General Standards

Geographic Understandings (General) SS7G4 / 8 / 12 The diverse cultures of the people who live in the three regions

a. What is the difference between an ethnic group and a religious group?

An ethnic group is made up of people who share cultural characteristics and beliefs such as

language, religion, a shared history, types of food, celebrations, and traditional stories and often

physical appearance.

A religion is a system of belief in a god, gods or a supernatural element. Religions have rituals and

literature. People may share a religion with people of different ethnic groups and/or cultures.

Though related, these terms do not mean the same thing. For example, the Kurds are an ethnic

group in the Middle East. Like Arabs, they are Muslim, but they live in different areas. Kurds

speak Kurdish instead of Arabic. The two groups have a different set of cultural ideas. Ethnic

groups and religious groups are not defined by national borders.

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These study guides are intended to cover the standards completely. I cannot guarantee that all the information on the test is included, but I have had very good students through the years tell me that everything on the test was covered in these booklets.

I have gleaned everything possible from the different resources that Georgia provides including the frameworks, content description and teacher notes. I have condensed everything I could find that might give insight into what Georgia expects us to cover and how that information might be presented on the CRCT. Most of this information is in the text boxes.

Some of the information goes beyond what the standards require but I have included it for the sake of background and possible enrichment for your students. As always, it is up to you, the teacher, to adjust the content you deliver based on your students prior knowledge, interests and ability.

Feel free to cut and paste sections of these notes to create handouts for your students. You may consider editing them in order to differentiate for the students in your class. Turning these notes into a slotted worksheet can also be effective.

Other resources such as an overview and my themes for this course can be found at ccgps7socialstudies@pbworks.com.

Also, visit my blog at teacherpov.com

This is a consolidation of the standards are repeated in each region.

Most of these are economic and government standards, which constitute 45% of the CRCT. Most of the required concepts are in the General Standards. Early exposure and repetition will help students' understanding. I do not suggest starting the year with a review of this information. Yuck. Just be sure you hit on these in each region.

SS7G4 / 8 / 12 c. How does the literacy rate affect the standard of living?

Literacy is the ability to read and write. The literacy rate is the percentage of adults who are

literate. A nation’s literacy rate is a reflection on a country’s educational system. It has a big

impact on the standard of living. Lack of education prevents

young people from becoming engineers, scientists or the

sort of leaders that countries need to improve their

economies. Fewer young people can become doctors and

nurses and so a low literacy rate usually indicates a poor

health system. In many countries, girls have a lower literacy

rate than boys because of gender inequality in the

educational system.

Standard of living is the level of comfort and the amount of wealth to be found in a culture. It be

measured by looking at several statistical indicators. The best single statistic to examine for this

purpose is the GDP per capita. The GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of a country is the total value

of the goods and services produced in a country in one year. By itself, this statistic can be

misleading. A poor country with a very large population such as Bangladesh has a higher GDP

than a rich country but much smaller country, such as Qatar. GDP per capita divides the GDP by

the population. This number is a better measure for standard of living than GDP, but it does not

take into account how the wealth is distributed.

Another statistic that will come up in our economic studies is GDP Growth Rate. It measures the

rate of growth in GDP from one year to the next. Students should understand that large well-

developed economies like the United States are not likely to show high growth rates.

Other indicators for the standard of living are Life Expectancy and the Unemployment Rate. Life

Expectancy measures the average length of life a baby born today can expect to have. The

Unemployment Rate measures the percent of the working force without a job.

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Teach this with the economic standard on factors influencing economic growth: Investment (E3/7/0 a.) Human Capital.

These and many others statistics can be found in the CIA World Factbook. Students should be able to examine charts and graphs of this type of data and make connections to the standard of living. This standard reinforces an economic standard that investment in human capital (education and training) is good for economic development.

Economic Understandings (General)

SS7E1 / 5 / 8 The student will analyze different economic systems.

a. How do traditional, command, and market economies answer the economic questions of (1) what to produce, (2) how to produce, and (3) for whom to produce? b. Why do most countries have a mixed economy?

b. How are they located on a continuum between pure market and pure command?

Every society must deal with the problem of how to use its limited resources and to provide goods

and services for its people. Its economic system must answer three basic questions:

1. What goods and service will be produced?2. How will these goods and services be produced?3. Who will use these goods and services?

Traditional Economy: In this economic system, the three basic questions are answered by

tradition. The word traditional means that things are done the way they have always been done

because that is how they have always been done! Customs and beliefs are passed down from one

generation to another. These are often subsistence economies. Goods are not produced in enough

quantity to sell. Traditional economies often include bartering, trading goods and services, instead

of spending money. Traditional economies are increasingly rare and are usually found in isolated

rural areas.

