Reluctant Colossus: America Enters the Age of Imperialism. Public Policy Debate in the Classroom. Choices for the 21st Century Education Project. Student and Teacher's Resource Book.

This packet contains student materials and a teacher's guide. The materials are designed to make complex international issues understandable and meaningful for students. The unit probes the political, moral, and racial issues raised by the Spanish-American War and the acquisition of an overseas empire. Students compare the values and concerns at the turn of the 20th century with the challenges facing U.S. foreign policy today. The teacher's guide contains a suggested day-by-day (for five days) lesson plan and student activities. An optional lesson is given that examines how the changes taking place in U.S. society in the 1890s shaped the U.S. outlook of the world. Topics of the lesson plan are: (1) the values of the era through the voice of Theodore Roosevelt; (2) the attitudes of the contemporary African-American community toward imperialism, racism, and the contributions of black soldiers; (3) the issues confronting the United States at the close of the Spanish-American War; (4) the leading values influencing U.S. public opinion in the fall of 1898; and (5) the long-term consequences of U.S. involvement in the Caribbean and the Philippines. Two concluding optional lessons add a further dimension. The first pulls students into the controversies stirred by Rudyard Kipling's "The White Man's Burden" and the poetic rebuttals that followed. The second probes the groundbreaking historical evidence about the sinking of the "Maine" featured in the study of Admiral Rickover. The guide also outlines an alternative 3-day lesson plan. (BT)