Unit 2 Summative Assessment
by Nicky Bourdelais
Unit 2 Claim
Explanation: Humans are very social, and therefore they often form social groups to be with. These social groups could be friends, family, clubs, sports teams, workplaces, political organizations, and much more. Students in a classroom make up a social group. Members of a rock band are a social group. And, on a broader scale, towns, cities, states, and nations are social groups. All social groups form different cultures. They each have different ideas, interests, and ways of functioning, and they express them in different ways as well. The school baseball team has a uniform that is worn, specific times that they practice, and specific ways that they approach the game. They may have a unique pregame cheer or speech. Similarly, nations have their own culture. Nations are drastically different from one another. They have different food, clothing, religion, music, and values, and different societal issues come with it. When nations face issues, they must conflict or cooperate with other nations to solve them. For example, if one nation is undergoing a food shortage, they may import food from other nations to survive. A nation may give humanitarian aid to another recovering from a natural disaster. However, issues like territory and security can cause countries to fight one another. One real world example is the Cold War. During the Cold War, the United States' and Soviet Union's economic and governmental philosophies clashed, and both nations feared and acted against the spread of the other nation's globalization principles. These issues became so important that they nearly caused a nuclear war. Humans and nations conflict and cooperate with each other because of the things necessary to live and think the way they do.
Bullets and Ballots
My Role
In the Bullets and Ballots simulation, I was a member of the guerrillas. The guerrillas were rebelling against the army and wealthy because they were against them controlling the government and murdering innocent civilians. The army and wealthy used an aggressive strategy to stop the guerrillas from gaining power by launching military offensives against them. This worked very effectively, causing the guerrillas severe loss and forcing them to gain support from Cuba, a communist country, to still have a chance at taking over the country. This inherently caused the guerrillas to lose some trust from the United States and the Peasants, who were in favor of a democratic Guatemala. However, we eventually negotiated successfully with the peasants to vote the Army and Wealthy out of the government with the help of the United States who ensured that democratic processes were introduced to Guatemala and that the army and wealthy no longer puppet the government. Throughout the game, I was an active member of my group in negotiating with other countries and maintaining good relations with the groups that we wished to. I believe that I played an influential role in the outcome of the game, but the simulation was also very enjoyable and engaging for me.The bullets and ballots simulation proved the enduring understanding in many ways. In the simulation, the different social groups migrated and brought their cultural mosaics with them during conflict and cooperation with the other social groups. At times, new cultural mosaics were created as social groups interacted. The peasants had a certain way of living that was affected by the oppression of the Army and Wealthy. They had to live in fear because of the Army and Wealthy murdering them. Whole families and communities were devastated during the genocide. As the peasants began to negotiate with the guerrillas, the guerrillas were introduced to their peaceful culture and started to think the same way. In a similar way, the guerrillas experienced the communist policies of Cuba when they had to negotiate with them for MSUs. IN my opinion, the guerrillas changed their cultural mosaic more than any other group by negotiating with two other social groups and Cuba. There were copious amounts of conflict and cooperation in the simulation. The different social groups had to interact with the different social groups in some way to try to accomplish things, whether by peaceful or violent methods. The main conflict in the simulation was the constant power struggle between the army & wealthy and the guerrillas. Each day(or month) of the simulation had the two social groups battle for military superiority, with the army and wealthy coming out on top nearly every time. Taking into account the results of the battles and the negotiating strength of the guerrillas, it seems that the most effective strategy would have been peacefully removing the army and wealthy from power, which was the end result of the simulation. Another example of this is how the army and wealthy's aggressive tactics backfired on them, because no group agreed with them, trusted them, or benefited from them. Overall, the only way to truly solve a complicated conflict such as the Guatemalan revolution is by peaceful and intelligent cooperation.
I predict that the United States will have consistent involvement in Guatemala to prevent another violent, oppressive oligarchy from arising. In the past, the United States has successfully implemented capitalism and democracy into foreign countries; a great example is Japan after World War 2. The people want a voice, and the United States will give it to them. The former army & wealthy group will desperately try to gain back their power with the forces and weaponry they still would have, but the United States would quickly defeat them. The United States will keep all groups that are willing to work with them happy, and over time a completely stable, democratic government will be established in Guatemala.
Application
A Real World Example
The enduring understanding claim directly relates to the real world. A perfect example of this is the Vietnam War, which occurred when the enduring understanding claim was truer than ever. At the height of the cold war, countries were conflicting and cooperating more than ever. Humans were migrating and creating cultural mosaics more than ever. 5 main social groups were involved in the Vietnam War. The first is South Vietnam. South Vietnam was a small country with a humble, democratic government. They mainly stayed to themselves at their country's beginning, not wishing to get involved with other nations. Unfortunately for them, they were hopeless to remain free without help, and soon North Vietnam(The Viet Cong) invaded. The hostile Viet Cong were a strong part of the Communist Movement in Asia, and were not in any way going to capture Vietnam peacefully. Of course, The capitalist United States and communist Soviet Union were the two world superpowers at this time, and were in an extremely hostile situation with their clashing philosophies. Both countries believed their ways of living were the right thing for the world. The United States cooperated with South Vietnam, while the Soviets picked sides with the communist Viet Cong. A fifth social group that became very important in this conflict are the citizens of the U.S. who were strongly against going to war. The United States believed that Vietnam falling to communism would cause a continued spread of communism into and across Eurasia. However, the country's citizens dismissed that theory and thought that we had no need to get involved and that it was a waste of American lives. This caused cultural conflict within the United States as the anti-war culture of the citizens clashed with the government's mission to stop communism at all costs. 4 main countries, along with many others, eventually ended up fighting in Vietnam. When the war was over, the communist forces came out on top. The war also caused widespread migration from Vietnam to the United States as Vietnamese people fled the conflict. The Vietnam War is an excellent example of conflict and cooperation in the real world.There are many strong connections between the real world example and the simulation as both proved the enduring understanding. Both conflicts were very complex and involved internal struggles within a country. Both conflicts had the citizens of the country(Guatemala or Vietnam) having specific wants that were ignored. The U.S. citizens and Vietnamese citizens both wanted peace instead of war. Also, both conflicts saw the United States become involved in a foreign civil war, mainly with their own interests at mind. Additionally, my group, the guerrillas, were rebelling against the current government just as the Viet Cong were during the Vietnam War. As a guerrilla, I understood just how oppressed Guatemalan citizens were and wished to liberate them as well as stop the army and wealthy from senselessly murdering civilians. I learned that the only way to make change is by taking a stand and being active, which was what the Viet Cong had to do to gain control in Vietnam.