The document outlines an assignment requiring students to submit at least five detailed questions based on assigned readings and videos, focusing on stimulating discussion. It emphasizes the importance of asking specific, critical questions rather than general ones, while considering the concept of bias in information consumption. Students are encouraged to explore the implications of bias in historical narratives and current events through their questions.

1. Please submit a minimum of five (5) detailed and discussion-
provoking questions based on the recent reading assignments,
video clips and the other websites assigned.
Only complete questions will earn credit. Therefore, it is
important for you to think carefully about formulating the kinds
of questions intended to stimulate conversations. Ask detailed
and specific, rather than broad, general questions. Do not ask,
for example, ‘When was the first Mission established in
California?’ Instead, ask something like ‘What is the
ideological agenda behind maintaining figures like Father
Junipero Serra as heroic in California textbooks?’
Other examples include:
Does recent news media coverage of the “riots” in Baltimore,
Ferguson and other cities promote a message that is pro-police?
If not, how does it engender understanding of the root causes of
many of the frustrations of local residents?
In the film “Banned in Arizona,” why does Superintendent Tom
Horne argue in favor of “individualism” and why does he say
that the Mexican American Studies program encourages radical
thinking? What, if anything, is radical about the way those
courses teach students in Tucson, Arizona?
If the U.S. reinstated a Vietnam War era-like military draft
instead of relying upon the current all-volunteer force, would
current public support for war change at all? If so, how?
Please consider these guidelines in composing your questions:
1. Make certain to ask at least one question from each source.
2. Ask questions about things that interest you.
3. Write your questions as though you were asking them to the
entire class.
4. Be sure to make specific reference to the readings in each
question. Many good questions require at least two sentences.
5. Try and use the questions to critique the author's opinion.
6. These homework questions should attempt to raise larger
issues and---when possible---to relate the readings to issues in
our current world.

2. "This week, I want us to think about the concept of
bias
, and its application in the places we consume information. This
is tricky territory because even the very presentation of this unit
is fraught with bias—my personal bias, or frame of reference.
I’m going to ask you to read a collection of articles that I think
are important, but they all clearly have a perspective and an
agenda that comes from a particular worldview. So let’s get that
out in the open. Maybe nothing in your liberal arts education is
free from bias, but that does not mean we shy away from
considering the information, ideas, arguments and critiques.
What is bias? For the purposes of our consideration, bias is
really just about a set of values that can color or distort fair
judgment. We can sometimes recognize obvious bias in others,
especially when people use overtly discriminatory or offensive
language, or have a clear political or ideological perspective
that makes everything they present go through that lens. But
more than anything else, I want us to think about bias in this
way:
Bias is simply the product of information that is
emphasized
and/or
omitted
in order to present a picture of the news or of history or of
anything important that carries an agenda. For example, a
textbook that glorifies George Washington as one of the leading
proponents of American freedom, but neglects to emphasize the
fact that he owned over 300 slaves, is biased. This seems fairly
obvious, except to those who have never learned the fact of his
slave ownership. To them, the presentation of Washington as a
great man is unquestioned fact.
Applying this test of emphasis and omission to other areas of
information is critical if we are going to be better critical
consumers of information. Applying this test to how we present

3. facts and arguments makes us more intellectually honest as
well.
Now, back to my own bias. I teach in Ethnic Studies, which has
long been accused of having an inherent bias, since we
emphasize certain histories and perspectives. The odd thing
about that accusation, even if it has some validity, is that it is
often made by people who think that leaving out these histories
and perspectives is fair and free of bias. You might notice this
when watching the video “Banned in Arizona.” In fact, every
history class makes selections about what is important to
remember about the past. Every news director makes decisions
about which stories get attention, or who gets interviewed. Bias
is everywhere.
The problem is we won’t recognize it unless we constantly seek
alternatives to mainstream “facts.” The following articles
clearly reflect my own leanings, my own perspective of issues
that I find important. But consider the critical thinking going on
(or not going on) in the various articles, video, etc.
And this week, instead of your observations and critique of the
readings, I’d like instead for you to pose a series of critical
questions. Please see the Reading Response #3 assignment for
details.
For now, please jump into the following material. There is a bit
more assigned than usual, so don’t hesitate to get to work.
1. “Lying to Children About the California Missions and the
Indians.”
http://zinnedproject.org/2015/03/california-missions-and-
indians/
2. “Oklahoma Lawmakers Vote Overwhelmingly to Ban
Advanced Placement U.S. History.”
http://thinkprogress.org/education/2015/02/17/3623683/oklahom
a-lawmakers-vote-overwhleming-ban-advanced-placement-
history-class/?elq=~~eloqua..type--emailfield..syntax--
recipientid~~&elqCampaignId=~~eloqua..type--
campaign..campaignid--0..fieldname--id~~
3. “Why Don’t Americans Know What Really Happened in

4. Vietnam?”
http://m.thenation.com/article/197425-why-dont-americans-
know-what-really-happened-vietnam
4. “Banned in Arizona”
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/video/need-to-know-
february-15-2013/16294/
5. “The Difficulty of Being an Informed American”
http://www.countercurrents.org/roberts090109.htm
6. “In Boston, Media Again Trash a Police Shooting Victim By
Uncritically “Reporting” Police Accusations.”
https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/06/03/media-trash-
character-police-shooting-victim-reporting-anonymous-smears/
7. “How to Detect Bias in News Media”
http://fair.org/take-action-now/media-activism-kit/how-to-
detect-bias-in-news-media/
8. “Project Censored: The News that Didn’t Make the News—
and Why” (no specific reading, but browse the site for anything
that interests you.)
http://www.projectcensored.org
9. Conservative media on Murrieta (From last summer’s story
about unaccompanied immigrant children who were confronted
by angry protesters in Southern California)
http://mediamatters.org/blog/2014/07/08/right-wing-medias-
xenophobic-rhetoric-echoed-in/200023
10. “Glenn Beck’s Restoring Honor Rally” (From a 2009 rally
in Washington DC “organized” by then FOX News personality
Glenn Beck.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ht8PmEjxUfg
"