)

Jon Overton, Beware the Trigger Warning (The Daily Iowan, The University of Iowa, May 7, 2014)

Michael Bloomberg, On The Repression of Expression (from Commencement Speech at Harvard University; MikeBloomberg.com, May 29, 2014)

America Then…1997: Wendy Kaminer, A Civic Duty to Annoy (The Atlantic, September 1997)

4. DIVERSITY: HOW IS THE FACE OF AMERICA CHANGING?

Haya El Nasser, The Changing Face of America (USA Weekend, September 30, 2013)

Christine Granados, True Colors (Texas Monthly, May 2014)

Student Essay: Hailey Yook, Positive Stereotypes Are Hurtful, Too (The Daily Californian, University of California, Berkeley, March 10, 2014)

Barry Lopez, Six Thousand Lessons (Prairie Schooner, Summer 2013)

America Then…1891: The Nation, The Proper Sieve for Immigrants

5. RACE: DOES IT STILL MATTER?

Naomi Zack, More Than Skin Deep (Oregon Humanities, Summer 2013)

Student Essay: Jana King, In Living Color (The Daily Reveille, Louisiana State University, March 14, 2014)

Ben S. Carson, Gray Matter, the Stuff that Really Matters (The Washington Times, March 12, 2014)

Spotlight on Research: W. Ralph Eubanks, from Color Lines (The American Scholar, Spring 2013)

America Then…1852: Frederick Douglas, from "What to a Slave, is the Fourth of July?"

6. GUNS: CAN THE SECOND AMENDMENT SURVIVE?

Brian Doyle, Dawn and Mary (The Sun, August 2013)

Diane Dimond, Kids and Guns and Public Safety (The Rockland County Times, January 25, 2015)

Student Debate:

Christina Tenuta, Responsible Gun Ownership Saves Lives (Loyola Phoenix, Loyola University Chicago, October 2, 2013)

James Stancliffe, Guns Act as Force Multiplier (Loyola Phoenix, Loyola University Chicago, October 23, 2013)

Cartoon: Matt Bors, Guns and Butter(ed) Popcorn (The Nation, January 22, 2014)

In Brief: Poem: Jane Vincent Taylor, New Law Makes Local Poet Nervous (This Land, February 1, 2013)

America Then…1981: Paul Fussell, from "A Well-Regulated Militia"

7. COLLEGE SPORTS: SHOULD STUDENT ATHLETES BE PAID?

Dave Zirin, The Shame of the NCAA (The Nation, April 1, 2013)

Cartoon: Bill Bramhall, Northwestern University Football Players Unionize (March 28, 2014)

Student Essay: Tim Ajmani, Compensation for College Athletes? (The Corsair, Pensacola State College, April 25, 2012)

In Brief: Joke: The Football Star’s Final Exam (Desert Exposure, August 2014)

America Then…1979: Red Smith, The Student Athlete

8. MARRIAGE: WHAT DOES IT MEAN TODAY?

Mona Charen, Modern Family? (Townhall.com, February 28, 2014)

Rebecca Solnit, More Equal Than Others (Financial Times, May 24, 2013)

Student Essay: Holly Nall, Mixed Relationships Offer Diversity (Golden Gate Xpress, San Francisco State University, April 1, 2013)

In Brief: Essay: Timothy Aubry, Married Life (The Point, Nov. 2013)

America Then…1910: Emma Goldman, Marriage and Love (from Anarchism and Other Essays)

9. THE ENVIRONMENT: IS THE CRISIS OVERBLOWN?

Charles Krauthammer, The Myth of ‘Settled Science’ (New York Daily News, February 21, 2014)

Bill McKibben, A Moral Atmosphere (Orion, March/April 2013)

James Hansen, Acceptance Speech for 2013 Ridenhour Courage Prize (The Nation, May 27, 2013)

Spotlight on Research: Judith Shulevitz, Why Do People Deny Science? (The New Republic, October 21, 2013)

Student Essay: Macon Fessenden, Hydrofracking: Getting the Facts Straight (Pipe Dream, Binghamton University, November 8, 2013)

America Then…1962: Rachel Carson, A Fable for Tomorrow (from Silent Spring)

10. AMERICAN POLITICS—MUST WE BE PARTISAN?

Laura Meckler and Dante Chinni, City vs. Country: How Where We Live Deepens the Nation’s Partisan Split (The Wall Street Journal, March 21, 2014)

Avi Tuschman, Political Evolution: Why Do Young Voters Lean Left? (Bloomberg Businessweek, April 21-27, 2014)

Student Essay: Anna Berenson, Politics for the Rest of Us (The Bates Student, Bates College, October 9, 2013)

Chris Chan, It’s Time We Demanded More (Gilbert Magazine, Sept./Oct. 2013)

America Then…1787: Benjamin Franklin, I Agree to This Constitution, with All Its Faults

11. GENDER: DO WE NEED FEMINISM?Marisa Meltzer, The Last Feminist Taboo (Elle, January 2014)

Heather Havrilesky, Don’t Act Crazy, Mindy (The New York Times Magazine, March 17, 2013)

Christina Hoff Sommers, No, Women Don’t Make Less Money than Men (The Daily Beast, February 1, 2014)

Student Essay: Emily Potter, #YesAllWomen (The Daily Nexus, University of California, Santa Barbara, May 30, 2014)

America Then…1972: Judy Brady, I Want a Wife

12. OUR BATTERED ECONOMY: IS THE AMERICAN DREAM OVER?

Barack Obama, A Fundamental Threat to the American Dream (from speech delivered December 4, 2013)

James Surowiecki, The Mobility Myth (The New Yorker, March 3, 2014)

Greg Beato, The Myth of Economic Mobility (Reason, May 2014)

Eve Tushnet, You Can Go Home Again (The Weekly Standard, Sept. 2 2013)

Student Essay: Gray Whisnant, Make It Rain: Why the Nation Needs a Universal Basic Income (The Cavalier Daily, University of Virginia, January 15, 2014)

America Then…1890: Jacob Riis, from How the Other Half Lives