The best way to predict the future is to invent it.

Alan Kay

Dont cry over the past, its gone. Dont stress about the future, it hasnt arrived.
Live in the present and make it beautiful. Unknown

If you are depressed, you are living in past. If you are anxious you are living in
future. If you are at peace you are living in present.

Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is mystery. Today is a gift thats why it is called

present.

Learn from past. Live in present. Believe in the future.

I am not a product of circumstances. I am a product of my decisions. Stephen Covey.

All three are the same. Just different vantage points.

Past - a time that has already happened

Present - a time that is happening now

Future - a time that is yet to happen

All is Now.
Past and present are a figment of your imagination.
All you have available to you is the instant you are in.
Do not waste it - unless you want to.

Verb tenses

The tense of a verb tells you when a person did something or when something existed or
happened. In English, there are three main tenses: the present, the past, and the future.

The present

The present tense (e.g. I am, she works, we swim, they believe) is also called the present simple
or simple present. It's mainly used in the following ways:

to describe things that are currently happening or that are currently or always the case (I love
chocolate ice cream; my parents are in New York this week; he has fair hair and blue eyes; some
birds eat worms and insects).
to talk about something that exists or happens regularly (she goes out every Saturday night; it
always rains here in winter; I start work at 7.30 a.m.).

to refer to a future situation in certain cases and in some subordinate clauses (the bus arrives in
London at 6 p.m.; I'll make us some coffee when we get home).

Find out how to form the present simple tense.

The past

The past tense (e.g. I was, he talked, we had, they worked) is also called the past simple or
simple past. As its description implies, its used to talk about things or situations which
happened in the past, that is, before the present time of speaking. Its main uses are as follows:

to refer to an event or situation which happened once and is now finished (I met Lisa yesterday;
we ate a huge breakfast this morning; they walked ten miles that day; you told me that before).

to describe a situation that lasted for a longer time in the past but is now finished (he went to
college for four years; my family lived in Oxford in the 1980s; I loved her for ages but never
told her).

to talk about an event that happened regularly or repeatedly but is now over (she called for help
over and over again; we ate out every night last week; I phoned him three times today).

Find out how to form the past simple tense.

The future

The future tense (e.g. I shall [or will] go; he will talk; we shall [or will] have; they will work) is
used to refer to things that havent yet happened at the present time of speaking, but which are
due, expected, or likely to occur in the future. Here are the main situations in which the future is
used:

to give or ask for information about the future (you will be in California tomorrow; how long
will the journey take?; OK, Ill write that report on Thursday).

to talk about things that we think are likely or possible to happen in the future, but which arent
completely certain (I think shell retire soon; he wont [will not] stay married to her for long;
youll never lose weight, you like food too much).

to refer to conditional situations, namely things that will or may happen if something else occurs
(if its hot Ill go swimming later; youll get stressed out if you work all the time).

to make promises or threats, or to state decisions at the time of speaking (Fine, Ill call you soon;
Are you going into town? Well give you a lift; Ill never speak to you again).

The future tense is formed with will (or shall) and the infinitive of the verb without to. Learn
more about when to use will or shall.

z
BarnRaisers
The best way to predict the future is to create it. 12 reasons
why
Posted on December 22, 2013 by Rob Petersen

The best way to predict the future is to to create it. This quote is credited to both Abraham
Lincoln and Peter Drucker, two people known for their word of wisdom and lessons to live by.

Will 2014 be the year you predict your future by creating it?
Here are 12 reasons why this is such timeless wisdom. 12 perspectives on the meaning and
benefits behind advice that has been given to us for over 200 years.

