Crossroads: High School Curriculum
Unit X: The Age of Franklin D. Roosevelt: 1933-1945

DAY THREE AND BEYOND

Lesson 2

DAY THREE AND BEYOND

1. Begin the lesson by reading selected excerpts from The Diary of Anne Frank, which frames the dilemma faced by the family who took the Franks into hiding. Ask the class to use a taxonomy of values (such as Kohlberg's) in deciding what level of moral development was exemplified in the excerpts.

2. Using CROSSROADS Essay X, part IV, as a base, develop a list of similar instances during the Second World War in which difficult decisions had to be made and in which values played a crucial role: the policy of saturation bombing rather than strategic bombing and the use of atomic bombs are two examples. Students are to judge the value levels used in each decision.

3. The final activity of the unit shifts the decision-making as to acts of war from a moral perspective to political and military perspectives. Find and distribute the DBQ for the Second World War: Decision to Drop the Atomic Bomb (Educational Testing Service, Princeton, NJ) to each student. The student response should be in written form with the criteria used to arrive at his or her judgment made explicit.