About This Lesson
Are you a progressive/leftist, centrist/moderate, conservative/rightist, or some combination of them? This helps students figure out their ideology. For 16 different issues (taxes and government spending, infrastructure, the environment/climate change, poverty, health care, criminal justice, immigration, reproductive health and family planning, education, gun violence, terrorism, international trade, the military, drug policy, gender and sexuality rights, and elections), students will read three different paragraphs. The first paragraph for each issue is a progressive/left viewpoint, the second is a centrist/moderate one, and the third is a conservative/right viewpoint. The general theme is that progressives want more government involvement, moderates like the status quo with small changes by government, and conservatives want less government involvement. Students circle the paragraph they agree with, without knowing what ideology isn't representing. After, the teacher will have them label all the 1st paragraphs as P, the second as M, and the third as C. They can then see how many P, M, or C ideas they agree with and figure out how to define their views.