1. Life is a largely uncharted waters. The best way to know what is coming is to be an
active participant. Philosoblog

2. The important thing is to make it meaningful: a meaningful friend or a meaningful

day. Dalai Lama

3. We are still the masters of our fate. Rational thinking, even assisted by any conceivable
electronic computers, cannot predict the future. Dennis Gabor, Inventing the Future

4. In the face of the unknown, entrepreneurs act. Specifically they: 1) Figure out what they
want, 2) take a small step toward making it reality, 3) think about what they learned from
taking that step, 3) build that learning into their next step, In other words: Act. Learn.
Build. Repeat. Forbes

5. It is not in the stars to hold our destiny, but in ourselves. William Shakespeare

6. Dont worry about what anybody else is going to do. Alan Kay, Apple

7. Todays leaders create the future, versus simply trying to predict it. They: 1) Unlock
potential through empowerment, 2) Move away from linear thinking, 3) Experiment,
Experiment, Experiment and 4) Find your authentic voice. Miroslay Tibernaus, Vice-
president of Barroso Comission and European Commissioner for Enterprise

8. When faced with a challenge, make one. The day before something is a breakthrough,
its a crazy idea. Peter Diamandus, Chairman and Co-Founder, Singularity University

9. In order to build a future you must know the past, Otto Frank, Anne Franks father

10. Change is inevitable and one can either effect a desired change yourself, or be subject to
the results of someone elses change. In other words, be a leader, rather than a follower;
proactive rather than reactive. Active Rain

11. What is the use of running when we are not on the right road? German Proverb

12. The only real way to have any kind of insight into what will happen is to create your
future. Jennine Jacobs

The best way to predict the future is to create it. Peter Drucker
Is this too easy or too hard? If you dont know, youll find out soon enough. Observe, adjust the
plan, and continue. Thats how you predict, and how you create the future.

What does that mean?

The Future Kind of scary sounding. Full of unknowns. Full of twists and turns. How can you
possibly predict it? This quote says that the best way to know what is coming is to be an active
participant.

By creating your future, you are an active player in the events as they unfold. By knowing what
you want, and what you are willing to do to get them, you can help to shape what the future
holds.

Think of two people in a river. One is just floating on a raft, unable to predict what is coming,
because they arent looking around and arent doing anything to move or steer. The other person
is in a kayak, looking for the path they want, and actively steering and moving themselves to that
point.

Which one is predicting the future by inventing it? Which is more likely to be surprised at where
they end up? Yes, there are times to relax, but there are also times to paddle like crazy.

Why is creating your future important?

Not everyone will have the impact on the globe as Bill Gates or Steve Jobs (to pick a pair of
computer guys). But we all can have that level of impact on our own lives. But before we can
predict our own future, before we can create it, we have to know our own lives, and who we are.

By coming up with ideas about what we want to do, we begin to plan. As we plan, we begin to
take actions. As we take actions, we begin to create our future. It really is that simple. Were
creating our future right now. Its just a default future, a whatever future, until we take charge,
right.

We all have the opportunity to create our own future. The question is what will that future be?
What do we want? If we dont work for that dream, for that future which we want to happen,
what will we get instead? Yes, it will take effort. No, it wont always be fun. But what do you
want out of life?

Where can I apply this in my life?

Your past is your foundation. If its shaky or you dont like it, you will have to shore it up or
rebuild it. But if you dont know your past, either because youve tried to forget it or because
youve lied to yourself so many times you believe it, how will you know what your past is?

Self-knowledge is the best way to where you are at now, and what your past has been. Together,
they make your launch pad for the future. As you learn more about yourself, you may find that
you have some back-filling to do in order to have a stable launch pad.
Once the foundation is good, you may find that it isnt in the best place. Do you work on moving
the launch site, or do you take a first few steps from where you are? Thats something you will
have to weigh the options and then come to a conclusion.

Going back to the kayak analogy, you first have to check your equipment. Thats your past, and it
will have an impact on what you do. Is it made of durable plastic, or is it old-school with natural
materials? How water tight is it and what is the buoyancy like?

Now, what are your skills? Can you do an Eskimo Roll? How confident are you? Are you
padding? What about flotation? Helmet? Are you ready for a little white water, or do you thrive
on Class V and up? You know your abilities (present), and now you can start looking at what lies
ahead.

Life is a largely uncharted river. You may have heard something about rocks after the third bend,
but how difficult are they? Knowing your equipment and your skills, you can start taking control.
You decide when to paddle forwards and when to back up. You decide what line to take and
when to get out and portage (carry the boat).

In life, like on the river, you have to rely on your ability to plan with the knowledge you have.
You have to execute that plan to the best of your ability. You have to be able to notice what is
going on. You have to be able to adjust your plan. And then you repeat. And repeat.

