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This curriculum is organized around four concepts--authority, privacy, responsibility, and justice--which form part of the common core of civic values and concepts that are fundamental to the theory and practice of democratic citizenship in the United States. Rather than focusing on facts and dates, the curriculum challenges students to think for themselves, to develop reasoned positions, and to articulate and defend their views. By raising issues over the authority of police, teachers and principals, the volume calls on students to question the benefits, costs, and limits of authority and privacy. The textbook also raises questions about how competing responsibilities should be resolved and about the various forms of justice, including distributive, corrective, and procedural justice. Each chapter provides concrete conflicts covering such areas as sporting competitions, locker rooms, computers, and drunk driving, followed by critical thinking exercises requiring students to identify and debate the competing interests. To provide students with an analytical framework for debating the issues, the textbook explains the use of intellectual tools that help students think critically, such as, for example, indentifying the claims for privacy, the relevant considerations, and alternative solutions. (JD)

1Boy Crusoe

By Allan Eric

Also published as" A Yankee Crusoe" . A 15 year old hard working and studious farm boy finds the lure of adventure on the seas as a merchant seaman more than he can resist. This is his story. " I was born in a little town in the State of Maine, near the close of the Civil War. My boyhood life did not differ materially from that of the average farmer's son in the remote country districts of New England--except, perhaps, that I read more and thought more. Hard work on the rugged soil, two terms each year in the little yellow country schoolhouse, a day's fishing now and then filled the early years of my life full to over-flowing. " What he gets is enough excitement and adventure to overflow his wildest dreams. How he experiences disaster and uses his wits and knowledge to overcome every problem makes for a great read. - Summary by Phil Chenevert