SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT TASKS FOR TERM 1

Summative assessment for unit on the strands “Critical thinking” and “Research”

Learning objectives
11CT1.1 Explain that different people and groups may have different perspectives on global issue
11RES1.2 Use secondary research to analyze different perspectives Assessment criteria

● Explain different perspectives on global issues

● Find evidence in the secondary source to support different perspectives on global issues

Level of thinking skills

Higher order thinking skills
Task Read the text and complete the task below.

What Each Side of the COVID-19 Debate Should Understand About the Other
https://reason.com/2020/04/21/what-each-side-of-the-covid-19-debate-should-understand-about-the-
other/
Beyond its devastating effect on the health of hundreds of thousands and the livelihood of millions, the
COVID-19 crisis is a harshly vivid example of Americans' inability to understand, fruitfully communicate
with, or show a hint of respect for those seen to be on other side of an ideological line.

Americans are divided about the best way to proceed from here, three months since the first case was
diagnosed in the U.S. The division is more vivid and harsh on social networks than in the polls, where
a vast majority of Americans still think strong lockdowns are the best idea moving forward. Such
Americans think the economy needs to stay shut down by law until a vaccine or some effective treatment
is developed that ensures no more, or a very tiny number of, people will be seriously harmed or killed by
COVID-19.

To sum up each side in the language of their angriest opponents: The "Closers" want to demolish nearly
all Americans' ability to live, and destroy nearly all the wealth our society has built up over decades, by
halting the wheels of most commerce for the forseeable future. And the "Openers" are so dedicated to
keeping GDP growing and so ignorant of science they want to see hundreds of thousands, maybe millions,
of Americans die of a hideous disease because they don't understand how contagion works.

Both Closers and Openers, though, have a combination of reasons, theories, guesses, and value judgments
of a sort many sane people have always made, that make their respective positions make sense to them.
Neither side should be blithely written off as either idiotic or sinister or not thinking, in their own way, of
human well-being.

The Openers think they see many costs the Closers are not adequately considering, and wonder if the
long-term benefits of closing are smaller than the Closers believe.

Openers are worried about over 15 million Americans out of work and look at industries
including hospitality, food service, entertainment not beamed in via smart
TVs, sports,, construction, oil, education, law, and even, counter intuitively, medical care (not to mention
all non-food retail and any financial or other entities who depend on rents and mortgages continuing to be
paid in the months to come) all either destroyed or seriously weakened and unable to move forward at
anything near their old strength.

They worry that the web of commerce is so complicated and hard to build or to gently snip off portions of
that as-yet-unrealized problems will arise with an economy that acts as if making, transporting, and selling
food will keep working fine even if nothing else is.

Openers see the government's short-term solution of loans and giveaways both personal and corporate in
the trillions and growing as seriously dangerous, with a real possibility of upending our fiscal and
monetary systems under debt and/or money supply explosions that could become truly unsustainable and
take decades to recover from. They see states and localities facing already near-impossible pension and
other obligations and shrinking tax bases pushed closer, faster, to an abyss of complete inability to
function, with dire effects on citizens.

The Closers, meanwhile, are seen by hostile Openers as driven by some sinister desire for a scenario in
which the only "reasonable" endgame for living anything like a free life is either or both enforced
vaccination and constant registered surveillance, or who for partisan political reasons want to make 2020
so miserable in America that Trump will lose the election.

However, the Closers have many reasons that make sense to them to keep things closed that don't involve
a mad desire to tyrannize the country or harm Trump. Closers see and acknowledge the economic damage
we are suffering, but they see most of that damage already inherent in the unchecked spread of a disease
that kills or seriously harms people to a greater extent than any we've dealt with in a century. They thus
don't see the economic problems as solvable just by "opening up America."

Closers see anyone who, aware that COVID-19 exists and can spread asymptomatically, then does
anything that could in any way risk someone else catching it as morally akin to murderers. The Closers are
very concerned with the fact that people are dying from this disease, in the tens of thousands—that
COVID-19 is indeed after just three months by best available data likely killing nearly double as many
Americans as were killed by the flu this flu season. Closers thus consider some Openers' niggling
obsessions about marginal accuracy in that fatality count as irrelevant to any policy decision we are now
facing. Even if those numbers are not 100 percent accurate, they are large enough to make worrying over
their precise size peculiarly beside the point.

Closers also recognize that the death count is not the best or most accura the te way to assess the threat
COVID-19 presents and thus what sacrifices are reasonable or prudent to try to keep it from spreading
faster. The disease is known or suspected to be neurotoxic and heap toxic not merely a respiratory illness,
and might cause serious and possibly long term damage to the heart, blood, liver, and nervous systems of
those who contract, it even if they "recover."

