Past Paper Topics

Racial Profiling

Recently a renowned Harvard professor was arrested by Cambridge MA police, after he was mistakenly thought to be breaking into [what turned out to be] his own home. Police content that he was arrested based on "tumultuous" and aggressive behavior. Professor Henry Gates charges his unjustified arrest was the result of racial profiling - the "use of race as an indicator of criminality." In fact, Gallup polls have found that blacks are far more likely than Hispanics or whites to report being stopped by police because of their racial and ethnic background. In Professor Gates' community, many of his colleagues are outraged that "a black man is a suspect before he is a resident." How is race used in America's policing philosophy and practice? What is the difference between unlawful racial profiling and legitimate criminal profiling? Is racial profiling a help or hindrance in the war on terrorism? How can society balance our civil liberties with the position of police who are simply trying to enforce the laws? (Prepared August 2009)

Suggested Reading:

Journal and newspaper articles will discuss this topic. A thorough discussion of this situation can be found in the Issues & Controversies@Facts.com database. Enter the keywords racial profiling in the search box to retrieve this excellent document.

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Books will also provide information on this topic. In our collection you will find two titles that may be helpful. One interesting book is The Color of Guilt & Innocence: Racial Profiling and Police Practices in America by Steve Holbert and Lisa Rose, San Ramon, CA: Page Marque Press, 2004. Call number: HV7936.R3 H65 2004. Another useful book is Racial Profiling: Library in a Book by Fred C. Pampel, New York: Facts on File, 2004. Call number: HV8141.P26 2004.

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Regulating Reproductive Technology

In recent weeks, the news media has reported the sensational story of a 33-year-old woman who gave birth to octupets, adding eight babies to her exisiting single parent family of six children. Recently there came the news of twins born to a 60-year-old woman. Both of these pregnancies were made possible by advances in reproductive technology. In-vitro fertilization (considered "crackpot" science in the 1970s) and other assisted reproductive methods make nontraditional means of forming families more common than ever before: more than 50,000 children are born annually through assisted reproductive technology. The birth of eight babies at one time highlights the fact that not all practioners follow recommendations for good, safe practices in reproductive medicine. While giving hope to childless couples, many difficult questions have been raised. Is it time for federal and state governments to consider legal rules and limits for the fertility industry? What are the risks associated with conceiving a multiple pregnancy (a pregnancy with three or more fetuses)? Should fertility clinics be required to take steps to avoid creating multiple pregnancies in clients? Should a clinic help a woman of any age to become a mother? Is infertility a medical condition that should be covered by health insurance? (Prepared March 2009)

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Journal and newspaper articles will discuss this topic. Issues and Controversies@Facts.com has a comprehensive article. Enter the keywords fertility treatments in the database search box to retrieve this excellent information.

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Books will also provide information on this topic. In our collection you will find two titles that may be helpful. One interesting book is Pandora’s Baby: How the First Test Tube Babies Sparked the Reproduction Revolution by Robin Marantz Henig, Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004. Call number: RG135.H46 2004. Another useful book is Making Babies, Making Families: What Matters Most in an Age of Reproductive Technologiess, Surrogacy, Adoption, and Same-Sex and Unwed Parents, by Mary Lyndon Shanley, Boston: Beacon Press, 2001. Call number: HQ536.S4816 2001.

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Schools and Cyber-Bullying

According to a 2006 study commissioned by the National Crime Prevention Council, four in ten teenagers have experienced some form of cyber-bullying. Thirteen year-old Megan Meier committed suicide in 2006 after being bullied online. Since then, her mother has become an outspoken advocate for tougher laws on cyber-bullying, defined as when a "minor is targeted in some form - threatened, humiliated, harassed - by another...[ is] not limited to the Internet...[but] can spread by cellphones or other digital devices." As the instances of cyber-bullying become more frequent, states have pushed school districts to develop policies on this problem, including the training of school staff members, as well as allowing the suspension or expulsion of students who commit cyber-bullying. The biggest reason that schools hesitate to implement these policies is the "fine line between protecting students from harassment and observing their right to free speech." Should schools be able to regulate off-campus cyber-bullying? Are new laws needed to curb online aggression? Do these laws violate a student’s right to free speech? Do educators have sufficient understanding of the technology that students are using? Is preventive education a more powerful deterrent to cyber-bullying than discipline? (Prepared February 2009)

Suggested Reading:

Journal and newspaper articles will discuss this topic. A thorough discussion of this situation can be found in the CQ Researcher database. Enter the keywords cyber-bullying in the search box to retrieve this excellent document.