You dont go kayaking by just putting your paddle in once and pushing once, right? You wont
go very far in life if that is how you plan to do things, will you? The only question now is what
does the future hold for you? Its up to you to provide your input into the future.

Even if all seems hopeless, you will likely still have control of some of the smaller details. Start
there, and work your way larger. As you get better at this, your launch pad will slowly move to
better ground. But you need to know what you want, and where you are going. Anywhere but
here is not a destination.

From: Twitter, @tonyrobbins

confirmed at : http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/p/peterdruck131600.html
Photo by s.schmitz

Note: This quote, in minor variations, is also attributed to Alan Kay and quite a few others. See
Quote Investigator for details.

The Best Way To Predict The Future Is To Create It

FacebookTwitterPinterestLinkedInTumblrRedditGoogle+Share
The 16th President of the United States, President Abraham Lincoln, is often credited with
saying, The best way to predict the future is to create it. This very statement paints a clear
picture of a man who believed wholeheartedly in remaining steadfast to his dreams, in staying
persistent, and in never giving up, no matter what trials or tribulations might be faced.

But when he said that the best way to predict the future was to create it, he wasnt just talking
about being persistent; he was talking about using the eternal power of thought, the
very fundamental energy that all life and reality is born from, to help manifest your dreams.
Some in the Law of Attraction circles might have even considered him their most fervent
standard bearer.

Still, you might be thinking, sure, for someone as successful as the former President Lincoln, its
easy to say that the best way to predict the future is to create it. But did you know that Abraham
Lincoln, for a large part of his life, considered even himself a failure? He failed far more than he
ever succeeded in life, but people dont remember him for the failures, they remember him for
the successes.

Lets look at just how many times Lincoln failed in life but was still able to hold fervently to the
notion that anyone could predict the future by creating it:

1832 (23 years old): He lost his job and also lost his election bid for the
State Legislature

1833 (24 years old): His business, a general store based in New Salem,
Illinois failed, even though the economy was booming at the time.

1835 (26 years old): The love of his life, Ann Rutledge died of Typhoid fever

1838 (29 years old): Defeated for his bid as Speaker in the Illinois House of
Representatives

1848 (39 years old): Failed to secure an appointment for Commissioner of

the General Land Office in Washington D.C.

1858 (49 years old): He was defeated in his bid to become a U.S. Senator

So, someone who failed in business, and early on in professional politics, still believed that you
could predict the future by creating it. Of course, this is the same man who was elected to the
office of the President of the United States in 1860, self-studied his way into the law profession
and eventually aided in abolishing slavery.
Lincoln learned the humbling lessons that only failure can teach you in life. Its because of
his early failures that he was able to achieve so much later on. There was a deeper purpose there,
something else that was driving him that allowed him to predict his future by simply creating it.
It all became crystal clear to him. That mentality didnt set in right away; it happened over time.

How to Create Your Future

Many years ago, I wrote this book called The Silk Merchant, which followed the journey of a
young man living in squalor who had aspired to achieve his dreams. Set in ancient times, the
purpose of the book was to convey the wisdom and principles of success in their most basic and
simplest forms, things that many people disregard these days.

Yet, I could have never written that book and conveyed those success principles had I never
failed immensely and repeatedly. I still often think back to some of those failures and,
admittedly, it stings a bit. But I know that they had their purpose. There was a rhyme and a
reason to my failures; each and every one of them taught me something different and new,
broadening my perspective and understanding about life.

Throughout all of those failures, I truly did gain the wisdom of the ages. Its not something you
learn when youre succeeding in life. Its hard to realize the most basic principles of life when
your situation is rosy and bright. But these are the same lessons that were conveyed to Lincoln
when he said that the best way to predict the future was to create it.

So, how do you go about creating your future? How do you go about crafting a life for yourself
where youll be happy and successful, achieving all of your wildest dreams? And is it really
possible to be both happy and successful at the same time? Or, is that simply not a possibility?
Well, its possible to do all of the above and then some. But it boils down to your level of
commitment.

Clearly, most people out there want to create a future thats filled with success, love and
happiness. However, when it comes down to doing the work, they either procrastinate, dont give
it their all or simply lose interest. They set goals and forget them rather than setting goals and
working tirelessly towards their fruition.

