Freedom in the USA today

Myth or reality?

Welcome to our project 'Freedom in the USA Today - Myth or Reality?'!

This web page is the result of a project carried out in the school year 2009/2010 by class 10a of the Max-Planck-Gymnasium Lahr and their English teacher Ms Keller.

In the course of the project, we worked on the question whether the United States is really 'the Land of the Free' or whether this is just a myth.

We worked on seven topics: Race relations, (illegal) immigration, the 'consequences' of freedom, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, torture and death penalty, abortion and homosexuals, and the differences between the politics of President Bush and President Obama.

Each group organized an entire lesson. By means of the method Learning by Teaching, the group completely took over the role of the teacher.

Here you see the results of our project. Each group has written a summary of their lesson or topic, and every student has written an individual statement on freedom in the USA.

List of topics:

1. A Question of Freedom: Race Relations in the USA and Germany
2. The USA - a Nation of Immigrants: The Question of (Illegal) Immigration Compared With Germany
3. The "Consequences" of Freedom: Homelessness, Health System and Poverty in the USA
4. Freedom Through War? Iraq and Afghanistan - Opinions and Consequences in the USA and Germany
5. The End of Personal Freedom: Guantánomo, Abu Ghraib, death penalty and "spying
6. Personal Freedom and Society: The Issue of Abortion and Homosexuals in the USA and Germany
7. Freedom in politics: Bush vs. Obama

Participants: Adel, Alexander, Alina, Anika, Aschani, Batseba, Dennis, Elvira, Jan, Jasmin, Julian, Kilian, Kim, Lisa, Luisa, Max, Maximilian, Oliver, Philipp, Rebecca, Roxane, Sarah, Simon, Stefan, Theresa, Viviane

References: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Liberty-statue-from-below.jpg"