Main Official Outlines

Special Area

Crime & Justice

Introductory Questions

• What is a crime, and who decides how serious a crime is? Who should?
• Are there countries in which those accused of crimes are guilty until proven innocent?
• How can someone be proven guilty of a crime?
• What acts are considered crimes in some countries but not in others?
• To what degree should citizens be involved in law enforcement?
• Should a person be held responsible for breaking laws he or she doesn’t know about?
• Should non-citizens be tried differently for crimes than citizens?
• Should judges or juries be the ultimate arbiters of guilt or innocence?
• What is the purpose of sending someone to prison?
• Is it ever just to try one person for another person’s crime?
• Is there a difference between a crime and a crime against humanity?
• Is crime more common in certain societies or among certain groups of people?
• Can a criminal be a hero?
• Is there such a thing as “honor among thieves”?
• What is the line, if any, between justice and the law?
• Should the government be allowed to prosecute someone for a crime even if the victim says not to pursue charges?
• What is the difference between terrorism and crime?
• Can something be a crime even if it has no victims?
• Is anyone who breaks the law a criminal?
• What type of acts justify trying someone as a war criminal?
• How should countries address crime that occurs across borders?
• Should all countries follow the same legal code?

The Bad and the Ugly: Understanding Crime and Criminals

• A History of Crime: From Pirates to Phishermen
• The Criminal Mind: Insights from Psychology
• The Criminal in Society: Insights from Anthropology and Sociology
• Crime as Spectacle: Postmodern Perspectives on Criminology

Codes of Misconduct: Prosecution & Punishment

• Hammurabi, Draco, and Other Early Approaches
• Modern Legal Systems: Common | Civil | Religious | Statutory
• Classifications of Crime: Personal | Property | Inchoate | Statutory | Other
• Crime Investigation and Criminal Apprehension
• Courthouse Party: The Judicial Process Around the World  
• Types of Punishment: Deterrence | Retribution | Rehabilitation | Incapacitation
• The International Criminal Court: Crime in a Globalized World

CSI: The Science of… (Examples)

• Fingerprints | Genetic Testing | Blood Spatter | Autopsies
• Scene Recognition & Examination | Sketches | Evidence Collection
• Forensic Entomology | Trace Evidence | Serology | Simulations
• DNA Profiling | Offender Profiling | Forensics

Types of Crime to Research (Examples)

• Felonies vs. Misdemeanors | White Collar vs. Blue Collar
• Theft | Robbery | Burglary | Vandalism
• Assault | Laundering | Extortion | Blackmail | Embezzlement
• Caper | Heist | Conspiracy | Fraud | Larceny | Hate Crimes
• Trafficking | Kidnapping | Classic & Digital Piracy | 419

Notorious Crimes & Capers (Examples)

• The Great Canadian Maple Syrup Heist | The Agricultural Bank of China Robbery 
• Fortaleza Banco Central Robbery | KLM Diamond Heist | Lufthansa Heist
• Salish Sea Foot Mystery | Great Train Robbery

Notable Criminals to Research (Examples)

• Billy the Kid | Robin Hood | Bonnie & Clyde | Al Capone | DB Cooper
• Charles Manson | Charles Ponzi | Frank Abagnale | James Hogue
• Barefoot Bandit | Los Zetas | Zodiac Killer | Postcard Bandit
• Griselda Blanco | Jacques Mesrine | El Chapo | Vassilis Paleokostas
• Jonathan Tokeley-Parry | Philippe Jamin | Patty Hearst | Unabomber
• Moriarty | Hannibal Lecter | Walter White | Dexter | the Joker 

Additional Terms to Learn (Examples)

• Cartels | Mafia | Syndicate | Extradition
• Jury | Reasonable Doubt | Attorneys | Bail | Witnesses
• Types of Pleas | Eyewitnesses | Arraignment | Sentencing
• Alibi | Corrections | Corporeal & Capital Punishment
• Parole | Rehabilitation | Probation | Appeals | Double Jeopardy

Selected Film: Ocean’s Eleven

Additional Questions & Cases to Discuss (Examples)