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Books will also provide information on this topic. In our collection you will find an interesting book, Bullying: Implications for the Classroom edited by Cheryl E. Sanders and Gary D. Phye, San Diego, CA: Elsevier Academic Press, 2004. Call number: LB3013.3.B814 2004.

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Access to Health Care: Right or Privilege?

During the 2008 Presidential Campaign, the topic of a national health care system that would provide medical coverage to uninsured Americans has been hotly debated. Currently, approximately 46 million American people are without health insurance coverage. There are many reasons why people lack medical insurance. Some of these reasons include low wage jobs that do not offer employee benefits, rapidly escalating health care costs, and intense opposition from both physicians and insurance companies to many proposals that call for government management of a univeral health care system. Supporters of universal health care feel it is the government's responsibility to create whatever system is necessary to ensure medical coverage for all. Critics believe this would create an unnecessary bureacracy and that it must be managed through private enterprise and tax-credits. It is expected, however, that when the new President takes office in 2009, some types of reforms will be instituted. Is access to health care a right to which every person is entitled? Is health care a privilege that one should only expect if they have the monetary means? Is it the government's job to mange a health care system that delivers medical treatment to everyone? Why are our benefits shrinking, even as the United States is already spending more on health care than any other nation? Are political ties to insurers and drug companies resulting in legislation that benefits fewer rather than most people? (Prepared November 2008)

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Journal and newspaper articles will discuss this topic. A thorough discussion of this situation can be found in the CQ Researcher database. Enter the keywords universal health care in the search box to retrieve this excellent document.

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Books will also provide information on this topic. In our collection you will find an excellent title that may be helpful. One interesting book is Critical Condition: How Health Care in America Became Big business-and Bad Medicine by Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele, New York: Doubleday, 2004. Call number: RA410.53.B37 2004.

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Economic Turmoil

As far back as July, 2007, the U.S. Stock Exchange fluctuated wildly, reacting to the developing collapse of the subprime mortgage industry. Talk of the possibility of the United States entering an economic recession was heard frequently. Moving forward to September 2008, the subprime mortgage crisis has grown - foreclosures are at a record high - and economic problems have multiplied, with the failure of several major American investment giants and expensive taxpayer funded bailouts for financial institutions and other large companies. Government officials are urging Congress to authorize legislation that will cost close to one trillion dollars, in order to avert the total collapse of the U.S. economy. We are told that failure to quickly pass this bailout could result in a potential repeat of the Great Depression from the 1930s. What conditions have brought the U.S. economy to this crisis? Did lax regulation cause instability in our economic system? Does the U.S. Treasury Dept. have a good plan for protecting the nation's economic structure? Should regulation of banks and investment firms be tightened? Should the federal government use taxpayer money to save financial institutions? What role has greed played in this process? Should homeowners who cannot afford their mortgages receive government assistance, or should they be left to suffer the consequences of their decisions? (Prepared September 2008)

Suggested Reading:

Journal and newspaper articles will discuss this topic. A thorough discussion of this situation can be found in the CQ Researcher database. Enter the keywords financial crisis in the search box to retrieve this excellent document.

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Books will also provide information on this topic. In our collection you will find two titles that may be helpful. One interesting book is Recessions and Depressions: Understanding Business Cycles by Todd A. Knoop, Westport, CT.: Praeger Publishers, 2004. Call number: HB3711.K63 2004. Another useful book is Profit With Honor: the New Stage of Market Capitalism by Daniel Yankelovich, New Haven, CT.: Yale University Press, 2006. Call number: HB501.Y364 2006.

