Posted on 06/08/2002 5:16:32 PM PDT by LurkedLongEnough
"Overview: Students will learn about how the world's resources are distributed among the world's people. Teachers might want to do this activity before viewing the video.
"Materials: TV/VCR, popcorn with butter and salt, plain popcorn, some half-burned kernels, unpopped popcorn, soda pop, iced tea (decaffeinated recommended), water, cups and napkins. A video of people eating (Babette's Feast? Like Water for Chocolate?)
"Review the following definitions with students:"The gap between rich and poor Americans is now the widest of any industrial nation.
"One-fifth of the world's population lives in dire poverty, slowly dying of hunger and disease. Millions of others desperately need more material goods. Yet, were they to consume as Americans do, the result would be an environmental disaster.
"Americans throw away 7 million cars a year, 2 million plastic bottles every hour and enough aluminum cans annually to make 6,000 DC-10 airliners.
"Start video when screen reads: "Symptom: Social Scars." (about 16:03 on the counter) This clip is used with both the Popcorn Party and Small World activities.
"Stop video after this scene: "Affluenza, the disease of consumerism, is spreading around the world... so it's really critical that we here in North America begin to alter our patterns of consumption and set a better example for the rest of the world of what the good life really is, or none of us are going to have a good life." (about 18:57)
The United Nations divides the world into the First, Second and Third Worlds.
First World countries are wealthier nations that consume most of the world's resources--for instance, the U.S., Canada, United Kingdom and France. Economic systems are based on capitalism/free enterprise and the nations are highly industrialized. Families in these countries tend to be small and money, status and performing tasks with great speed is valued. Although these countries are rich, a significant portion of the population is still very poor."Divide students into unequal First, Second and Third World groups. (Twenty-five students might be divided into four students in the First World group, seven students in the Second World group and fourteen students in the Third World group.)Second World countries are less wealthy. They consume fewer goods, and have a moderate standard of living. These countries--for instance, Russia, China and Poland--have economies that have been influenced by socialism. Industry in these countries is rapidly developing, and families tend to be small.
Third World countries--for instance, Mexico, Thailand, Indonesia and Uganda--are extremely poor. Poverty and hunger are common, families are larger and many children do not survive to adulthood. (Large families mean more workers who can help the family to survive.)
Fourth and Fifth Worlds are people that depend on nature for survival--for instance, hunter and gatherer societies.
(Option: there could also be a Fourth/Fifth World group with a single student.)
Give members of First World a really big bag of popcorn with butter and salt, and a two sodas each to drink. (Don't eat or drink yet!)The Second World students receive a smaller bag of plain popcorn and some iced tea without sugar. (Don't eat or drink yet!)
The Third World students get a few kernels of popped corn, some burned, half-popped kernels and some unpopped kernels and water. (Don't eat or drink yet!)
(Option: if there is a Fourth/Fifth World Group, they receive unpopped popcorn only.)
After the popcorn has been distributed, ask students if they want to change places. (The First World students may travel freely. The Second World students must decide on a specific destination--and they may not be able to return home. The Third World students are too poor to travel. The Fourth/Fifth World students don't have a way to travel outside their homeland.)
Ask students how to divide up the popcorn for the members of their group. (Students may decide to divide up the popcorn among all the students. Teachers might ask the students to divide the popcorn among the members of each group only. Some students might have already eaten their popcorn.)
After students have divided up the popcorn, they may eat it.
Discuss:
Did students in the First World have any leftover popcorn? Did they eat it right away? Did they share? Did they spill popcorn or waste soda?
How did students decide to divide up their resources? Did anyone with extra popcorn offer to share theirs with a member of the Second or Third World?
How did the Third World members feel watching the others enjoy their popcorn? Did any of them see parallels with real life? (People in the Third World have seen the same commercials for products, and they want the same goods that people in the First World have.)
If you played a video of people eating, ask students if they noticed it, and if they did, how it made them feel.
"The Pew Global Attitudes Project is a series of worldwide public-opinion surveys that will measure the impact of globalization, modernization, rapid technological and cultural change and the Sept. 11 terrorist events on the values and attitudes of 30,000 people in 25 countries worldwide. It will be conducted and released over the course of two years. The Project is chaired by former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright...."
[aneurysm alert]
Oh, puke....so we should give everyone whatever they WANT just because they have seen the same commercials - how about working and earning it you idiots!
Good one! So, let's see, it's a shame to be poor, and a sin to be rich, and middle-class people are dull and average. I guess people just suck! Guilt and shame, the fuel of the liberal machine (and Madison Avenue, as well). < /anti-liberal hyperbole>
Let them feel guilty, though I doubt that they do. They just want to put that crap on everyone not a member of their 'power elite'!
Please take a moment to donate any usable items to a charitable organization, instead of discarding them directly into the trash. The organizations have guidelines for needed items; there is a great need by those less fortunate who learn new work skills and become participating members of our economic system and society-- a hand-up is not a hand-out.
Perhaps my retort was a bit unselfish, but the truth is -- the US has been the engine that drives world commerce for a long time. The fact is we're probably responsible for 30 or 40 per cent of production so the reality is we ain't gettin' our fair share.
The next thing ya have to remember, if these elite can't figure out how to raise the standard of living in some crappy dictator bound hell-hole of a country (why would anyone think they could?) so realize when they say "The rest of the world cannot live at the standard of living the U.S. enjoys." their intentions are more clear -- they aren't going to raise their standard of living, they are content with lowering ours.
I saw that "Affluenza" program. Yep, it's more 'boo hoo, feel guilty, we Americans are to blame for everything' crapdoodle. What it really is, is PURITIANISM.
The idea that the whole world couldn't enjoy a decent standard of living without destroying the earth, and the related idea that to save the earth, we all have to retreat to the caves and subsist on rationed soy protein wafers, have a common theme; suffering is GOOD. It's being taught and touted by a lot of bitterly disappointed aging radicals who've never gotten over the "failure" of the USA to turn into the Woodstock Nation. These people are in a major state of denial about getting old themselves. I'm not sure that they themselves realize that promoting this dreary eco-dogma is a way of venting their bitterness on the young.
I'm 43. When I talk to actual kids, I mean those in the 15 - 20 age range, I see lots of positive energy in them. In spite of the fact that the country is in a bad way right now, I see a lot to be optimistic about. These things run in cycles, and I think we're in a period now that's comparable to the "Eisenhower siesta" of the late 1950's.
What's needed is for conservatives to reach out to kids in a way they'll listen to, stand up for our real core values without preaching to them too much. What's needed is a conservative "New Frontier", to break the country out of this terrorist fear/recessionary funk we're kind of stuck in.
Hey, we're still AMERICANS, the kids too. Phooey on the Pee-U Charitable Trust and their dry popcorn demos. In ten years seeing it'll seem as dated as an old 'duck and cover in case of nuclear blast' training film.
Truth be told, most of our "poor" live better than medieval kings.
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