The problem is that anything in life thats worthwhile takes a lot of work. It wont come easy by
any means. So if you want to create a bigger and brighter future for yourself, you have to be
willing to put in the hours. And Im not talking about working towards someone elses dreams.
Im talking about working on your dreams by building a business and adding real value to the
world.
If youre ready to put in the work and make the sacrifices, here are the steps you need to take in
order to create your own future. While the steps might seem basic and simple, theyre vastly
remote from that. What sounds simple, as most of already know, isnt always so simple.

Step 1 Dream Big

One absolute prerequisite to creating your future, is to first dream it up. And, if youre going to
dream, you might as well dream big. Dont allow others perceptions of whats possible influence
how big you actually dream. The greatest innovators and the most successful people in the world
have always dreamed big. That has always been the foundation for designing and creating the
future they wanted to live in.

Dont allow the fear of not being able to achieve your dreams to stop you from dreaming big.
Too often, were compelled by fear, worry and anxiety, unable to really think on the grandest
scales. But once you realize that its not the size of the fight in the dog in the fight, but the size of
the fight in the dog, youll learn how to overcome even the most difficult circumstances in life.

However, in order to truly dream big, and to really allow your subconscious mind to process and
believe in those dreams, you need to write them down. You need to set goals on paper; you cant
just do this in your mind. When you leave your dreams in your mind, thats where they tend to
stay. You need to bring them out of your mind and onto a sheet of paper or a screen in front of
you.

Many people skip this step. Then, when it comes down to achieving their dreams and working
hard towards something they really thought they wanted, they give up. Rather than stay
persistent, they just default to their detrimental ways, employing bad habits that they know they
need to quit. If this sounds familiar, or you dont want this to happen, then you need to set your
goals the right way.

Step 2 Find Strong-Enough Reasons

What drives and compels you to lurch forward in life? Who or what do you believe in
wholeheartedly with every single fiber of your being? You see, you cant predict the future by
creating it if you dont believe in it first. That belief starts with your reasons. You need to have
strong-enough reasons that you must achieve something rather than simply thinking that
you should achieve something.

In a touching movie from 2006 entitled, The Pursuit of Happyness, Will Smith portrayed the
story of Chris Gardener, a medical-supplies salesman who suffered through the torment of being
homeless for one year in order to achieve his dreams of becoming a stockbroker. If you havent
already seen this movie, stop what youre doing and go watch it right now. Yes, right now.
That movie was by far one of the most inspirational stories ever conveyed on film. But the
reason it was so compelling was in Smiths ability to really connect with that character. You
could really feel that pain and the anguish he suffered through. But more importantly, you could
really see his reasons for striving for and wanting to reach his goals.

Having a young son, as Smith did in the movie, really pushed him to do better in life. He wasnt
willing to settle for less than he deserved his son should have. That was his strong-enough reason
for absolutely knowing that he had to achieve his goals. What are your reasons? Think about it
carefully and really put your effort into writing this out.

I know that, in my life, anytime I really wanted to achieve something, and I mean really, really
wanted to achieve something, nothing stood in my way. The goal didnt materialize overnight.
But it was the fact that I envisioned it so deeply and had such a monumental reason behind it,
that I was able to see things through. Im sure theres been goals in your life where the same has
occurred.

Step 3 Create a Plan

Its not enough to just dream big and have deep-rooted reasons for wanting to achieve your
goals. You also need to create a plan. A goal without a plan is just a wish. If you dont want to
keep wishing youd achieve something in life, then you have to take the time to create a roadmap
of sorts. How will you get from the present point to where you want to go in life?

Not only do you need a plan, but it needs to be a massive action plan. What are all the steps you
need to take to hit your milestones on the way to your goals? You need milestones so that you
can stay on track towards those bigger, longer-term goals. The massive action plan will help you
to design and create those steps, but its up to you to keep yourself accountable.

Take the time to build your plan. For each of your goals, determine how youre going to get
there. How will you save the money to start your own business? How will you instill the right
diet to lose the weight? How will you do whatever it is youre looking to achieve? You have to
get from one point to the next. That doesnt happen overnight; it can only happen over time with
the right amount of persistent action.

