TITLE: Choosing the Best Candidate
AUTHOR: Dianne Gibson, L. D. Bell High School;
Hurst, Texas
GRADE LEVEL: Appropriate for grades 7-12
OVERVIEW: Because of the influence of the media on students
and students decision making, this activity will force them
to look at the how and why people choose candidates for
public office.
OBJECTIVE(s): Students will be able to:
1. Identify their own biases.
2. Describe the values that are important to individuals
necessary for selecting an elected official.
MATERIALS: The candidate list and a chalkboard is all that
is needed.
ACTIVITIES AND PROCEDURES:
1. Place students in groups of five. Each group will
select a captain.
(The oldest one is a good choice.)
2. Pass out "Characteristics of Candidate" list.
3. The group leader leads the discussion on who would be
the best presidential candidate in each of the two
groups. This should take about 30 minutes.
4. The teacher will write on the board a chart like the
one below and fill it in so that the top candidate
becomes obvious.
1 2 3 4 5 6 Candidates
_______________________________
5 l____l____l____l____l____l____l
4 l____l____l____l____l____l____l
3 l____l____l____l____l____l____l
2 l____l____l____l____l____l____l
1 l____l____l____l____l____l____l
Group
5. After the number one selection has been made, the
teacher reads out the actual names as well as a little
information on each candidate. Depending on the age
group is how much information is needed.
TYING IT ALL TOGETHER: After the information of who is the
candidate, there should be a discussion on how important it
is to listen to the issues and not select a candidate only
on whose "image" has been created.
PRESIDENTIAL RECRUITMENT EXERCISE
DIRECTIONS: Place students in groups of five and each
group will choose a captain. Hand out Characteristics of
Candidates list (see the following two pages). Each student
reads the basic characteristics of the candidates which is
followed by an oral discussion about who would be the best
presidential candidate on each of the two candidate lists.
The students should pick the five best candidates from among
those given. Then as a group, they should decide on their
top, number 1 candidates in each group.
This will take about 30 minutes.
Teacher will write on the board: Sections I through V in
columns. Each group should tell their number 1 choice. Once
the columns have been filled in, it makes it easier to see
who received the number 1 choice in both groups.
After the number one selections have been made, the teacher
reads out the actual names of the candidates as well as a
little information on each candidate. Depending on the ages
of the class is how much information is needed.
CHOOSING the BEST CANDIDATE #1
Candidate #1
-------------------------------------------------------
Age: 43
Marital status: married
Education: military academy
Religion: Catholic
Career: Tailor
Professional soldier
Chief of military forces
Head of state
Candidate #2
-------------------------------------------------------
Age: 35
Marital status: married
Education: attended college, no degree
Religion: Catholic
Career: Businessman
Polished speaker
Entertainment
4 Olympic Gold medals
Community service
Candidate #3
-------------------------------------------------------
Age: 57
Marital status: married
Education: Finished public school
Religion: none
Career: Surveyor
Farmer
Commander of armed forces
Captain U.S. Army
Candidate #4
-------------------------------------------------------
Age: 57
Marital status: married
Education: Finished public school
Religion: none
Career: Member of U.S. House
Lawyer
State legislator
Captain U.S. Army
Candidate #5
-------------------------------------------------------
Age: 65
Marital status: married
Education: Public school
Religion: Protestant
Career: Teacher
Journalist
Delegate to U.N.
Public speaker
Endorsed for Nobel Prize
Candidate #6
-------------------------------------------------------
Age: 67
Marital status: married
Education: 2 yrs. grade school
Religion: Deist - one who believes that
there is a god
Career: Journalist
Publisher
Scientist
Postmaster General
V: 1
ACTUAL IDENTIFICATION OF CANDIDATES NOMINATED
BY GROUP 1
CANDIDATE #1
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE (1769-1821)
Napoleon Bonaparte received a military education and
advanced to the head of the French Army. He became emperor
of France and conquered most of Europe. As a leader, he had
the French Constitution rewritten, stabilized the economy,
established a national bank, and improved the educational
system. Eventually his army was defeated by the English and
their allies. He was captured and exiled to St. Helena off
the African coast.
CANDIDATE #2
JESSE OWENS (1918-1980)
Jesse Owens was born in Oakville, Alabama. His given family
name was James Cleveland Owens. His nickname, Jesse, came
from his initials, J. C. Owens was the son of a
sharecropper. At the age of 7, he moved with his family to
Cleveland.
Owens excelled in track and field while attending Ohio State
University from 1933 to 1936. At a college meet in Ann
Arbor Michigan, in 1935, he broke three world records and
tied a fourth within 45 minutes. Owens set several world
records during his career.Owens eventually went into the
public relations business. He worked in community service,
especially youth work. Owens traveled widely, giving many
speeches that supported clean living, fair play, and
patriotism. Owens believed that athletic competition could
help solve racial and political problems.
CANDIDATE #3
GEORGE WASHINGTON (1732-1799)
First president of U.S. Born February 22, 1732 in
Wakefield, Va. He was the son of a wealthy Virginia
planter. Commander of the American Army during the American
Revolution for he believed in the rights of the Colonial
assembly.
CANDIDATE #4
ABRAHAM LINCOLN (1809-1865)
After many personal as well as political defeats, he was
elected the sixteenth president of the U.S. His term of
office was during a very difficult period of American
history, the Civil War. His sudden, dramatic death in
Ford's Theater made him an American folk hero. His words
and his example are used, and still are, to justify the most
diverse positions and courses of action.
