by
Gary Parish
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
|
The Electoral College: Source of Inequality and Social Injustice in America
by Gary Parish |
|||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
TEACHING NOTES |
|---|
• One Person One Vote Myth • Fundamentally Unfair! • See For Yourself! • Social Injustice • Football Analogy • Moral Arguments • EC Cancels Votes • Founding Fathers • Invalid Arguments For EC • States' Rights? • Reform Options • Conclusion • Inequality Maps • EC Cartoons • Postscript:Voting Power • References • Acknowledgements • Action Center • Get Involved • E-mail White House • E-mail Congress • E-mail Newspapers • E-mail Political Parties • E-mail Networks • E-mail Media • Calling Cards • Teaching Notes | Exercise: How many students understand the difference between a republic and a democracy? Under either form of government, do the leaders have the authority to deny the citizens their basic human rights? Are the students familiar with the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights? Are human rights more important than the form of government? What does the United States Constitution say about states that deny their citizens unalienable human rights? Once an assertion about reality has been made, it becomes a hypothesis that can be tested using logic and evidence. Reasons and reasoning are put forth to confirm or disconfirm the hypothesis. Mathematics is simply an extension of logic and a tool for thinking. Instructor's Questions: The author asserts that the Electoral College is unfair? Do you agree with the author's assertion? Why do you agree or disagree? How would you support your assertion about the fairness of the Electoral College? How does the author support his assertion? What calculations does the author make? How do the mathematics relate to the concept of fairness? How do the mathematics relate to the concept of equality, and "equal protection under the law?" Do you see how mathematics could be used to disprove the author's hypothesis? Why is it important to subject a hypothesis to tests that could potentially disprove the hypothesis? Wouldn't it be better to simply accept the mathematical results that support the author's hypothesis? Exercise: Ask each of the two groups to look at the census data cited in the references on the web page? Ask them to use the data to support their beliefs about the fairness of the Electoral College, or to bring in data from other sources to support their beliefs. Class Exercise: Since the web page was published, a new census was published for the United States. Have the class redo the statistical analysis using the new census data. Do the data support the author's assertion that the Electoral College is unfair? Class Discussion: How many students understand the role of the US Constitution in the structuring of the US government into the Executive, Legislative, and the Judicial branches of government? What is the role of the Declaration of Independence in establishing equality and equal protection under the law as a fundamental value of American society? How did the Civil War change this role? What role did the states rights play in the war? What is the role of the states in presidential elections today? Exercise: Review the Postscript of the Web Site: The game theory approach to analysis of election systems is more sophisticated and complex mathematically. It's conclusions point in the opposite direction of the statistical analysis. When such opposites result from analysis, it is appropriate to reexamine the logic and data for error. It is also appropriate to begin a creative search for a new analytic framework; a conception of the problem in which both opposites are equally valid, and equally operating. Instructor's Questions: The results of the statistical analysis and the game theory analysis point in opposite directions. Should you believe the game theory approach simply because it is more complex and sophisticated? Do the large and small state biases simply cancel out? How do you reconcile these opposed results? What conclusions do you make? How did the author reconcile the opposing large and small state bias problem? Has the author presented a convincing case for his conclusions? Why? If not, why not? |
| PREVIOUS |
HOME|
NEXT
| |
