Date: July 30, 2003
Subject: Bingo

The Arizona standards for civics and government contain some promising nuggets. I had to go to the department web site to find them, since my copy of the Arizona social studies standards was not collated correctly (pages were missing or out of order). There is also an updated history standard as of 6/30/03.

STANDARD 2: CIVICS/GOVERNMENT

Students understand the ideals, rights, and responsibilities of citizenship, and the content, sources, and history of the founding documents of the United States, with particular emphasis on the Constitution and how the government functions at the local, state, national, and international levels.

PROFICIENCY (Grades 9-12)
Students know and are able to do all of the above [earlier grade levels] and the following:

2SS-P1. Explain the philosophical foundations of the American political system in terms of the inalienable rights of man and the purpose of government, with emphasis on:

PO 1. the basic principles of natural rights expressed by John Locke, including the state of nature, property, equality, and dissolution of government (Second Treatise of Government)

PO 2. the foundational principles of laws by William Blackstone including the nature of laws in general and the absolute rights of individuals (Commentaries on the Laws of England)

PO 3. the importance to the Founders of the rights of Englishmen, the Magna Carta, the representative government in England, and the English Bill of Rights

PO 4. the fundamental principles in the Declaration of Independence

PO 5. the moral and ethical ideals which have their antecedent in the Judeo-Christian tradition

2SS-P2. Analyze the historical sources and ideals of the structure of the United States government, with emphasis on:

PO 1. the principles of democracy and republican form of government developed by the Greeks and Romans, respectively

PO 2. separation of powers (Charles de Montesquieu)

2SS-P8. Analyze the rights, protections, limits, and freedoms included in the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights, with emphasis on:

PO 1. Constitutional mandates such as the right of habeas corpus, no bill of attainder, and the prohibition of ex post facto laws

PO 2. the First Amendment guarantees of freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, and petition

PO 3. the Second Amendment right to bear arms

PO 4. the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendments of search and seizure, rights of the accused, right to a fair and speedy trial, and other legal protections

PO 5. the Fourteenth Amendment protection of due process and equal protection under the law

PO 6. conflicts which occur between rights, including the tensions between the right to a fair trial and freedom of the press, and between majority rule and individual rights

[Missing in action: the Tenth Amendment.]

There is also a "distinction" or honors level of the standards, elements of which I recognize from studying the Advanced Placement U.S. Government and Politics curriculum.