This image is from a 2010 protest in Great Britain against education fees and programming cuts. Education is just one of many social issues that can elicit wildly different yet equally passionate responses from citizens. Perhaps this is because not everyone agrees on the purpose of education in the first place.
Whether made during protests or through political channels, calls for reform are issued by groups dissatisfied with the status quo. They are also more frequent than you might think. At the time that this activity was written in 2016, the following news headlines were just a few of the thousands of news stories about protest and reforms circulating the globe. You are not responsible for understanding each news story; instead, think about the great frequency of protests and calls for reform; regardless of the context, the protesters and the reformers are hoping to re-shape the world in some way.
Protests | Reforms |
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What Makes Reform Movements Have Impact?
As you can see, calls for reform are common. Not all reform movements, however, have lasting impact. What makes reform movements have an impact? Develop and propose your own criteria for impactful reform. How would you know if a movement had an impact in re-shaping the world? Though you can frame your response as you like, your criteria should address the following:
As you explore the four topics, you will be assessing the impact of these four reform movements of the 19th century: Education, Prisons, Emancipation and Labour. You should use the Reform Movements Evidence Organizer to help guide your thinking as you explore each movement. You are trying to develop and answer the unit question: What re-shaped the world?
the process of being set free from legal, social or political restrictions
In the Minds On for this activity, you authored your own criteria for impactful reform, and you took notes in the Reform Movements Evidence Organizer to gather evidence of each of the 19th century reform movement's impact.
Think about the reform movements. What impact did they have? What questions do you have?