Command Economy: In a command economy, the three questions are answered by the central

government. A planning group decides what will be produced, how much the products will cost,

how, and where the goods and serviced will be produced

and provided.

Market Economy: Also known as capitalism, free market,

or free enterprise, in this type of market, individuals and

businesses decide what to produce, how to produce and for

whom to produce. An entrepreneur may choose to take a

risk and start a business. If the business fails, the

entrepreneur will lose his/her investment. However, if the

business succeeds, the individual can make a profit. Competition between businesses gives them

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These are the basic economic concepts required for this curriculum. For the CRCT students should understand the concepts and be able to apply them. In most, but not all cases, they are not required to know specific information about individual countries. The specifics are provided in the question stem. Where specific information is required, I have tried to note it in each individual region. The teacher notes suggest teaching these concepts in depth in the first region. Students were exposed to this in 6th grade, so they may have enough background so that this will not take too much time.

The word continuum is specifically mentioned the standards. The word is so important in this standard that it is very likely to come up in the CRCT.

The DOE requires us to use the Economic Freedom Index from the Heritage Institute. It does an annual ranking of nation’s economic freedom which allows them to be placed on a continuum between command and market economies.

the incentive to improve their product and pricing. Laissez-faire is a French term meaning “hands

off.” It describes the attitude that the government should not interfere with business.

Mixed Economy: Almost all economies in the world are mixed with characteristics of all three

systems. Mixed economies can be thought of as being on a continuum between market and

command economies. They do allow economic freedom for privately-owned businesses but the

government regulates some aspects of the economy.

SS7E2 / 6 / 9 Benefits of voluntary trade to buyers and sellers

a. How does specialization encourage trade between countries?

b. What are the similarities and differences between different types of trade barriers, such as tariffs, quotas, and embargos?

Voluntary Trade: No country is completely self-sufficient.

No country has all of the natural resources or goods and

services that it needs his means that countries must trade with

one another to get everything they need. Voluntary trade, or

trade left to individual businesses without government

control is one of the keys to a healthy market economy. Both

parties take part in trade when each sees as a benefit to itself.

This encourages countries to specialize in the producing the

sorts of goods and services it is best at and which its

customers want.

Specialization: No country can produce every good and

service it needs as well or as efficiently as other countries.

But it is likely able to produce some goods and services

better than other countries. By trading away the goods and

services it is good at producing, countries can import better

goods and services at a lower cost than it could produce

itself. However, over-specialization (or the lack of diversity)

can be dangerous. For example, economies tied to a single

crop may collapse in the face of a prolonged drought.

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Students should understand the importance and benefits of voluntary trade.

The Teacher Notes use the phrase “opportunity cost” several times but it is not clear whether our students need to understand this important but somewhat complicated concept. When we make a choice we do a cost/benefit analysis comparing the benefits that would come from two alternatives. The benefits we would have gotten from the choice we did not make is the “opportunity cost.”

For example, a student who spent four years in college had to measure the long-term benefits of the diploma versus the money he would have earned if he had worked for those four years and not had to pay for tuition. His opportunity costs for his decision to go to college was the money he spent on tuition plus the money he would have earned working full time instead of attending class.

Analyzing Opportunity Costs helps us to make good choices in the face of scarcity. This is a fundamental concept in economics.

CRCT questions will provide students will countries and examples of the goods they produce. The question will expect the students to understand why the countries would engage in trade because specialization allows them to produce goods at a lower opportunity cost. (This language seems very complicated, but it comes from the Teacher Notes.)

b. What are the similarities and differences between different types of trade barriers, such as tariffs, quotas, and embargos?

Trade Barriers: Anything that slows down or prevents trade between countries is a trade barrier.

Physical barriers like deserts and mountains can be barriers to trade. Political conflict such as civil

war can be a barrier to trade. Sometimes governments intentionally impose barriers to trade for

political purposes. These political trade barriers include:

Tariff : A tariff is a tax placed on goods when they

are imported into a country. The purpose of a tariff

is to make the imported good more expensive than a

similar item made locally. This is a protective tariff

because the purpose is to protect the local

manufacturer from competition from outside the

country. This helps the business and the people who

work at the business. It hurts consumers because

they have to pay higher prices for the goods.

Quota : A quota is a limit on the amount of goods

that can be imported into a country or exported from

a country. By reducing the supply of the product, prices are forced up. Again this helps

local businesses at the expense of consumers.

Embargo : An embargo is when a country refuses to trade with another country. The

purpose is to force the country to change its behavior in some way by putting pressure on

its economy. If a country cannot trade, its economy will suffer and this puts pressure on the

government to change its policies.

