Kim Jong-il

The recent missle launch by North Korea has once again put Kim Jon-il at the centre of the world stage (read more here). As the United Nations and world leaders try and figure out how to "handle" the Dear Leader we pause to take examine the "eccentric" leader.

Your challenge is to search and post the strangest published fact regarding Kim Jong-il.

Causes of World War II

Up to this point in the course most of what we have been doing has been leading up to the outbreak of World War II. Over the last week we have looked more in depth at events in Europe and Japan and how a policy of appeasement by Great Britain, France and the U.S. lead to increasing aggression and violence.

Each of you has been assigned two of the following questions to respond to. Answer your questions and read the responses of your classmates as these questions will be part of the final unit evaluation.

Remember to identify what question you are responding to and put your initials at the end of you

1. Explain how the policy of appeasement contributed to the outbreak of the Second World War.

2. Define the term appeasement and explain why Britain and France adopted a policy of appeasement during the inter-war years.

3. Why did Britain and France declare war when Germany invaded Poland in 1939?

4. Compare and contrast the actions of Japan in Asia with the actions of Hitler and Mussolini in Europe.

5. Why did Chamberlain think he had achieved "peace with honour" in October, 1938, yet in March, 1939 said all "that he had worked for lay in ruins"?

The Wave

The Wave is a fictional account of an experiment called TheThird Wave which took place in 1967 at Cubberley High School in Palo Alto, California. As part of a study on Nazi Germany history teacher Ron Jones created an experimental demonstration of fascist movement with sophomore high school students attending his Contemporary History class. Jones, unable to explain to his students why the German citizens allowed the Nazi Party to exterminate millions of Jews and other so-called "undesirables", decided to show them instead. Jones started a movement called "The Third Wave" and convinced his students that the movement is to eliminate democracy. The fact that democracy emphasizes individuality was considered as a drawback of democracy, and Jones emphasized this main point of the movement in its motto: "Strength through discipline, strength through community, strength through action, strength through pride".
The experiment itself was not well documented but became famous with the publication of this novel.

After reading the novel post a response considering the following questions:

Do you think an "experiment" similiar to the wave could work at our school, explain why or why not?

Do you consider a "simulation" such as the wave, undertaken in the name of education, to be unethical? Explain your answer.

Do you think this "experiment" taught the students about the evils of fascism or reinforced the prejudices that were already present?