Hello, all
Over the past few years, I've participated in a history competition in which I choose a topic, create a presentation (documentary), and attend a judging event. (Similar to a science fair, except for the presentation method) I've done well over the past few years because I've chosen topics I am extremely interested in (last year's was on the influence of Ayn Rand's literature) So, in gearing up for this next year, I was wondering if any of you had suggestions for a good topic somehow related to libertarianism and to this year's themes of Debate or Diplomacy.
I know there are a ton of topics--right now I'm in somewhat of a shock over the amount of possiblities. I'm especially looking for lesser-known historical events. Here is one of my ideas:
Debate: "The Great Textbook War" - Violent protests take place in West Virginia over curriculum alterations and new textbooks including more material on the civil rights movement. I thought it'd be a powerful testament to the partisan influences public schools are subjected to.
Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!
You could do one on the 'panics' of the 19th century, looking at them(or even just one) from an Austrian perspective.
Some of my students are doing…legalization of weed, Roe v Wade, annexation of Hawaii, the gold standard, The Federal Reserve, but I like your idea on the textbook war. I have about 8 different US History textbooks (not really happy with any) but I get a fair amount of information from the works of Tom Woods, good luck! A couple years ago I had 3 students make it DC.
You could try to find an interesting way of comparing the IRA with al-Qaeda based on the cause of foreign occupations and then expand on the two effects from (1) individual murders of politicians/people supporting the occupations to (2) mass killings and public outrage at the groups. It's something I've always wanted to do. I know a lot of people who support the IRA in their desire to unify Ireland once more, but the same people support the U.S. occupation in the Arabian peninsula. It would be cool for everyone to look at. Remember to post your final presentation on here if you want to!