Subsidy : A government may choose to give aid to certain businesses or industries. This

may take the form of tax breaks or other financial assistance. Subsidies have the effect of

giving these businesses an advantage over competing businesses. (A student asked me what

a subsidy is, so here’s the answer.)

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Trade barriers are double-edged swords. A government puts them into place to achieve a political or economic purpose but it sacrifices the economic interests of a sector of its own population. For example, our embargo of South Africa was meant to force that country to end apartheid. It also had the effect of hurting businesses that traded with South Africa and American consumers that bought South African goods.

This is an example of the government weighing opportunity costs. It also demonstrates the difference between command and market approaches to economics.

c. Why does international trade require a system for exchanging currencies between nations?

Most countries have their own currency. The United States’ currency is the dollar, Mexico’s is the

peso, and Great Britain’s is the pound. China’s currency is the yuan and Japan’s is the yen.

It is necessary to have a system for exchanging currencies

so businesses and individuals can trade with other

countries. The value of these currencies changes in relation

to one another. The exchange rate tells, for example, how

many Japanese yen = one US dollar. The exchange rate

changes constantly. Countries with stronger economies

have stronger currencies because people have more

confidence in the value of that currency.

Some countries have agreed to avoid this problem by

sharing a common currency. For example, European countries use the euro. Some African

countries use the CFA franc.

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This standard does not require that students know types of currency or how to calculate exchange rates. They should know that having different currencies makes it difficult for countries to trade with one another. Having a system to exchange currency makes international trade much easier.

This standard can easily be the subject of a stand-alone mini-unit that could be wedged in at a convenient time.

SS7E3 / 7 / 10 - Factors that influence economic growth

a. What’s the relationship between investment in human capital & GDP?

Human Capital: Human resources are the labor (work) that

goes into producing a good or service. Human capital is the

knowledge and skill that workers possess. Investment in

education and training makes the work force more

productive and more valuable to the economy. Nations that

invest heavily in human resources have a higher GDP per

capita.

b. What is the relationship between investment in capital (factories, machinery, and technology) and gross domestic product (GDP)?

Capital goods are the factories, machinery and technology

that people use to make the products. Investing in capital

goods can mean greater profit because it will mean greater

productivity and efficiency. This increases a nation’s GDP.

c. (relates to natural resources and varies by region.)

d. What is the role of entrepreneurship?

Entrepreneurs create new businesses or products. They risk

losing their time and investment but hope to make a profit.

Market economies depend upon the initiative and creativity

of entrepreneurs.

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This standard divides the factors that influence economic growth into four categories: Land Labor Capital (Split into Human Capital and Physical Capital) Entrepreneurship

Students should be able to describe these factors and the effect of their presence or absence in a country.

Economic Growth is measured by GDP Growth rate. The percent GDP grows from one year to the next. (Students should understand that large highly-developed economies like the United States will not have as high a growth rate as developing economies that have much room for improvement.

Students should note the strong positive relationship between education and the training level of the work force and how fast an economy is growing. Literacy rate and GDP Growth Rate are key statistical indicators for this element.

Be certain to include the geography standard on the effect of the literacy on the standard of living (G4/8/12 c.) with this standard.

Students should note the strong positive relationship between the investment in physical capital and how fast an economy is growing.

Students should understand that entrepreneurship is important for economic development in market economies. The Teacher Notes suggest looking at the “Business Freedom” component of the Economic Freedom Index to see how easy governments make it for entrepreneurs.

Government/Civics Understandings (General)

SS7CG1 / 4 / 6 Compare and contrast various forms of government

Where does the government get its power to rule?Throughout history there have been four basic answers to this question. Each answer produces a specific form of government:

Military or political power - Dictatorship Tradition - Monarchy God - Theocracy The People – Democracy

The first three were the dominant forms of government for most of human history. We can find examples of benevolent rule, where the people were treated well and their wishes were taken into account. But this was only because of the personality of that particular ruler. Ordinary people only had a role in the government at the whim of the ruler.

Over the past fifty years, democracies have become more prevalent. This has led to hybrid forms of government. In parliamentary monarchies such as Great Britain or Japan, the monarch’s role is purely symbolic. In a constitutional monarchy such as Jordan, the monarch shares power with the people. The phrase absolute monarchy refers to the type of monarchy where the ruler has absolute power. The closest example we have to this is Saudi Arabia, but even there, the King must reach consensus with religious leaders. Another example is Iran which is an Islamic republic. Citizens do have a role in the government but the ultimate power is with religious leaders.

Authoritarian governments like China grant little freedom to its people. Some governments are more authoritarian than others. A totalitarian government, like North Korea, is at the extreme end of the spectrum and seeks total control over its people.

All these words can have subtle differences in meaning. We usually use republic to mean a representative form of government, but more broadly it simply means “not a monarchy.” The People’s Republic of China does not have a representative form of government but it is also not a monarchy. So, strictly speaking, it is a republic.

