Posted on 09/06/2005 10:38:32 AM PDT by jcb8199
I am a High School history teacher, and today in class I spoke with my students about Katrina, and the fact that we have (and are going to have more) students from NO, and that anything we/they can do to help would be good.
The Class then turned to a discussion about the "slow response" of the Fed in getting aid, and I don't want to come right out and tell them that they are "wrong" for fear of losing a learning opportunity. What should I tell them? I know that the Fed isn't responsible for the immediate plan, and sure, the Fed has been less than speedy (but that is understandable, given the circumstances), but what info can I give them, or what can I tell them, that will settle the issue?
I mentioned that it was the Mayor and Governor's responsibility to have a plan in place for how to get the citizens of the state out of harms way, but what else can I give/show them to prove I'm right?
Take this as an opportunity to explain the Constitutional separation of powers, and the rules for nationalizing the National Guard. Explain also that under law, the FedGov can't do anything without an explicit request from the states.
You'd be best advised to let the kids come to their own conclusion after they have ALL the facts.
Seems to me that the "learning opportunity" here is for your students not to believe everything the media tells them.
There have been problems across the board, yes, but it's odd that the only key official talking about correcting them has been the President. Certainly Mayor Nagin and Governor Blanco haven't yet reached that point.
Local, State, Federal. That's the pecking order in disaster planning. A little discussion of Federalism and what it means might make an excellent history lesson.
You could print this out and have them study it and discuss who should have been doing what and when.
http://www.ohsep.louisiana.gov/plans/EOPSupplement1a.pdf
You could also invite a member of your local National Guard unit to come talk about emergency preparedness and disaster relief, and also have your students study and critique your town/State/local disaster/emergency plans.
Show them pictures of the flooded buses, Quotes of the mayor before hand... maybe have them see the video of the governor crying and then ask them if that is a leader that people would follow.
Reverse it. Why can't the FED just show up and start doing things in your state> Don't they need to get permission first? Why would a Gov request help? Why wouldn't he? How about local communities? Do they have the right to ask for or refuse state help? Can they ask the Fed without asking the State first? Why would a Mayor ask for help? Why not? Legal issues? Lawsuits for, say, putting people on school buses and shipping them out of state? What if someone is injured, or a child lost? If the Fed shows up, are your police and gov't officials required to submit to them?
You are brave to take on this political football because your reasoned explanation might be contradicted in the media that the kids are exposed to because the media is in a frenzy to assign blame before the the rescue effort is complete.
My suggestion to you would be to take this opportunity to show the kids that they are responsible for themselves. The government at all levels, city, state and federal are there to offer support if all else fails, but their response is likely to not be timely and may be inadequate.
Personal responsiblity is one of the hardest lessons to teach and to learn, but it will serve the students well their entire lives if they learn it.
A little comparing and contrasting to Ray on 8/29 and Rudy on 9/11 might go a long way, too.
Scenario:
You know that the neighboring city will be destroyed in a hurricane in 48 hours. You and your parents must collect enough supplies and medical equipment to go to that city. You must then drive there, and set up shop in a flooded town, and then begin to help people.
How much time do you need for each activity?
Can you and your mom and dad leave their jobs instantly?
what is the soonest that you could start helping people?
I think that the earliest realistic planning starts to put them into the 72 hours after the storm if nothing goes wrong.
If you want to simulate things going wrong have a monopoly game "Chance" card pile where they have to draw a card every ten minutes. Some cards have nothing on them, some have "Buses under water", etc.
Great idea! Thanks for the link!
Great Idea. And also, the hurricane may not hit your town. It may hit 100 miles don the coast. How many people in your town? How much food do they eat daily? How do you handle looting for food? For clothes? For video equipment and jewelry? What if your family owns the store?....
You can assign a lesson plan that will include researching and analyzing what several different viewpoints are on the geographic and political issues.....
And suggested resources include Daily KOS, NYT AND FR, Townhall.com, AnnCoulter.org, Newsmax.com, MichelleMalkin's blog, WND.com ....
A little cognitive dissonance and analysis never hurt anyone....
Thank you all--these are quite helpful. I hate to take a whole day away from curriculum, but this is too good a learning opportunity to pass up.
Thank you all!
The plan also called for evacuations to begin 50-60 hours before the projected arrival of tropical force winds, and that didn't happen. She and the hurricane center knew before lunch Friday that the models were moving westward. by early afternoon knew that most models were converging on a Southeast Louisiana hit, and in fact at 5pm Friday she declared a state of emergency. By 9:30pm (and likely earlier) she knew that the NHC would shift the projected path to a direct hit on New Orleans. Yet she didn't go on the 10pm news and call an evacuation. This would have not only allowed more to get out during the overnight hours but would have given an extra 15 hours to those out of town, which might have made it feasible for more of them to drive in and evacuate their old or car-less relatives.
