AmLit
Name:____________
Socratic Seminar
Per:_____ 10-2-2012
Puritan cultural relics and their importance in understanding American culture and one’s response to it.
Overview In this discussion, you will be talking about contemporary life topics* in order to determine
whether and where Puritan beliefs subtly infuse American beliefs, social norms, and community
interactions.
Order of Ideas (This is a general menu, as in we eat the appetizer, then the soup, then the main, then
dessert):
1) In the seminar, the circle should identify examples of possible Puritan legacies in three or more
categories*.
2) After agreeing/qualifying/coming to terms with these examples (How do we know whether or
not they are sourced back to Puritan ideals?), consider the effect of these Puritan influences:
a. Would American culture, norms, mindset, or values be any different without Puritan
beliefs? Can you imagine America without them? What would that look like?
b. Is America better for the Puritan influences in contemporary culture? In what ways? If
not, why not? In which circumstances? About which issues?
3) For each of the following roles, explain and discuss the implications of knowing the Puritan
ideals, literature, and modern influences. In other words, knowing about the Puritans may be of
use to the following people in what ways? How would a person incorporate the Puritan beliefs
still echoing in contemporary culture when drawing conclusions and making decisions in the
following situations:
a. The USHAP student with a DBQ featuring Puritan works….
b. The junior who will someday be registered to vote…
c. The American college graduate, steeped in his/her American culture, who is
contemplating taking a job in Spain, Germany, or the U.S.
d. The high school student deciding whether, why, and to what extent he/she is proud to
be associated with America (or to be an American).
e. A town hall participant who gets to ask Mitt Romney and Barrack Obama a question
about hard work in America and America’s status as “the greatest country on earth”
(like the puritans sought to build the “city on a hill”).
f. A Supreme court justice talking with fellow justices about the case before them, in
which the plaintiff sued to remove “God” from the U.S. currency and the pledge of
Allegiance.
g. An English teacher, who privately is an Atheist, at a public school who is assigned to
teach the Bible as Literature, an elective course that counts for jr. or sr. English at the
school.
h. A San Quentin law enforcement specialist, whose job includes preparing individuals for
their final week on death row.
*topic such as:
-the reverence/respect given to religious traditions (by society, media, by the government)
(Why? For Puritans, religion and government were one in the same. Times have changed, but
are there still relics of the presence of religion, religious freedom, or principles of spiritual
traditions in today’s state and national governments?)
-gender roles: viewed as equals by the doctrine/stated belief of Puritans/current cultural
norms, but where does application of the beliefs stray from their original intent?
-simple living: Are we all about the benjamins? The Puritans definitely weren’t (if you ignore
their bickering over land and their assuming ownership of territory inhabited by their American
predecessors). The interior of a Puritan “meeting hall” is stark in its emptiness, compared to
churches of Catholic denomination. But outside of church, in dress and in abode (home), are
there instances of simple living still evident in contemporary culture? Do people aspire to live
simply? If not, why? What did the Puritans believe simple living said about them? What do
Americans today believe simple living says about them?
-Success and hard work: Puritans valued labor, industriousness, and the maximum use of
waking hours spent in hard work, honest labor, and achievement of a wholesome self-sustaining
life (can feed, clothe selves, harvest land, reap the rewards of their labors as signs of God’s
blessing). Today, are there situations in which Americans, generally, attribute their success to a
higher power (be it God, a personal attribute, or a mindset)? Does America still believe in the
value of honest hard work? A simple no won’t due. Where is there evidence of honest work? Is
hard work seen as its own reward, or is it a sign of “simple” thinking? Do we judge people for
hard work in the same way Puritans would have judged their peers?
-Strict Application of the rules within a tight-knit community? Although they founded the
Plymouth colony based on the notion of a human being’s equal access to God and to
interpreting the word of God, Puritans, in their insular “city on a hill”, came to apply their beliefs
selectively. Are there strict rules or social norms that, in a specific community (country club,
high school, club/group) are applied in an unequal way? What motivates this application of
rules? If they are applied unequally, why might this be the case?
-Modesty: Perhaps the easiest to visualize, the Puritan concept of modesty is cloaked in their
mode of dress. Dark colors. No jewelry or adornment. Covering up. In America, generally, is
modesty still valued? There is an array of modesty ‘categories’ (dress, humility about
accomplishments, being quiet when one feels one knows ‘an answer’, language, meeting new
people, displays of affection). While we certainly don’t cover ourselves head to toe, are there
ways in which you see modesty (or the disdain for the lack of modesty) in our contemporary
cultural displays?
Sources, Evidence, and Questions Worksheet (Preparation)
Sample
Source:
Quoted Evidence:
Background/Context:
What larger discourse or
discussion is this evidence part of?
Question Section
(Puritan Category*:_____________________________)
They Say
I Say
Socratic Question:
1)
Source:
Quoted Evidence:
Background/Context:
What larger discourse or
discussion is this evidence part of?
Question Section
(Puritan Category*:_____________________________)
They Say
Socratic Question:
I Say
2)
Source:
Quoted Evidence:
Background/Context:
What larger discourse or
discussion is this evidence part of?
Question Section
(Puritan Category*:_____________________________)
They Say
I Say
Socratic Question:
4)
Source:
Quoted Evidence:
Background/Context:
What larger discourse or
discussion is this evidence part of?
Question Section
(Puritan Category*:_____________________________)
They Say
Socratic Question:
I Say