Current Issues

Students consider the term "Ubuntu," and the ways in which we are all connected, then discuss some of the news this summer (via tweets), and how these events affect us.

In small groups, students read about and discuss some of the summer's news, including on climate change, elections, the Iran nuclear deal, and more.

Is labor on the ropes? In this lesson students learn about and discuss how unions reduce inequality, labor’s losses in recent decades, and the current signs of a resurgence. 

Students build empathy for refugees and immigrants by learning about the experiences of some of the families separated at the southern border of the U.S in 2018. Then, students hear a poem and write their own imaginative poems to convey their learning.

The United States is suffering from a crisis of affordable housing. This lesson consists of two student readings on this issue. The first examines the arguments for and against Yimby-style development. The second looks at solutions that go beyond market-focused fixes, considering alternative ways to...

This lesson introduces students to the controversy over Justice Kennedy’s retirement and Trump’s role in reshaping the Supreme Court. The first reading reviews Kennedy’s career and highlights the significance of his role as a swing vote on the court. The second reading examines possible consequences...

Protests across the country reflect widespread outrage over the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” immigration policies. In this lesson, students learn about the controversy over the administration's policies to separate and/or detain families who are seeking to immigrate to the U.S. 

This lesson uses current civil disobedience actions by the Poor People's Campaign as an invitation to explore why people engage in civil disobedience. Students consider the goals, pros and cons, and risks of this type of action through small group discussion, video, and other methods.  (Also see thi...

This lesson uses the example of a bidding war by cities to become Amazon's second headquarters to explore the question of providing public subsidies to private companies. Students also learn about and discuss ways cities can ensure that companies like Amazon hold up their end of the bargain through...

Participants learn about discriminatory housing laws that help explain the U.S.'s enormous racial wealth gap, and consider how these laws may have affected their own families and communities.