Creating A People's Assembly

This is the 3rd and final unit of the Junior Humanities course "A Nation's Argument." In this unit, 1960's, we learned about the events of the 1960s and the Civil Rights era. We studied the Bill of Rights and the amendments that give Americans rights, and how they apply to people. We also learned about the lynching era where African Americans were hanged for committing minor offenses We also attended a Yale University Open Courses online lecture about the Civil Rights Era as well as the Selma march and the Watts riots in Los Angeles. The main focus of this unit was to create our own people's assembly. We wanted to discuss policing in Chicago. We were able to create a format and roles for each other to create this assembly.  We brought in 4 guests that were able to talk to us about policing. We had one Chicago Police Officer, 2 community activists, and one researcher from NYU. We sat down with our guests and had a conversation about communities in Chicago and how they react to police presence. We also discussed policing in schools, immigration, and police officer suicide. For my project, I chose the issue of police suicide. It was very cool to hear first hand from an officer about why some police get depressed and how it is more than just trauma, but a combination of things. For this project, I created a thesis, antithesis, and synthesis about police suicide. I also did research and found statistics to re-enforce my argument.

In conclusion, this was a very interesting project and class. I am happy with how I performed in this class, even if I always wasn't 100% about what I was doing. I thought this last project was a neat way to tie in our communal project that was the policing assembly. I liked how each student got to pick the issue they wanted to address. I am proud of the research that I did, and I am proud that as a Junior cohort, we were able to come together and have a real-world discussion with real-world people.

What Does It Take To Become a Citizen?

This is the 2nd unit in the Junior Humanities class "A Nation's Argument." This unit is called "1850's. In this unit, we learned about the historical events of the 1850's. We studied the events that lead up to the civil war, as well as the political climate of America at that time. We studied events such as the Kansas Nebraska Act. We learned how America was split on whether slavery should be legal or not. To learn more about American history, we once again participated in Yale University's open courses. We attended a lecture by Professor Blight about the founding of the Republican party. We also learned about immigration. We learned about what it takes to become a citizen, and we tried to take the naturalization test that immigrants have to take. We also visited the Immigration court where we saw live immigration hearings. For this AP, we had to amend the naturalization test. This was up to interpretation. I decided to make it more personable and related to what America means to you. Enjoy!

United States Government. "Seal of the U.S, Immigration and Naturalization Services." (2000)

Do you know what it takes to become a citizen of The United States? In fact, it is a long and treacherous process, in which one step is t take a “naturalization test.” This is a part of the citizenship process where an applicant takes a 100 question test on all things America. Questions range from government to geography and history. A U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service officer will ask 10 questions, and 6 out of 10 questions must be answered correctly. A form of naturalization tests have been around since the early 19th century. According to the USCIS website, trick questions were eliminated in the 1930s to “ensure that questioning would establish the applicant’s attachment to the principles of the Constitution rather than the mere ability to memorize facts.”

I think that this quote is an interesting statement, as a lot of people today say that the test is still just a memorization test, even though the purpose is to understand the government, history, and geography of America.

I believe that the citizenship exam should be more than memorization. People who are coming to America are usually looking for a better life than they could have in their native country. I believe questions on the test like:

88. Name one of the two longest rivers in the United States.
92. Name one state that borders Canada.
95. Where is the Statue of Liberty?


Are very general, easily googled, and generally useless questions. These questions are also probably not known by many American born citizens. To me, these questions feel more like trivia questions, rather than questions that all Americans should know. These questions are all connected and are pretty general geography questions. I think it is good to be a well-informed citizen, and I think most or all Americans should know these answers, but I don’t think it is nessacery for a brand new citizen or a non-native person who is coming to America for the first time to know. Imagine going to a brand new country and having to know the geography (even if it is pretty well known.)

A syllogism for the current test would be: American citizens know basic geography, therefore all new citizens should know basic geography. This is a very generalized test. I believe that because some Americans know the answer to these questions, It is assumed that every American and new citizen should know these answers. I think that it is fairly hypocritical since many American citizens do not know the answer to these questions.

I believe that the citizenship test should be revised into a project that an applicant does on what America means to them. For this, there is no right or wrong answer, (which could present problems) but it is the opinion of the applicant. This project could be much more worthwhile than memorizing facts. It could also show the USCIS agents why this person is coming to America, and what they plan on doing once becoming a citizen.

In Article 1 Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution, the following is stated: “To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization,” This means the Congress is granted the right to establish a rule of naturalization. This determines how immigrants may or may not become citizens, even back in the 1700s. At this time there was no naturalization test, but it was up to the government to determine if someone could become a citizen even if they do not meet the criteria of: “No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President.” In Article II Section I. Even to this day we still have the government determine who can become a citizen, but it seems we haven’t come much farther than we have when the country was first born. With my new way of naturalizing immigrants, we can move forward in the ways we accept people into this country.

I declare that the U.S. Citizenship Naturalization test shall be amended into a self-fulfilling project about what America means to them. This will be an open format project will no restrictions. This is purely to show the government what America means to this applicant, and what their plan is. This will eliminate memorization, and trick questions to give everyone a fair chance.

