The Draft The Central Political Issue of the Vietnam War Using Historical Analysis and Interpretation Al Jacobs Education Designs

Reality Check - Where are we and how did we get here? - Gathered facts. - Examined opposing views. - Derived Interpretations - Used Historiography

How do we get students to analyze and interpret history? Use primary and secondary sources, presenting alternative accounts of the past. Examine the interpretative nature of history. What lens is the historian using to color their narrative of history? i.e. Economic, Social, Political, Cultural Who disagrees with them and why?

Going Beyond the Surface Students must use analytic skills to compare ideas, beliefs, or opinions given: - a particular time, place and situation.

Historical Causality How change occurs in society. How human nature matters. How ends are influenced by the means. NOTHING’S more dangerous than a simple, MONOCAUSAL explanation of the past or present.

Historical Thinking Pitfalls Common problems: lineality and inevitability. Lineality- drawing straight lines between the past and the present, as if the events of the past were destined to become its future outcome. Inevitability- that the way things are is the way they had to be, and mankind lacks the free will and the ability to make a choice.

So, Unless students can believe history could have turned out differently, they may accept the idea that the future is also inevitable and that human involvement and individual action cannot change it.

Engaging in Historical Analysis & Interpretation Is: Drawing comparisons across eras and regions to define enduring issues. Distinguishing between unsupported opinion and informed hypotheses. Comparing competing historical narratives. Challenging arguments of historical inevitability

Teaching Historical Analysis and Interpretation using “The Intersection”

Using “The Intersection” as Historical Accident Reconstruction Demonstrates that people make choices and that their actions have consequences. Shows the consequences of the action or inaction relative to all players. Presents historical events as a problem to analyze the various sides and understand their relative positions.

Setting Up the Intersection Using an historical event, each “side” is at the intersection with non-working lights, and they have decisions to make. Consider the full range of decisions for each side. Analyze what happens in the “collision”.

Setting Up the Intersection –Green: the side that wants things to change. (go) –Red: the side that wants things to remain the same. (stop) –Yellow: those trapped at the light on caution. “History is about intersections, intersections are about choices, and choices influence struggle.” Y. Williams

Using the “Intersection” to Teach the Draft WW2, Korean War Generation, Parents College Eligible Draft deferred Draftees, Volunteers, Vets Antiwar Movement, Draft Dodgers The Draft

Questions to Answer What are the characteristics of your group? What are the attitudes of your group? What choices does your group have?

The Lesson - Culminating activity Write journal entries from the perspective of one of the people or groups. Tell how that person’s life has been affected. Have a directed discussion about how making different decisions at the intersection could have affected the outcome. How do the DEEP rifts created by the draft and Vietnam affect us today?