• Study the Yakuza as an example of criminal organizations around the world. How does this so-called "Japanese mafia" differ from its counterparts in other countries? Is there a role for such organizations in civilized society?
• When and how should technology be used to enable citizens to assist police in solving crimes? Are there ways in which inviting citizen participation could be counterproductive?
• Learn more about the debate over "amber alerts". Some find them to be effective; others believe they only increase public anxiety. How could they be improved?
• Research the death penalty. Is it legal in your country? Does it help reduce crime rates? When, if ever, is it appropriate for the state to execute a person, and, if so, by what means?
• Consider the phenomenally successful Serial podcast (season 1). Is it ever appropriate for the media to sensationalize a crime—or to reopen a seemingly closed investigation?
• Research vigilante justice, including this ongoing Facebook-driven movement in Peru. Is it ever appropriate for citizens to take the law into their own hands?
• Are three strikes laws a mistake?
• Does the Internet increase crime?
• Is it ever appropriate to use racial profiling to help solve or prevent crimes?
• Some studies show that women are committing more crimes than in the past. What might explain this, and is there a difference in the crimes that men and women commit?
• Do you think crime is getting worse in your country? Why do so many Americans believe crime rates are increasing in the United States even though they are lower than ever?

Science

Disease & Public Health

Introductory Questions

• What is a disease? What is an epidemic?
• What is the difference between epidemiology and public health?
• Does globalization increase the spread of disease?
• What role should governments play in ensuring public health?
• What are the greatest threats to public health in your country?
• What are the greatest threats to public health worldwide?
• When would it be appropriate to quarantine an entire city or country?
• When should you give up on saving a patient’s life?
• Should doctors risk their own lives to treat victims of epidemics?
• How can we keep our societies safe from epidemics?
• What is the difference between individual and structural interventions?
• Are we all ultimately responsible for our own health?
• Should we strive for a world without disease?
• Is it worth sacrificing a few lives to develop the cure to a fatal disease?

In Sickness and in Health

• Purpose of Public Health
• Hospitals, Clinics, and Other Health Providers
• Medical Education
• National and Global Institutions
• Private vs. Public Health
• Successes and Shortcomings

#Spreadthepwaathogen

• From Hippocrates to the Four Humors: Classical Views of Disease
• Distinguishing Sickness, Illness, and Disease
• Advances in the 19th and 20th Centuries
• Agents of Infection & Modes of Pathogen Transmission 
• Detecting and Managing Epidemics
• The Search for Cures and Treatments
• Social Responses to Disease

Diseases to Explore (Examples)

• smallpox | bubonic plague | cholera | polio
• syphilis | tuberculosis | malaria | influenza | dengue
• yellow fever | leishmaniasis | hepatitis | mumps
• meningitis | HIV/AIDS | cooties | chicken pox
• obesity | smoking | type 2 diabetes

Historical Outbreaks to Research (Examples)

• The Black Death | Plague of Justinian | Antonine Plague | Plague of Athens
• Cholera epidemic of 1854 | Great Plague of London | Ebola outbreak of 2015|
• Cocoliztli epidemics | the First and Second Cholera Pandemics
• Third Plague Pandemic | 1918 Spanish Flu Pandemic  
• Avian Bird Flu of 1957 | H1N1 | SARS & MERS in the 21st century

Terms to Learn (Examples)

• endemic | outbreak | pathogenicity | triage 
• prevalence | incidence | retrovirus | incubation
• infectious vs. lifestyle diseases | epidemiological transition
• intervention | descriptive vs. analytic epidemiology
• risk factors | cohort | zoonosis | fomite | latency | outlier
• dependent vs. independent variables | false negative
• agent | double blind trials | patient zero | chain of infection
• droplet spread | herd immunity | morbidity | comorbidity
• infant mortality | heterozygote advantage
• Center for Disease Control

Additional Cases & Questions to Discuss

• Explore the impact of smallpox on the indigenous peoples of the Americas. How different would the world look today if humans never got sick?
• Consider the treatment of these supposed psychological disorders in the Victorian Era. Are there diseases being diagnosed today that will someday be viewed as critically?
• Research Beijing’s so-called Airpocalypse. Do other cities face similar threats? How would you go about solving this crisis?
• Explore the impact of climate change on the spread of disease. What measures do you think should be taken in response, if any?
• Why is mad cow disease both a medical and a political issue?
• Look into the shortcomings in the research used to assess a seemingly “100% effective” Ebola vaccine. Should this vaccine be widely administered despite the imperfect data?
• What can the Ebola outbreak teach us?
• Is it possible that the Plague of Athens was actually an Ebola outbreak?
• Is it a good idea to eradicate diseases that may help prevent other diseases? Consider the cases ofcystic fibrosis and sickle cell anemia. 
• Study the politics of the zombie apocalypse. What countries would in fact respond best to such a threat? Is the world prepared for a disaster of this magnitude?
• Obesity is on the rise all over the world. Discuss the possible consequences. Should governments do more to regulate how much people eat and exercise?
• Was the Black Death truly the greatest catastrophe ever? How you would react if an equally lethal (and mysterious!) disease were breaking out in your own community?
• Read about the eradication of smallpox (and about its history as a disease and as an early case study in inoculation). What does it mean for a disease to be eradicated?
• Should hookahs be treated as a public health threat?
• What could be causing dramatic increases in the rates of autism and ADHD among children?
• Although today they are obvious threats to public health, radioactive consumer goods were once very popular. Are there any products on the market now that might be remembered with an equal mix of scorn and horror in a hundred years?