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Race & Politics

Civil rights leaders in the 1960s laid their lives on the line while advocating voting rights for black people. In 2008, the candidacy of Barack Obama may result in the election of this nation's first black president. This political turnaround, in 45 years, was once unthinkable. As the presidential campaign of 2008 goes forward, articles discussing the the potential impact of Mr. Obama's race on the election report that, in traveling through rural areas in Pennsylvania, "one hears much hesitating talk about Mr. Obama...some not-so-subtly racial." Writing for the CQ Researcher, Peter Katel ponders whether "racial prejudice will prove a major obstacle to [Obama's] historic campaign." Is race an important factor in the 2008 presidential election? Does Barack Obama's diverse racial background hurt or enhance his chances of being elected president? Can Obama's candidacy attract white working-class votes? Will race or regional politics be the more important factor in the 2008 election? (Prepared August 2008)

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Journal and newspaper articles will discuss this topic. The database CQ Researcher offers a thorough discussion of this topic. Enter the keywords race and politics in the search box and you will retrieve an in-depth report on this subject.

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Books will also provide information on this topic. In our collection you will find the book Divided America: the Ferocious Power Struggle in American Politics by Earl Black and Merle Black, New York: Simon and Schuster, 2007. Call number: JK2261.B614 2007. Another book that would be useful for this topic is Dreams From My Father by Barack Obama: a Story of Race and Inheritance, New York: Times Books, 1995. Call number: E185.97.O23 A3 1995.

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Treatment of Animals

After finishing second in the May 2008 Kentucky Derby, Eight Belles was euthanized on the track when she shattered her two front ankles. This event has renewed discussion about problems within the thoroughbred horse racing industry: steroid use which results in faster but more fragile horses, unsafe racing surfaces, and the toll that occurs from the grind of day-to-day training. An animal rights activist from PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), who oppose "any and all human ‘use' of animals" was quoted as saying "people who love animals do not drug, whip and race them to death." This type of debate is heard concerning the treatment of all animals. The Humane Society of the United States advocates for animal welfare, urging stronger laws preventing cruelty and requiring humane treatment. An example of this is their tireless campaign against puppy mills, where "mass production of purebred and designer dogs" takes place, followed by the killing of dogs once they can no longer reproduce. Attitudes towards animals raise numerous issues. What reforms are necessary in the racing world? Should medications to promote speed in horses be allowed? Should animal experimentation be permitted? Do the benefits for humans that result from animal research research outweigh the suffering of individual animals? What is the fundamental relationship between human beings and nonhuman animals? (Prepared May 2008)

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Journal and newspaper articles will discuss this topic. The database Issues and Controversies@ Facts.com offers a thorough discussion of animal testing. Enter the keywords animal rights in the searchbox. Many newspaper articles discussing this topic can be found in ProQuest National Newspapers.

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Books will also provide information on this topic. In our collection you will find the book Animal Rights: Current Debates and New Directions edited by Cass R. Sunstein and Martha C. Nussbaum, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, 2004. Call number: HV4708.A56 2004. Another title that would be helpful on this topic is Animal Ethics by Robert Garner, Malden, MA: Polity Press, 2005. Call number: HV4708.G37 2005.

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Cloned Food

On January 15th, 2008, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration declared that food from lab-grown farm animals and their offspring is safe for human consumption. Their conclusion, coming after seven years of study, stated that "meat and milk from cloned animals were as 'safe to eat as food from conventionally bred animals.'" This scientific approval is not likely to foster public acceptance , nor allay the public's fears concerning cloning technology and its introduction into our food supply. Will consumption of meat and milk from cloned animals pose health risks? Are cloned animals more susceptible to disease? Should the federal government regulate labelling food products to alert shoppers if a cloned animal was involved? Are consumers assured that products from clones, or their offspring, are not already in the food supply? What potential benefits would the world reap as a result of the ability to routinely clone animals, aside from increased food production? (Prepared February 2008)

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Journal and newspaper articles will discuss this topic. In the database Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center, select "Cloning" from the "Popular Topics List" on the homepage. This will provide you with a comprehensive collection of journal, magazine and news articles relating to this subject. You can also enter the keywords "cloned food" in the basic search box.

Many newspaper articles discussing this topic can be found in ProQuest National Newspapers.

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Books will also provide information on this topic. In our collection you will find the book Cloning: Responsible Science or Technomadness edited by Michael Ruse & Aryne Sheppard, Amherst, N.Y.: 2001. Call number: QH442.2.C5678 2001.

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