oprah: a teachable moment -- TEACHERS' LOUNGE

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Date Posted: 06:15:38 08/18/04 Wed
Author: dpego
Subject: oprah: a teachable moment

(This is repeated from David Pego's posting to the national Newspaper education listserve.)

Teachers will have a wonderful civics lesson to follow in the news for a couple of weeks -- or maybe longer.

In case you haven't seen the story yet, entertainer Oprah Winfrey has been chosen to serve on a jury pool for a murder case. It's not a high-profile killing and initial news reports indicate she wants to do her civic duty but also hopes it doesn't take too much time.

Explain to students how the legal system works. Or better yet, ask them first to explain to you how the system works. Caution them not to divulge details of their own encounters wih the legal system if they already have run afoul of community laws. But as a group, discuss why it is important to have laws to gide our behavior and why it is even more important to have a system in which someone accused of a crime can plead their case in front of a judge or a judge and jury.

If you can invite a lawyer to come in and explain briefly how the state laws are enforced in your area, it might make for a compelling classroom question-and-answer session.

Discuss as a group whether Oprah should be faulted for not wanting to take time away from taping her television show to sit for days in a jury box.

Most important, explain that good and great newspapers try not only to report horrific crimes but also attempt to cover the resolution of those criminal investigations. News should not just be crime. It should be crime and punishment, when warranted.

Then bring the discussion a bit closer to home for many of your teens. Ask them how they feel about illegally copying music CD's and videos for friends. Is it right? Is it wrong?

Here is a link to one story about the Oprah jury call: (Have students look in your newspaper to find another version of this news story.)

http://www.suntimes.com/output/roeper/cst-nws-roep18.html

Good luck!

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Replies:

Re: oprah: a teachable moment -- Mary carpenter, 12:58:05 09/03/04 Fri
- Re: oprah: a teachable moment -- dpego, 20:11:19 09/04/04 Sat