CANDIDATE #5
ELEANOR ROOSEVELT (1884-1962)
Wife of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd president of the
U.S. She influenced not only domestic legislation but also
the activities of other nations as a U.S. delegate to U.N.
as well as a good will ambassador abroad.She was orphaned at
age 10 and raised by her grandmother in New York. She grew
to be almost six feet tall.
She married Franklin and became 1st lady. She did not fade
into the background. She started a furniture factory to
help the unemployed. After her husband died, she accepted
an appointment from President Truman to serve as a member of
the U.S. delegation to the U.N.
CANDIDATE #6
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN (1706-1790)
Although he received very little public schooling, Benjamin
Franklin was well read in all fields of study. He began as
an apprentice to a printer and then moved up to become a
newspaper publisher. He is also known for his scientific
experiments and inventions. Probably most important, he was
a great civic leader in Philadelphia and became very
involved in the political climate of the times. He was at
one time Minister to France. Franklin is the only person to
have signed all of the important documents in the
development of the thirteen colonies into one nation: The
Treaty of Paris, The Declaration of Independence, and the
United States Constitution.
CHOOSING the BEST CANDIDATE #2
Candidate #1
-------------------------------------------------------
Age: 30
Marital status: married
Education: elementary
Religion: Catholic
Career: Body guard
Businessman
Politician
Candidate #2
-------------------------------------------------------
Age: 37
Marital status: married
Education: Morehouse College
Boston University, Phd
Harvard University, LLD
Religion: Protestant
Career: Minister
Philosophy teacher - Harvard Univ.
1/10 outstanding men Time Magazine
Nobel Peace Prize
Candidate #3
-------------------------------------------------------
Age: 39
Marital status: married
Education: traditional school
Religion: superstition
Career: Priest
Writer
Army General
Public speaker
Politician
Candidate #4
-------------------------------------------------------
Age: 41
Marital status: single
Education: elementary
Religion: Catholic
Career: Artist
Architect
Politician
Chancellor
Military leader
Candidate #5
-------------------------------------------------------
Age: 39
Marital status: single
Education: U.T. graduate; Dr. of Laws
Religion: Baptist
Career: State senator
Member of U.S. House
House Judiciary Committee
Candidate #6
-------------------------------------------------------
Age: 69
Marital status: Divorced; Remarried
Education: College B.A.
Religion: Christian
Career: Union official
Public official
Radio announcer
Entertainment Enterprises
V: 1
ACTUAL IDENTIFICATION OF CANDIDATES NOMINATED
BY GROUP 2
CANDIDATE #1
AL CAPONE (1899-1947)
Born in 1899 of poor immigrant Italian parents, Al Capone
was arrested many times of unlawful acts in early years but
was never convicted. He became a notorious gangland leader
during the prohibition era. He ordered the St. Valentine
Day Massacre of a rival gang, but was never convicted for
his part. Eventually he was tried, convicted, and sentenced
to prison for income tax evasion. He died in 1947.
CANDIDATE #2
MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. (1929-1968)
An eloquent black Baptist minister who, from the middle
1950's until his assassination in April 1968 led the first
mass civil rights movement in U.S. history. He achieved
world wide recognition when he was awarded the 1964 Nobel
Prize for Peace for his application of the principle of
nonviolent resistance--patterned after India's Mahatma
Gandhi--in the struggle for racial equality in America.
CANDIDATE #3
JULIUS CAESAR (100-44 B.C.)
Caesar was one of the most remarkable men in antiquity. He
was a highly successful general. As a strategist and
tactician he fell short of greatness, but he made up for
that with speed and boldness as well as courage. All signs
indicate he was extremely sensitive to social and economic
problems and was bold enough to attempt new solutions.
Caesar was elected to his third consulship, and selected as
dictator for 10 years. His name was given to a month of the
year (our July). His statue appeared throughout Rome and a
temple was built for him. Such a show of power led to his
assassination.
CANDIDATE #4
ADOLF HITLER (1889-1945)
Born in 1889 in Austria, Adolf Hitler was an illegitimate
child of a minor Austrian border official. He tried
unsuccessfully to become a painter and an artist. He was a
decorated hero in World War I. He led an unsuccessful
revolt in Austria in early 1920 and served time in prison as
a result. He became the head of the NAZI Party of Germany
and was appointed Chancellor of Germany in 1933. Hitler led
that country into World War II and was defeated. He
committed suicide in Berlin in 1945.
CANDIDATE #5
BARBARA JORDAN (1936- )
In 1972, Democrat Barbara Jordan became the first Black
woman to be elected to the United States House of
Representatives. She began her career as a civil lawyer in
Houston, with political interests. After being defeated
twice for a place in the Texas House of Representatives, she
was elected to the Texas Senate. She then served two terms
in the United States House of Representatives, and was a
member of the House Judiciary Committee.
CANDIDATE #6
RONALD REAGAN
After graduating from Eureka College, in Illinois, Ronald
Reagan began working as a sports announcer for WOO and later
for WHO. During a trip to California to cover baseball
spring training, an agent from Warner Brothers signed him
for his film debut. He moved from a film career to become a
spokesman for the General Electric Company to preach his
newly developing conservative ideology. He won the
governorship of California in 1966 then the U.S. presidency
in 1980.
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