History

A History of Cheating

Introductory Questions

• What is cheating? How is it different from lying?
• Is cheating ever justified?
• What are the advantages and disadvantages cheating?
• How should cheaters be punished?
• Are we morally obligated to report any cheaters we encounter?
• Under what circumstances is cheating a crime?
• Is cheating simply about “breaking the rules”? Or is it about exploiting them?
• Should there be special sporting events for athletes who want to use performance-enhancing drugs?
• Is cheating more acceptable in some cultures than in others?
• Do men and women cheat at the same rate?
• Do certain institutions encourage cheating?
• Are people born with a sense of fairness?
• How can schools prevent cheating?
• Is it possible to cheat in war?
• What is the economic perspective on cheating?
• Should cheating disqualify a politician from winning elected office? How about lying?
• Have you ever cheated?

The Business of Cheating

• False Advertising
• Corporate Espionage
• Tax Evasion
• Collusion and Price Fixing
• Cheating in Sales and Negotiation
• Insider Trading
• Resume Fraud

Teaching Cheating in Education  

• Cheating in the United States, India, the United Kingdom, and Abroad
• Institutional Cheating
• Plagiarism
• The Debate Over Neuroenhancing Drugs

Not So Honest Abe: Cheating in Politics  

• The Politics of Deception
• Message Manipulation
• Cheating Among States
• Gerrymandering: Strategy or Skullduggery?  

Gaming the Games

• Performance Enhancing Drugs
• Match Fixing and the Ethics of Throwing a Game
• Video Games: Cheat Codes and Other Exploits
• Cheating and Gambling: Vice on Vice?

Art or Artifice?

• Counterfeiting and Forgeries
• Technological Shortcuts: Cheating the Process? 
• Borrowing vs. Stealing in Music: Sampling in Hip Hop and Beyond
• Lip Syncing, Autotune, and the Limits of the Authentic

Additional Cases to Research (Examples)

• Academic Decathlon Cheating Scandal (Optional Film: Cheaters*)
• The Wolfgang Beltracchi Fake-Art Scam
• Korean SAT Cancellation
• The Chocolate Wars
• Russian Doping Scandal
• Lance Armstrong Doping Scandal
• Iran Nuclear Deal Enforcement Concerns
• FIFA World Cup: Chile vs. Brazil 1989
• Infamous Olympic Cheating Incidents
• Volkswagen Emissions Scandal

Additional Terms to Learn (Examples)

• Cost/Benefit Analysis | Tracing | Steroids
• Nootropics | Cosmetic neurology | Cosmetic infidelity
• Fudge Factor Theory | “Green Card Marriages”
• Double cross | Catfishing | Prisoner’s Dilemma
• Crib | Bunco | Hustle | Swindle | Smoke Screen

Additional Questions & Cases to Discuss (Examples)

• Watch Dan Ariely’s talk on “Our Buggy Moral Code” – or read this interview and excerpts from hisblog. Does his work change your view of cheating?
• Explore some examples of corporate espionage. Should they be considered acts of cheating?
• Listen to Lin Miao-Ke lip-syncing at the opening of the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics and to Beyoncé doing the same at President Barack Obama’s Second Inauguration. What do these two performances have in common, and how are they different? Explore other notable lip-syncing incidents, and discuss with your team: why is the practice seen so unfavorably?
• Should card counting be illegal? Is it cheating? Research the case of the MIT students whose card counting techniques resulted in their being banned from Las Vegas casinos.
• Is tracing a form of cheating in art?
• When a referee misses an illegal play in a sporting event, as in “The Hand of God”, should the offending player report it?
• Is it cheating for an athlete to pretend he or she was fouled to draw a favorable call by a referee?
• Is it cheating to use a “disabled bathroom” if you are not disabled?
• What is the difference between lying on a college application and simply presenting yourself in the best possible light?
• Study the online practice known as catfishing. Does the Internet make it too easy to lie?
• Is concealing plastic surgery from romantic partners a form of cheating?
• Should students be tested for the use of brain-enhancing drugs before major exams?
• Can computers cheat?
• Is it ever justifiable for researchers to fake or “massage” data, as in this article published in Science?
• Consider the synonyms for cheating listed here. What conclusions can you draw from them about the social context in which they evolved?