Also, you can tell them that The Southern Louisiana Evacuation Plan specifically stated that people without private transportation were to be transported on public buses. There were 200 buses in just one photo we saw and Freepers studying the post-Katrina satellite images have counted over 400 buses altogether at other city parking.
At 70 people per bus that is 28,000 people per round trip that could have been taken out of the storm surge area in the 48 hours prior the Katrina striking. After the storm hit, buses sent from outside of New Orleans could not drive through the flooded mess any better than the 145 New Orleans city buses that were parked 1.2 miles away from the Superdome.
Conversely, you can tell them that George W. Bush was not slow to prepare for last week's disaster.
Bush declared a state of emergency for Louisiana on Aug. 27. That was two days before Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana. The declaration started the process to assemble federal resources. That is a fact. Unless they think he should have been flying a helicopter himself, they are wrong and you should tell them so. It was the Governor of Louisiana who is most responsible for the deaths that ensued. Not the President.
1st I would tell them that a high number of deaths were expected no matter how fast help came and no matter from whom it came from.
2nd I would explain the chain of command, local, state, then federal. Then I would remind them that a state has the power and the GOV. can only come if the state gives them the word.
3rd I would also talk about personal responsibility, and how many tend to wait for someone else to fix their problems.
4th I would ask them to wait until the water is gone to see how many cars were still parked at the homes so they can see how many stayed on free will.
5th. I would remind them that this was not just one cities tragedy, but 3 states. I would tell them that as a whole response was swift from all parties of power.
6th I would remind them that just because a reporter says something that does not make it a fact.
Good luck with this and be careful not to put blame on anyone or look like you are defending any one person. It could be fun to let them find the real facts and see their views change before your eyes.
Examine the concept of "bureaucracy" explain how the size of an orgainzation in inversly proportional to how quickly the organization can change policy.
Next examine the bureaucracies of the city (New Orlean, for example), the State, (Louisana for example) and the Federal government. Who would you expect to be the quickest responder? Why?
Now examine the military and its logistic system. The US military is a bureaucy too, is it able to respond more quickly or more slowly than the other bureaucracies? (I believe the answer is faster, due to the clearly established chain of command and the training on following orders.) Was there a clear chain of command in the civilian bureaucracies? Did they have a plan? Did they follow the plan or in the crisis question the plan? What would happen in a war if the military question their commands?
Now you are in a position to put things into perspective. Yes, the military could respond first. Do we want the military to respond to local emergencies? How do we control the military response? In the case of the federal government, do we want them to rush in and "take over" in emergencies, or wait until they are invited? What kind of government would we have if the government could come in unrequested? What governments in the past had this authority? Monarchys come to mind.
At this point, since you are teaching in a public shcool, and because you even "know" about this website resource, you better back off and let students form their own opinions. I too was once a teacher, and I would take this on, but you hae to also be cognizant of the tremendous hatred the left has for President Bush. They are not going to easily allow the students to see that many people failed to act properly in this emergency. The plan was disregarded largely because officials did not believe the levees would fail. There was politically in fighting between a democrat Governor and a republican President. (No such conflict occurred in Mississippi or Alabama because the states had republican Governors.
I suggest as a history teacher you obtain a copy of "A Patriot's History of the United States" by Schweikart and Allen. In this book you find that these conflicts of leaders and political conflicts are not new. In fact, they have occurred repeatedly thoughout our history. A good book. nd doubtless better than whatever text bood the district is providing.
Ok, wait a minute .. you are a high school teacher and unsure what to say. I find this scenario very scary. Tell the frelling truth.
What the frell! That show ruled. :D
The problem wasn't a "slow response", it was a lack of advance planning and action. There would have been no need to respond to tens of thousands of people stuck in the Superdome and the convention center, and in attics of flooded homes, etc. if the most obvious and readily available measures had been taken as soon as it was clear that a very bad hurricane was coming straight at the city.
Make sure your students see those pictures of 400+ school and city transit buses sitting in flooded parking lots. And make sure they hear the story of Jabbar Gibson, the 20 year old kid who, after the levee break, found an unflooded lot full of buses (yes there were more buses available than just the 400+ in the two parking lots in the widely circulated photos), found the right key in the office building, took the bus to round up 70 of his neighbors, and drove them all to the Astrodome.
The lessons to be learned here are:
1) Use your head, and do what needs to be done. Don't sit around waiting for somebody else to do something.
2) Don't live your life in a state of denial. Most of the people who were stuck in New Orleans after the storm, had made a conscious decision not to evacuate, because they were in denial about the seriousness of the storm and the possibility of a devastating impact.
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