So, with this basic vocabulary under our belt, let’s move on to the standards.

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These are the basic government/civics concepts required for this curriculum.

For the CRCT students should understand these concepts and be able to apply them. In most, but not all cases, they are not required to know specific information about individual countries. The specifics are provided in the question stem. Where specific information is required, I have tried to note it in each individual region.

The teacher notes suggest teaching these concepts in depth in the first region. Students were exposed to this in 6th

grade, so they may have enough background so that this will not take too much time.

This standard requires students to be able to understand and categorize some basic forms of government.

This is a real challenge because there are so many slight variations even accepted sources like the CIA World Factbook and Encyclopedia Britannica cannot agree. Governments can certainly not be counted on to accurately label themselves. For example, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) is most assuredly NOT a democracy.

What follows is a basic (and over-simplified) primer I use to help organize my approach to the standards.

a. What are the three basic ways government systems distribute power?

Unitary System: One central government holds almost all of the power. There may be regional or

local governments, but they are under the complete control

of a central government.

Confederation: Regional (local) governments hold all of the

power and the central government depends upon them for

its existence. The United Nations is an example of a

confederation. It only offers advice and assistance when its

member nations agree to cooperate.

Federal: Power is divided between the different levels of

government. The federal (or national) government is

usually divided into branches, like the executive, judicial

and legislative. It shares power with regional governments.

The United States has a federal system. The power of our

government is divided between the states and the federal

government.

b. What are the three basic ways governments utilize citizen participation?

Autocracy: In an autocratic government the ruler has

absolute power to do whatever he or she chooses. Since the

ruler makes and enforces whatever laws he or she wants,

citizens do not have the right to make laws or to vote on the

ruler. The ruler may allow citizens some rights, like control

over local affairs. In this system, people have little power or

control over the government.

Oligarchy: This is government by the few. A political party

or a small group of people make all of the major decisions usually for corrupt purposes. People

have little power or control over their government.

Democracy: From the Greek word, demos, meaning people, this political system derives its power

from the people. Decisions are often made by majority vote in free elections, usually through a

system of representation. Often, laws are in place to protect individual rights.

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Dictatorships and absolute monarchies are always unitary systems. All important decisions are made by the central authority.

However unitary governments are NOT always authoritarian. Japan, for example has a unitary form of government.

Students are not required to know which of these three categories any specific country falls. They will be provided with characteristics of the government and choose correctly between unitary, confederate and federal.

A typical CRCT question will give the country’s name in the stem, but also enough information for the student correctly answer without knowledge of that specific country.

This is an awkwardly worded element as the answers it produces do not align very well with the question.

Strangely, it is very important to the state of Georgia that middle-schoolers know what an oligarchy is, especially since they are rare and usually temporary affairs.

In any case citizens have few rights in an autocracy or an oligarchy, only those rights the ruler/s allows.

c. What are the two basic forms of democratic government?

Parliamentary System: A form of democratic government

where the legislature, or parliament, makes AND enforces the

laws. Whichever political party has the majority of votes in

the parliament selects one of its own members to be the

national leader, or prime minister. There may be a different

Head of State with the title of president, but usually this

office is ceremonial.

Presidential System: The chief executive, or president, is

chosen separately from the legislature, by election. The

legislature makes the laws but the executive branch, led by

the president, carries out the laws. The president is the

official head of government.

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For this element it is important for students to understand the difference between the head of state (ceremonial) and chief of government (exercises real day-day control of the government.)

A complicating factor is that parliaments are sometimes called by other names such as the Knesset in Israel and the Diet in Japan. The leader is usually called the Prime Minister, but in South Africa the title is president.

The standards make no mention of this, but some governments are considered semi-presidential. There exists a popularly elected president and a prime minister. In this system, the president is not symbolic, but does have some power.

SS7E4 Personal Money Management Terms

What are some of the basic term all people ought to know in order to mange their money?

Income is the total amount of money that a person earns. It can be spent, saved, or

invested. A person may decide to make a budget. This is a plan as to how he/she will use

the income.

Spending is how the person uses is/her money to buy

goods or services.

Savings is when a person puts back money for a specific purpose. This is for the short-

term. Usually the savings is put into a bank account where it draws a small amount of

interest.

Investing is putting money in a place where it might grow over a long period of time.

Money can be invested in homes, land, business, stocks, bonds or mutual funds.

Credit is the ability to borrow money. For example, individuals may borrow money to buy

a car, to pay for education, or to start a business. Individuals may choose to get a mortgage

(a loan to buy a home). Some choose to use credit cards for short-term credit.

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This standard is grouped with the African standards, but is intended to be a stand-alone unit.