The plan will also allow you to determine what needs to be done, right now, towards the
attainment of your goals. Use the plan to create daily MITs, or most important tasks of the day.
Its those MITs that will allow you to inch closer and closer to your goals. Take the time to write
all of this down. Again, you cant keep this stuff in your head.
Step 4 Analyze Your Results
To get from one point to the next, you need some metric for tracking and measuring your results.
No matter what goal youre after, or whatever future youre trying to create for yourself, you
need to be able to analyze the results. Without this analysis, its easy to get lost in the obscurity
of your results, and in turn, to lose your focus.

Analyzing your results also helps to give you some momentum. Its in those small wins that
were able to keep pushing towards creating the future of our dreams. However, you need some
system for measuring and tracking your results without just keeping it in your head. Again, it has
to be on paper or on a screen in front of you.

The best way to do this is to create a spreadsheet and actually graph your results. Its nice to see
your results as a chart over time. You can watch the chart as it goes up or down, analyzing what
happened, where you succeeded and where things went wrong. This is also a great way to go
back to your plan and see whats working and whats not, allowing you to scale things out using
the Pareto Principle or change things up.

If youre used to Excel or Google Sheets, then use one of those programs. If you want to do
things more traditionally, buy a small notepad and write down your results every single day on
paper. The point here is to stay consistent with this. Dont just track for a few weeks or months
then forget to do it. This has to quite literally become habitual.

Step 5 Stay Focused and Committed

When goals are new, theyre exciting. Theyre lustrous and shiny. But as time passes, those goals
lose their allure. Theyre not so exciting after months and even years. In fact, for the most part,
we tend to forget about them after a while. But if you want to create your future and design the
life of your dreams, you have to stay focused and committed.

This, as you might already know, is one of the biggest stumbling blocks that exists. It boils down
to just how committed you are to your goals. Clearly, if you want to predict your future by
creating it, you have to instill a certain level of belief and faith in your abilities to achieve your
goals. It isnt easy. But its most certainly worth it when youre able to bring those dreams to
fruition.

In order to do this, you really need to become an effective manager of your time. Since we all
have the same amount of time in this world, it doesnt boil down to how much time we have, but
how wisely we use the little time thats available to us. If you spend your time wasting it away,
enthralled in pursuits that dont serve you, youll have no one to blame but yourself.

This is also where really good success-leaning habits come into play. When your habits are good,
its easier to default to achieving your goals and creating a future thats bright and filled with
hope, rather than one thats bleak and lifeless. If you dont want to slave away at a life-sucking 9-
to-5 job, and you really do want to predict the future by creating it, you have to make some
serious choices and really stick it out.

This is about the Art of Persistence, plain and simple. When you harbor the principle of
persistence in your heart, nothing can get in your way. No matter how many times you fail or fall
down, it makes no difference. Youll just keep getting back up again and again, which reminds
me of something Sylvester Stallones character, Rocky Balboa once said:

Let me tell you something you already know. The world aint all sunshine and rainbows. Its a
very mean and nasty place and I dont care how tough you are it will beat you to your knees and
keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it
aint about how hard ya hit. Its about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How
much you can take and keep moving forward. Thats how winning is done!

N
ovember
/D
ecember
2008
367

Social Studies Disciplines

Explore the Past to

Understand the
Present
and Shape the
Future
Susan Graseck
We all know that our students need
more than the facts. They need a basic
understanding of our historywhere
we came from or how civilizations have
evolved and interacted. But they also
need to understand why this k nowledge
is important and how it relates to their
present. They need to appreciate how this
knowledge is useful as we create the next
chapter, the one they will co-author.
And they need to believe itthat it is
their chapter.
Social Education 72(7), pp 367370
2008 National Council for the Social Studies
In Robert Heilbroners
prophetic
book,
An Inquiry into the Human
Prospect
, published in 1974, he exam
-
ined three threats to the survival of
humanit y that he believed world leaders
would have to address in order to avert
disasternuclear annihilation, over-
population, and environmental catas
-
trophe.
1
In recent years, the emerging
possibilities of nuclear terrorism, the
struggle of the community of nations
to contend with massive starvation and
major disasters, and frequent revela
-
tions on the impact of climate change
have become more deeply etched into
our consciousness and underscore the
prescience of Heilbroners forecast.
These are worldwide problems, inex
-
tricably connecting national interests
to global solutions. Will the rising gen
-
eration be equipped to deal with the
world they are inheriting? And what
is our responsibility as social studies
educators?
Kurdish refu
-
gees at a camp
near the Iraq-
Turkey border
await relief
supplies from
coalition forces
in 1991.
Photo courtesy of
the U.S. Defense

The U.S. Role in the World

What role should the United States play in the world

today and in coming years?