Closers are also sure that we can't know how much damage COVID-19 will eventually cause in our nation
just based on the experience of the past 6 weeks, when we have been doing our best to keep people from
getting close enough to each other in large enough numbers to truly and quickly unleash COVID-19. Thus
to the Closers, any calculations based on "existing data" that are supposed to settle question of whether
we've done enough, or even too much, and can now "open up" are beside the point, in a genuinely
dangerous way. If it's not an intolerable nightmare yet, they would say, that's because we are staying shut
down.
Task 1.
a) Based on the reading article identify two different perspectives on the global issue
The first side thinks that government should do strong lockdowns and shut down economy. The second thinks that
the overall quality of life in the country requires us to start allowing people and businesses to make their own
decisions about whether it is safe to go out in public or do business openly, especially given access to simple
preventative measures such as gloves and masks.
b) Find two reasons in the text to support different perspectives on the global issue
The first site reason is that they see and understand the economic damage we are suffering, but they see
that much of this damage is already inherent in the uncontrolled spread of a disease that kills or seriously
harms people more than any of those we have dealt with in a century. Thus, they do not see that economic
problems can be solved simply by "discovering America.". They see anyone who, knowing that COVID-
19 exists and can spread asymptomatically, then does everything that can in any way put someone else at
risk of infection as morally close to the killers. The Closers are deeply concerned about the fact that tens
of thousands of people are dying from the disease - that COVID-19 is indeed in just three months,
according to the best data available, probably killing nearly twice as many Americans as those from the
flu this year. flu season. Thus, the closers consider the petty obsessions of some newcomers about the
utmost precision in this fatality tally as irrelevant to any policy decision we are faced with.
The second one’s reason is that more than 15 million Americans are out of work, looking at industries
such as hospitality, catering, non-smart TV entertainment, sports, construction, oil, education, the law, and
even, oddly enough, healthcare. Furthermore, the government's short-term decision on loans and
disbursements, both physical and corporate, is in the trillions and is becoming increasingly dangerous,
with a real opportunity to turn our fiscal and monetary systems upside down due to explosions of debt and
/ or money supply that can become truly unacceptable. It will take decades to recover from this.
Task 2.
a) Think and connect the global issue in the text to two lenses (environmental, political, social, cultural,
technological, economical, science, ethical)
Social: Covid-19 has had a huge impact on social. Many people have lost their jobs, such as in America
more than 15 million Americans are out of work.
Economy: Сovid-19 led many countries to crisis and many countries had to close on a strong lockdown.
For example, America closes its borders and many citizens agree with this, but the economy is directly
related to interactions with other countries, so countries lose large amounts of money.
b) Conduct a mini secondary research to explain the connection of the issue to the lenses provide two
examples from the literature.
Economy:Сovid-19 led many countries to crisis and it has several reasons.
First of all, Many small businesses are closed and give big impact of crisis. For example, compared to
January 2020, the average daily income as of August 9 was down 47.5 percent in the health and
hospitality sector, 16.4 percent in the education and health sector, and 14.1 percent in the retail and
transport sectors; total small business revenue across all industries fell 19.1 percent.
Secondly, so far, only the number of Chapter 11 bankruptcies has increased compared to last year. The
decline in business income has led many firms to become insolvent. Hamilton (2020) estimates that by
July, about 420,000 small businesses had gone bankrupt since the start of the pandemic, the number of
disruptions typically seen in a full year. However, Wang et al. (2020) found that between January and
August, the total number of bankruptcies decreased by 27% compared to the same period last year.
Disaggregated by type of filing in Fig. 2 shows how the bankruptcy filing has changed since February
2020 compared to the same month last year. It is a second reason of crisises

Social: The COVID-19 outbreak affects all segments of the population and has a particularly detrimental
effect on representatives of those social groups that are in the most vulnerable position, continues to affect
groups of the population, including people living in poverty, the elderly, people with disabilities, youth
and indigenous people. peoples. The first data indicate that the impact of the virus on health and the
economy disproportionately falls on the poor. For example, homeless people, because they cannot safely
shelter in place, are highly exposed to the danger of the virus. People without access to running water,
refugees, migrants or displaced persons may also be disproportionately affected by both the pandemic and
its consequences - whether due to limited movement, fewer employment opportunities, increased
xenophobia, etc.
The second reasons is that COVID-19, in which it is perceived as a disease of the elderly, exacerbates
negative stereotypes about the elderly, who can be viewed as weak, insignificant and burdensome to
society. Such age discrimination may manifest itself in the provision of services, since the treatment of
older people may be perceived as less valuable than the treatment of younger generations. International
human rights law guarantees everyone the right to the highest attainable standard of health and obliges
Governments to take measures to provide medical care to those who need it. For example, the shortage of
ventilators requires the adoption of sorting policies and protocols based on medical, evidence-based and
ethical factors, rather than arbitrary decisions based on age.
In this context, intergenerational solidarity, the fight against discrimination against older people and the
protection of the right to health, including access to information, care and medical services, are key.

References

Everyone Included: Social Impact of COVID-19.(2020). Retrieved from:

https://www.un.org/development/desa/dspd/everyone-included-covid-19.html

L. Bauer, K.Broady, W. Edelberg, & J. O’Donnell.(2020). Ten facts about COVID-19 and the U.S.
economy. Retrieved from: https://www.brookings.edu/research/ten-facts-about-covid-19-and-the-u-s-
economy/

Assessment criteria Task Descriptor Mark

Assessment criteria Task Descriptor Mark

Explain different identifies the first perspective on the issue; 1
perspectives on global identifies the second perspective on the issue; 1
issues. 1 finds reason to support the first perspective; 1
Find evidence in the
finds reason to support the second perspective; 1
secondary source to
support different provides accurate citation of sources 1
perspectives on global connects the global issue to the first lens; 1
issues. connects the global issue to the second lens; 1
2 provides example to explain the connection of 1
the issue to the first lens;
provides second example to explain the 1
connection of the issue to the second lens.
provides accurate citation of sources 1
provides proper references 2
Total marks: 12