• Film contains mature language and should only be watched with teacher consent and adult guidance.

Literature

Words to Light the Darkness

Poems

• A Litany in Time of Plague | Thomas Nashe
• Ode to Broken Things | Pablo Neruda
• The Stolen Child | William Butler Yeats
• Overnight in the Pavilion by the River | Tu Fu (Alt. Translation)
• The Ballad of Reading Gaol | Oscar Wilde
• Refugee Blues | WH Auden
• My Last Duchess | Robert Browning
• Sonnet 147 | William Shakespeare
• Report to Wordsworth | Boey Kim Cheng
• Some Advice to Those Who Will Serve Time in Prison | Nazim Hikmet
• Justice | Langston Hughes
• Dibs Camp, the Women’s Prison | Nabat Fayaq Rahman
• Visits to St. Elizabeths | Elizabeth Bishop
• To A Lover Who is HIV-Positive | Alfred Corn

Short Stories

• The Second Bakery Attack | Haruki Murakami
• Arson Plus | Dashiell Hammett
• Reasons | John Green
• Lamb to the Slaughter | Roald Dahl
• Evidence | Isaac Asimov
• The Elizabeth Complex | Karen Joy Fowler
• The Lottery | Shirley Jackson
• Seven Floors | Dino Buzzati

Art & Music

Flawed Visions, Broken Sounds

Pain in the Paint

• Death and Funeral of Cain | David Alfaro Siqueiros
• The Raft of the Medusa | Théodore Géricault
• Triumph of Death | Palazzo Abatellis, Palermo
• Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse | Victor Vasnetov
• Napoleon Bonaparte Visiting the Plague-Stricken in Jaffa | Antoine-Jean Gros
• Victim of Fanaticism | Mykola Pymoneko
• Unnamed mural at Supreme Court | Jose Clemente Orozco

Yours, Truly

• The Music Lesson | Johannes Vermeer
• The Cardsharps | Caravaggio
• La Horde | Wolfgang Beltracci
• Portrait of Giovanni Arnolfini and his Wife | Jan Van Eyck
• Hustler | Arthur Sarnoff

Stranger than Fiction

• Humans of New York | Brandon Stanton (emphasis on refugee stories)
• Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn | Ai Weiwei
• Diary of an Empty City | Liu Xiaodong
• 245 Cubic Meters | Santiago Sierra
• The Wait | Edward Kienholz
• Project Dust | Brother Nut
• Dismaland | Banksy
• Little Monsters | Flora Borsi

(Im)perfect Perspectives

• Wabi-sabi | Are there artists active today who embrace elements of wabi-sabi in their work? Is it a healthy mindset for valuing the world, or an excuse to settle for imperfection?
• Nonfinito works (emphasis on Michelangelo) | Are incomplete works by definition imperfect? Are "unfinished" and "incomplete" the same thing?

Jailhouse Rocks

• How to Make Gravy | Paul Kelly
• Folsom Prison Blues | Johnny Cash
• Laura Palmer | Bastille
• Liberty Needs Glasses | Tupac Shakur
• Negro y Azul | Los Cuates de Sinaloa
• Schinder’s List, Main Title Theme | John Williams

On a Pale Piano

• The Hurdy-Gurdy Man | Franz Schubert
• 15th Symphony, 1st Movement | Dmitri Shostakovich
• Danse Macabre | Camille Saint-Saëns
• 4th Symphony, 2nd Movement | Gustav Mahler
• Totentanz | Franz Liszt

A World of Tears

• Stink-Foot | Frank Zappa
• Industrial Disease | Dire Straits
• Another Day In Paradise | Phil Collins
• The Way It Is | Bruce Hornsby & the Range
• City of the Damned | Green Day
• Papaoutai | Stromae
• Sunday Bloody Sunday | U2
• Jenny Was A Friend of Mine | The Killers
• I Feel Pretty / Unpretty | Glee Cast Recording   
• Will I | Rent

It Gets Better

• Light (from Next To Normal) | Tom Kitt & Brian Yorkey
• Epilogue (from Les Misérables) | Alain Boublil & Claude-Michel Schönberg
• Proud of Your Boy | Aladdin
• Born This Way | Glee Cast Recording   
• Glory | Common & John Legend