What are the challenges before us?

What issues are of most concern to us?

What kind of world do we want in the twenty-first

centur y?

This lesson, excerpted from a longer unit on the subject of U.S. foreign policy, places
students in the role of decision-makers as they explore four divergent policy alternatives
Futuresand then articulate their own views. It is best done after consideration of one or
more current foreign
policy issues. Scholars Online video clips also provide a useful
introduction to the topic. They are available from the Scholars
Online Section of the Choices Program website,
www.choices.
edu/scholars
.
The four Futures are not intended as a menu of choices.
Rather, they are framed in stark terms to highlight very differ
-
ent policy approaches. Each alternative includes a set of poli
-
cies on specific issues, an overview of the beliefs that underlie
it, some arguments in support of the position, and some of its
risks and tradeoffs. Critiques for each Future come from the
perspective of supporters of the other Futures.
It is the students job to sort through the four Futures, think
about their own concerns and values, discuss these with their
peers, and then frame a Future 5 that reflects their own
views. Finally, students should be given an opportunity to
express their own views on future policy direction.
The Futures and accompanying resources are available online
from the Teaching with the News section of the Choices
Program website,
www.choices.edu/twtn
.
DAY I:
Preparation and Presentation of the Options
Break your class up into five groups. Assign four of the groups
a Future (one for each group). Assign the remaining group the
role of the president and his advisors or of the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee.
Futures Presenters:
Their task will be to review their assigned
Future, consider the values that underlie it as well as the
tradeoffs involved, and then develop a short presentation to
give to the class. This presentation should make the best pos
-
sible case for this Future.
Senate Foreign Relations Committee:
Their task will be
to review each of the Futures presented in the material and
prepare clarifying questions to ask of the advocates of each
Future after their presentation. The intent is to make sure that
the Futures, as they are written, are fully understood prior to
deliberation on their merits, risks, and tradeoffs.
DAY II: Shared Deliberation and Individual Judgment
With the Futures presented and understood, students have a
foundation for deliberation on the merits and the tradeoffs of
each. Ultimately students will articulate their own views on the
approach the United States should take to foreign policy.
Deliberating on the Futures
Begin your deliberation by asking students to identify the
things they like and the things that concern them about each
of the Futures presented. Encourage students to listen care
-
fully to each other rather than to try to win the argument.
The intent of deliberative discourse is to see that all perspec
-
tives are heard and considered and that all participants have a
place at the table.
Articulating Their Own Views
After students have deliberated together on the merits and
tradeoffs of the Futures presented, have them articulate their
own views on the issue by framing their own Future 5 using
the format of the Futures presented.
Finally, students are also encouraged to express their views
to elected officials. Students can find contact information for
the White House at
www.whitehouse.gov/contact/
and for their
U.S. senators and representatives at
thomas.loc.gov/
.
ABC-CLIO, the leading publisher of history and social studies databases
for secondary schools, announces an annual competition for teams of
high school and middle school students, their Social Studies teachers,
and Library Media Specialists.
Its all about advancing research skills and historical and critical thinking as
teams of high school and middle school students, coached by their Social
Studies teachers and/or Library Media Specialist identify and support
their selection of the people, places, and events that have had the most
profound impact in shaping history.
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History doesnt just happen; it is
mademade by real people who faced
real challenges, who had uncertainty
about the future, just as we do today.
Author David McCullough has said,
... history is not about the past. If
you think about it, no one ever lived
in the past.... They lived in the pres
-
ent. The difference is it was their
present, not ours. They were caught
up in the living moment exactly as
we are, and with no more certainty
of how things would turn out than
we have.
2
Astute social studies teachers move
with ease between past and present; it
is their stock-in-trade. We want students
to understand what it was like to live at
critical moments in history, to feel the
moment as those living it did. We also
want them to understand that histor y can
be an impor tant instrument that informs
our approach to critical issues today.
Just as McCullough reminds us that