My classmate KS had this to say about my amended test: “I think this is a fairer way to judge who gets to come into America. It is less general and more personalized.”

This amendment is signed by:

CM & KS


Works Cited:

“Origin of the Naturalization and Civics Test.” USCIS.gov. Department of Homeland Security. 15, Jan 2013. Web. 9, Mar 2019.

“The U.S. Constitution and Immigration.” Boundless.com. Boundless Immigration Inc. 3, Jun 2017. Web 12, Mar 2019.

U.S. Constitution. Art.I, Sec 8. Art. II Sec. 1.

In conclusion, I did like this project. I thought it was a fun but challenging way to think about how we as Americans see immigration. I always thought the test was suspicious, but I really do feel like my plan could work. The most challenging part was connecting my amendment to a historical document. I was able to find some good connections, but it was challenging. I am really happy with how this turned out.

Declaring My Independence

This is the first unit of my Junior Humanities class A Nation's Argument. In this class, we are learning about the history of our nation and our independence, as well as argument strategies that we can use, as well as the founding fathers. We learned about premises and conclusions as well as inductive and deductive reasoning. These are all key tools in forming a solid argument. We have been reading Howard Zinn's "A People's History of the United States." This book gives us a different perspective on our nation's history. We also took part in Yale University's online lecture series. We participated in a lecture on American history from Professor Freeman. We compared and contrasted the views of Zinn and Freeman. We had a Field Experience where we went to the Daley Center in Chicago. We participated in their Black History Month tours where they let schools into courtrooms for hearings. We witnessed the opening statements from a case between an ER nurse and a patient. For this action project, we declared our independence. We declared an independent study that we could do in school and we had to defend our argument.

Hiu To, "Suture" (2018)

I am here to declaration my right of Life, Liberty, and Pursuit of Happiness. I believe it is my right to learn and practice the field of medicine I want to go into. I want to learn surgical procedures at a medical school’ residency level of schooling in my junior year. Education is an unalienable right in this country and it should have no restrictions when it comes to age, ability, race, gender, political views, or economic status. Anyone and everyone has the right to learn no matter what.

The purpose of school is to teach young people what they need to know t advance in their careers, from the most basic level or learning to share in preschool, to learning a 14-hour complicated procedure in residency, learning is always happening and always important. School was invented for this reason exactly: to teach young people what they need to know to be successful in whatever they choose to pursue. I believe if a young person is dedicated enough, age and legality should not interfere with their right to pursue their passion for learning.

I have a right to education as a human. According to Right To Education.org :

"Education as a human right means:

• The right to education is legally guaranteed for all without any discrimination.
• States have the obligation to protect, respect, and fulfill the right to education.
• There are ways to hold states accountable for violations or deprivations of the right to education"

This list of statements supports my declaration in the areas that: education is an unalienable right, education knows no limits no matter who you are; and that no one can deny you education. This declaration is an expression of my unalienable rights because I want to pursue my education further than my age allows. Even though I am only a Junior in high school, I believe it is my right as a human being to study at a much higher level of surgery and surgical procedures than is typically considered right for my age.

My guiding question is: Is it my right to pursue an advanced study of surgery at a young age?

I have a right to my study because:

P(1) Every human has a right to education.

P(2) Education cannot be limited by age or ability.

P(3) States have an obligation to fulfill the rights of education

Conclusion: I have the right to practice and learn surgical procedures at my age.

My syllogism: “Education is a human right, learning surgery is education, therefore, learning surgery is a human right.” This represents my declaration in it’s most basic form. Since education is a human right, I have the right to education, so, therefore, I can learn surgery and it is my human right.

The Declaration of Independence written by Thomas Jefferson 1776, The declaration included similar syllogisms to my declaration. The most recognized syllogism in the Declaration is: All people are born with the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Therefore, the American Colonists are born with the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

My declaration states that I want:

• To be able to study advanced surgical procedures at my age
• To be able to practice surgucal procedures at my age
• To be able to get credit for medical school.
• To be able to study at a medical school/residential level.

These are my desired outcomes that I would like to see happen if my proposal is accepted.

Here is a list of things I will need to make this happen:

• Surgical Supplies and practice dummies
• Medical school materials
• Connections at medical schools
• Surgical training materials
• A teacher
• A place in the school to practice

Here is my final Declaration:

“I CM, believe it is my right as a human to an education of my choosing. It is my right to learn, so I have the right to learn about what I want. I want to learn about surgical procedures and practice them even at my young age. I can do this because it is my unalienable right as a human to have an education. To the most basic extent: “Education is a human right, learning surgery is education, therefore, learning surgery is a human right.” This is why I, CM am declaring my right to study what I propose, as it is my right.

I think this was a somewhat challenging and thought-provoking project. I liked how individual it was for each student, everyone was able to do their project on what they thought was important. I thought about how to make this different from my existing independent study of surgery, so I decided to go broader and make a bigger statement than my existing study. I am proud of how my declaration turned out, and I think the most challenging part was making the declaration a soild argument. I enjoyed this project, and I am interested to see what my other classmates declared.

Works Cited:

"Understanding Education as a Right." Right Toe Education.org. 2018. GreenNet. Web. 14, Feb 2019.