Wednesday, September 18th

Goals:

• Consider the challenges in balancing individual liberty and equality
• Analyze Vonnegut's use of satire and examine the difference between equality of outcome and equality of opportunity through reading Kurt Vonnegut Jr.’s “Harrison Bergeron” in relation to the idea of equality presented in the Declaration of Independence.

Key Term

• Satire: the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues.
  

Announcements:

• Quizzes are back- See this ANSWER KEY for clarification on correct responses
• Sign up for a TIB Essay reading slot
• TIB essay rewrites are due today
• Honors meeting today at lunch: Required.

Starter:
Watch the first minute of the trailer on the 1995 film version of Vonnegut's 1961 short story, "Harrison Bergeron". Choose one of the following prompts to respond to:

• Write the prequel to this trailer:  Why did the government decide to make everyone equal and how did they manage to do it?
• What was going on in our society at the time of Vonnegut's writing that might inspire him to satirize the idea of equality?
  

Agenda:
1. Discuss starter

2. What are potential problems with Material Equality? 
Formal equality v. Material Equality definitions (Watch the first 1:30 of the video)

3. Read the explanation and  first 2 paragraphs of the  Declaration of Independence.  What does it mean when we say that “all men are created equal” or that they are all “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights” ?

4. Read Kurt Vonnegut's short story "Harrison Bergeron" and jot down notes to the "discussion questions" at the end of the story

5. Seminar on discussion questions (your choice:  small groups or whole class?)

6. Time to work on Skitessons

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