U.S.News - CONCEPTS IN THE NEWS - TEACHING STRATEGY

Oct 13, 2026

Teaching materials for a “Concepts in the News” unit organized around U.S. and world news topics, including defense spending and the “arms race,” plus communication and teen drug-use trends. The content defines key civics and economics terms, presents a U.S. news example about a Philadelphia school’s discipline-based approach, and includes teacher strategies to prompt classroom debate and discussion. Answer keys support skills-based learning with questions and scoring.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryExam

FormatPDF

Pages13

Reading Time33 min

AccessFree to download

CONCEPTS IN THE NEWS

Technology

Values

Competition

TEACHING STRATEGY

How can schools improve student performance?

Britain Fights Inflation

Communication

Teen Drug Use Leveling Off

TEACHER'SEDITION # U.S.News U.S.To BoostDefense Spending Page1 # CONCEPTS IN THE NEWS Technology is the application ofscientific principles to meet humanneeds.Much of the additional moneythe Reagan Administration wants forthe defense budget will go towardimproving the military technology ofU.S.forces. Values are principles,standards,and preferences that determine be-havior.The U.S.,like all other na-tions,values military power as away of protecting its world position,defending itself,and intimidating po-tential enemies. Competition is a contest betweentwo or more bodies to obtain an ad-vantage or goal.Today the U.S.andthe Soviet Union are in competition。to obtain a military advantage. # TEACHING STRATEGY While the President's request forincreased defense spending is expect-ed to be passed easily by Congress,not everyone in the U.S.believes thata further arms buildup is the bestthing for the U.S.or for the world.Some people and groups believe thatthe arms race between the U.S.andthe Soviet Union is pure madness andmust inevitably lead to a nuclear war,destroying the planet.Some of thesepeople and groups have called for uni-lateral disarmament by the UnitedStates—having the U.S.disarm it-self without any prior agreement onthe part of other nations to disarm.Critics have called this proposal“ridiculous.”But supporters of uni-lateraldisarmament say anything lessis "insane."You might want to havestudents debate both sides of thisquestion after the class reads the arti-cle. TEA CH IN G IS SU E 21 # Teacher FurtherInformation Update ## How can schools improve studentperformance? Britain Fights Inflation(p.2) Robert D.Hershey,Jr.“BritainBeing Prodded To Waken from aLong Economic Slumber,"The NewYork Times,July 8,·1980,p.B-2. According to a recent article inTime magazine(March 9),Fitler Ele-mentary,an inner-city school in Phil-adelphia,has found a way—not bytrying something new,but by revert-ing to old-fashioned discipline.Fit-ler's principal,William R.Crumley,has the support of teachers,parents,and students,in his effort“to turnback the clock."Crumley enforcesstrict dress codes,tough grading,andplenty of attention to individual stu-dents. World War II Rexford G.Tugwell.FDR:Architect of an Era.New York:TheMacmillan Company,1967. # Answers Student Edition:CE SKILLS(p.8):1-A,2-A,3-B,4-C,5-B,6-C,7-A,8-H,9-B,10-A,11-E,12-D,13-C,14-G,15-F,16-B,17-C,18-A,19-B,20-C. "If a child talks back or has prob-lems,"says Crumley,"we're veryquick to say something,do some-thing.The kids pick it up.They say'Hey,there's a no-nonsense thing go-ing on here.'” Teacher's Edition:SKILLSMAS-TERS("Some Maps Tell About thePast,"p.3):1-C,2-C.("ScrambledChronology,”p.4):A-2,B-1,C-5,D-3,E-4,F-9,G-6,H-7,I-8. Fitler's curriculum emphasizesbasics—math,reading,science,spell-ing and writing.Each student mustspend 15 minutes a day working onhis or her penmanship.Students arenot promoted unless they receive atleast a Cin math and reading.Parentsmust come in person to pick upreportcards. Test scores seem to prove that Fit-ler's approach works.While less than50 percent of Philadelphia's pupilsreach or surpass the national medianon standard tests of reading,math,and language skills,at Fitler 81 per-cent of the students do so. In the four years that Crumley hasrun Fitler,the school's reputation hasgrown.The school now has a waitinglist of 2,000 parents from all overPhiladelphia who want to send theirchildren there. One Philadelphia parent summedup his support of Fitler by saying,"What we wanted was to have ateacher in control of a class and aprincipal in control of the school.” World News # Britain FightsInflation CONCEPTS IN THE NEWS Production is the making of goodsor the providing of services.One ofBritain's current economic problemsis low productionBritish workers inone large car company produce onlyhalf as many cars as workers in othercountries. Labor is work or all wage-earningworkers as a group.The group thath

FAQs

What topics are covered in the U.S. and world news sections?

The materials address U.S. defense spending and the arms race, provide a school-focused example tied to discipline and performance, and include world content such as Britain’s inflation and related concepts.

How does the “Teaching Strategy” suggest handling disagreement about defense spending?

Students are encouraged to debate both sides of the question after reading the article, weighing claims that arms buildup is necessary against claims that it could lead to nuclear war.

Why is teen drug use described as leveling off?

An explanation in the text links the trend to effective communication between experts and young people, supported by a study led by Dr. Johnston.

Oct 13, 2026

Upload by Taylor Morgan