College Admissions

Hello, 3rd years students!!

The next (and perhaps final) unit of the year has to do with education in the United States, both at the highest (university) level and the lowest (primary and secondary) level.

The first reading that I wanted you to do has to do with the level of stress that students applying to college face. Next class, I will explain the college admissions process to you, and talk for some time about my own university experience.

Please note for 3A - I was not able to bring a copy of this to class, but this is a REQUIRED reading for next Tuesday. I will also leave a copy at the photocopier today (Thursday).

College Admissions Article

Articles about the Tea Party

Last class, we talked about the political involvement of Black/African-American Christian preachers in the political process and the effect that Barack Obama's pastor, Jeremiah Wright, had on politics in the United States.

Next class's readings are about a movement of a different political tendency, what is being called the Tea Party. They are opposed to Barack Obama's government and are organizing to defeat his party, the Democratic Party, in the upcoming elections in November.

Pay attention to what exactly their criticisms of the government are and who they are, and think about what your opinion of this movement might be.

In Washington, Thousands Stage Protests of Big Government

Tea Party Supporters Doing Fine, but Angry Nonetheless

See you next Tuesday!

Andrew

Essay Topics for Third Year

Hello, everyone!

I would like for everyone to paste their essay as a comment to this post on or before Monday night, so that we will be able to discuss the essays on Tuesday.

The essay assignments are

1. Do you think that religion plays a positive or a negative role on social and/or political life in Argentina? Does it promote positive family values or does it prevent the progressive evolution of society? Does it generate or resolve more conflict? Do you think that the country should continue being officially Catholic country, or switch to a non-religious model?

OR

2. We have learned about three different phenomena of American religious life - Christian political conservatism, Islam, and Black liberation theology. Research one of these topcis further and explain why it is important in the contemporary United States.

I would like the essay to be between three and five paragraphs, which should be around two pages.

Please post your full name and your class (3A or 3B) with your essay. This will be a práctico, so I hope that you all complete it well!

You can always email me at andrew.lyubarsky@gmail.com with any questions.

Good luck!

Andrew

Black Liberation Theology

The next topic we will talk about in our exploration of religion in the United States is Black Liberation Theology, a radical strand of Christianity that emerged in the 1960s as a response to the rise of Islam and the Black Power movement in the African-American community.

This briefly became a hot news item in the United States when it was learned that President Obama had been a member of such a church, led by the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, for many years in Chicago up to the presidential election. This created a big media scandal when comments that were viewed to be anti-American surfaced.

Here are two brief articles I want you to read:

James Cone and Liberation Theology

Article on Jeremiah Wright Scandal

Islam in the United States

Dear Level III class,

Here are some links to the articles and videos we talked about in class. It is required that you have read both of these articles by class next week, as they will form the basis for a writing assignment.

Articles:

African-American Muslims in the United States

NY Times Article about Mosque-Building Controversies in the USA

Videos:

The Election of Obama and American Muslims

Islam in American Society - Voice of America Story

Commercial against the Mosque Project in New York City

News Story about the Mosque Controversy in New York City

Hope you had a good break!

Andrew

Welcome to all third-year language students!!!

Starting with this August, two new things will be happening.

1) There will be a greater focus on writing. Many students who can speak and understand English very well are still having problems with essays and written expression. As you know, you cannot pass the exams for third and fourth year without strong writing skills. As such, I will be asking for more writing assignments, which will be posted on the blog.

2) There will be greater organization in the class. Videos watched in class and assigned readings will be posted here, so that everyone has the access to all the materials, and there is no excuse for not doing the reading.

Here is the link to the CNN documentary series "God´s Warriors" that we watched last class, and you can find the individual videos here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oxc50X0ab8o&feature=related and here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNvxL308yQg&feature=related.

See you in August!