COURSE NAME: Contemporary Topics of East Asia

SCHOOL DISTRICT: Maple Hill High School - Schodack Central School District

INSTRUCTOR: Mr. Mark Hoyt

HALF YEAR

MAXIMUM TOTAL CLASS ENROLLMENT - ALL SITES: 25

COURSE PREREQUISITES: This class is designed for students who are interested in exploring the many
countries of East Asia and are willing to learn about this part of the world through weekly readings, watching
videos, and investigative research projects. A field trip to New York City to visit the United Nations will be
part of this course's requirements.

BRIEF COURSE DESCRIPTION / OUTLINE: Content will remain focused on the Asia-Pacific Rim and how this
region remains so critical to the United States' future. To do so, we will investigate the historical origins,
development, and current status of numerous contemporary problems or issues that in one form or another
impact the relationship between East Asian countries as well as with other non-Asian countries. Beyond
merely looking at the historical evolution of key problems within East Asia this interesting class will also
investigate political solutions from the lens of international relations and comparative politics (domestic,
bilateral, regional, and global approaches).

Some of the broader themes for national and international security issues to be investigated are: human
rights, political, economic, energy, environmental, and military matter linked to either cooperation and
collaboration or conflict and war.

More specific contemporary topics or issues to be examined this year are: specific territorial conflicts,
societal ills associated with modernization (e.g., drug abuse, teen delinquency, alcoholism, teen pregnancies,
health, crime, corruption, social fads, etc.), environmental crises, gender and ethnic inequalities (in
education, health care, employment, etc.), post-Olympics fallout, and population control problems (shrinking
population growth, migration, immigration, etc.).

OTHER NOTES / MISCELLANEOUS: This class will involve numerous short readings, many written reviews on
these short readings, and the willingness to work independently as well as within small group settings for
projects. Once a month a related movie will be shown to reinforce the major themes that this course will
investigate.

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