Grade 9-12
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Lesson

Should I Join the Sweatshop Boycott?

Time: 60 mins,
Updated: April 24 2023,
Author: Stephen Day

Objective

After completing this lesson students will be able to:

  • Analyze changes in living standards in different regions over time.
  • Create and support an argument for or against a sweatshop boycott using primary and secondary sources.

Description

In Lesson #8 of the Ethics, Economics, and Social Issues curriculum, students study several sources that investigate the effects of garment factory labor in developing countries.

Students study a news report, several letters home from factory workers, and a graph of living standards in different regions over time.

As a performance assessment, students write an email to a friend explaining why they will or will not be joining a boycott of t-shirts made without higher labor standards.