Social Studies

When States Falter

Introductory Questions

• How would you define a state? Are nations and states different?
• What purposes do states serve in the world?
• How different would your life be if you had been born in a different state?
• Do “perfect” states exist in the world?
• What are the “best” and “worst” states you can think of? How are you measuring them?
• Are democracies better states than non-democracies?
• What is the difference between a failed state and a fragile state?
• What do failed (and fragile) states have in common?
• How much of state failure can be attributed to politics?
• How much of state failure can be attributed to factors beyond a state’s control?
• Who should be in charge of measuring a state’s success—its citizens, or other states?
• If you were the leader of a failed or fragile state, whom would you ask for help?
• Can there be such a thing as a failed region in a successful state? How about a successful region in a failed state?
• What happens to a state after it fails? What happens to its people?
• Has globalization made states stronger or weaker?
• Do revolutions and uprisings save states, or further doom them?
• Is a failed state a failed society?
• Are some states doomed to failure?
• Is the traditional concept of the state outdated in an age of globalization and the Internet?
• Do your best to understand the current refugee crisis, also sometimes called the "Syrian" refugee crisis. Should all nations open their borders to people in need - or are nations right to reject any, many, or all of them?

Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good States?

• Factors in State Failure: Civil War | Foreign War | Economic Collapse | Natural Disasters | Climate Change | Regime Type | Leadership | Colonialism | Disease | Geography   
• Select Historical Cases: Biafra | Haiti | Weimar Republic | the Roman Empire | Yemen | Libya | Zaire | Colombia | the Soviet Union | Somalia
• Potential Preventative and Restorative Measures

Total Fail? Tools for Measurement

• Human Development Index | Gross Domestic Product
• Polity IV | Freedom House | Social Progress Index
• Failed States Index | Legatum Prosperity Index  

Additional Terms to Learn (Examples)

• Weak state | Fragile state | Collapsed state | Catastrophic success
• Civil Society | Regime Type | Institutions | NGOs
• Development Agencies | Peacebuilding Commission | Post-Conflict Compacts
• Democratization | Authoritarianism | Sovereignty | Social Contract

Selected Readings & Speeches

• The Coming Anarchy – Robert Kaplan
• The Social Contract (Book 1, Chapter 6, Pages 6-7) – Jean-Jacques Rousseau
• The Prince, Chapters 5 & 17 – Machiavelli
• Leviathan, Chapter 13 – Thomas Hobbes
• “Why Do Societies Collapse?” – Jared Diamond
• “How to Rebuild a Broken State” – Ashraf Ghani   
• “New Rules for Rebuilding a Broken Nation” – Paul Collier

Selected Film: The Lego Movie

Additional Questions & Cases to Discuss (Examples)

• Study the Fund for Peace's "Fragile States Index" (formerly the "Failed State Index"). Why do you think the index has been renamed? Are its metrics appropriate? Where does your country fall in their rankings – and do the rankings of any states surprise you?
• How important are institutions to the success or failure of states? Consider the examples of Nogales and of the two Koreas in the book Why Nations Fail, by Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson – and then read this assessment of their argument by Jared Diamond.
• Is it the duty of other states to rescue or save failed states?  
• Should Colombia serve as a model for other formerly-failed states?
• Is there a failed state cycle—and, if so, how can a state break out of it?
• Are hermit states more likely to fail?  
• Can NGOs prevent state failure—or help restore failed states? If so, what should the focus of their efforts be?
• What can we learn from fictional failed states such as Gotham and Panem?  
• Consider the case of Greece. Is economics the most critical factor in state failure?
• To what degree can we blame the failure of states on climate change?
• Does terrorism cause states to fail? Or: do failed states spawn terrorism?
• Consider the recent catastrophic cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe. Was it the main reason for the government’s collapse – and did Ebola have a similar impact on countries in West Africa? 
• Explore the Rwandan concept of ubudehe. Could it be applied in other failing states?
• Is Belgium a failed state?
• Myanmar was until recently an example (for some) of a failing state. Should the recent elections there change this perception?
• Is it premature (or too pessimistic) to label post-war Iraq a failed state?
• Consider other recent cases of state failure such as Haiti and the Central African Republic. In rebuilding a failed state, how important are democratic elections?
• In Silicon Valley (and beyond), a conventional wisdom has emerged that it is good for people and companies to “fail fast” in order to succeed sooner. Does the same apply to states?