FIRE OF FREEDOM
THE IRELAND UNIT
Rozell's Four Points
Download ireland unit study guide
In this unit you will learn more about Ireland than you ever knew before. We will study it in depth and I will teach it in a different way. I will teach you lessons you will never forget through popular music and video. You will have your eyes opened and you will try to make sense of 800 years of violence and oppression. You will learn a lot about human nature and these lessons I hope you will take with you and apply to other areas of our history and your own life.
 | -The first point you should understand is that what's happened in Ireland has happened the world over. People just don't forget past injustice. The past never dies. |
| The second point to remember is that the nature of the conflict between Catholics and Protestants in Ireland is no longer simply a religious one. In this century it has been more a question of political and civil rights, and the forces of nationalism. |
| The third point to take away from all this is that the attitudes and actions of persons who do not live in Ireland make and take towards “the Irish situation" have always had profound consequences for Ireland. You will see this over the course of 800 years of history and interaction with Britain, and you will also see how the United States has been significantly effected. The USA has also played a huge role (in this century ) in putting Ireland on the path it now finds itself on. The situations illustrated by this point are models of similar interactions in many other countries that we will not have the opportunity to study in depth. |
| The fourth, and probably most amazing thing to develop in the age you I live in, is how men hardened and committed to acts of unspeakable violence have become the leading statesmen on the road to a peaceful settlement of the troubles in Ireland. As I hope you will see, it's a disturbing oversimplification of a very complicated situation to assume that violence and terrorism is a means to resolving problems. |
One thing should be clear- you and I are BLESSED not to have had to live through what people in too many nations have had to live through. You and I haven't had to make the choices between having strong beliefs and convictions and then having to decide whether or not to die for them. Chances are, your ancestors did, somewhere.
The story of Ireland is played out throughout history and everyday the world over under a different name. So we will study Ireland and maybe you will decide where you would stand if you are ever faced with the decision to stand up for your beliefs or suffering for them.
I will introduce you to people and events you already think you know about and people, places, and events you have never heard of. At the conclusion of this unit you should be familiar with all of them, and be ready to take a stand, and be able to defend it.
At the end of several weeks of intensive study, this is one part of high school you will not have forgotten long after you graduate...