history is made in the present, it is also
important to remember that when his
-
tory is made it becomes a piece of our
world, a factor in our future decisions.
In September 2002, media coverage had
increased public awareness of brewing
policy regarding U.S. plans in Iraq. By
early 2003, the country and the wider
world were in turmoil over what approach
to take concerning Saddam Hussein. As
Washington debated a plan of action, stu
-
dents in more than 4,000 classrooms,
guided by their teachers, wrestled with
a set of alternative policy options articu
-
lated in an online curriculum resource.
If we try to put ourselves back in that
moment, it is difficult now to remember
that the United States was wrestling with
the question of what to do about Saddam
Hussein and his alleged weapons of mass
LESSOn P
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ocial
e
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ucatio
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370
destruction and which nations would
join with us. Should the United States
(1) act alone to remove Saddam Hussein
from power and eliminate his weapons
of mass destruction; (2) work with the
international community to eliminate
Iraqs weapons of mass destruction;
(3) reject warat least nowand continue
to contain and deter Saddam Hussein;
or (4) reject the use of military force
and reduce our foreign policy profile?
All were tough choices with real conse
-
quences. When the nation went to war
with Iraq in March 2003, Washington
had made its choice; and with it, a new
chapter in history began to take shape.
As the current war in Iraq deepened,
the Choices Program developed a sub
-
stantive resource to engage students in
exploration of the history of Iraq, from
its early years to the present. Working
with this resource, students acquire a
contextualized understanding of Iraqi
history and the history of U.S. policy in
the region and, in turn, a more complete
understanding of the political, social, and
cultural forces at play today. A rmed with
this historical knowledge, students are
prepared to deliberate on current policy
using a framework of divergent policy
alternatives that we as Americans are fac
-
ing. These options are framed in stark
terms, complete with competing policy
proposals, risks, and trade-offs.
3
These
could also be understood as futures
alternative images of a moment in the
future arrived at through competing
approaches to the current challenge.
Evaluating the significance of theoreti
-
cal choices is precarious, but necessary,
if students are to learn how to conceptu
-
alize the future and participate in deci
-
sions in the present. If our students are
to become competent analysts of world
affairs and problem solvers tomorrow, we
The Futures In Brief
Future 1: Lead the World to Democracy
The United States is the most powerful nation in the world. The world depends on us to
maintain peace and order and to support
liberal democratic principles. We must devote the necessary resources to build an
international moral order and a vigorous interna
-
tional economy grounded in American political and economic principles; and we must
protect this international system from any
threats, even if pressuring other governments to adopt American democratic principles may
spark international criticism that the
United States is trying to control the world.
Future 2: Protect U.S. Global Interests
We live in a dangerously unstable world. U.S. foreign policy must strive for order and
security. We need to focus our energies on pro
-
tecting our own security, cultivating our key trade relationships, ensuring our access to
crucial raw materials, and stopping the spread
of nuclear weapons to unfriendly nations or to terrorist networks. We must be selective in
our involvement in international affairs and
be prepared to protect ourselvesat home and abroadagainst any threats to our security
and prosperity, even if this policy may
breed resentment and lead to an angry backlash.
Future 3: Build a More Cooperative World
We live today in an interdependent and interconnected world. We cannot stand alone.
National boundaries can no longer halt the
spread of AIDS, international drug trafficking, terrorism, and other global scourges. We must
take the initiative to bring the nations of
the world together and bolster the UNs role in maintaining international security and
responding to other global problems, such as
environmental pollution, financial crises, and worldwide refugees. We must be willing to
cede a portion of our independent author
-
ity, or sovereignty, to the UN and offer our military, intelligence, and economic support to
UN-led initiatives, even if this may limit our
ability to use unilateral military force outside of North America.
Future 4: Protect the U.S. Homeland
The attacks of September 11, 2001, have made us feel a vulnerability not felt in more than
50 years. We have spent hundreds of bil
-
lions of dollars a year defending our allies in Western Europe and East Asia and distributed
tens of billions more in foreign aid to
countries throughout the developing world. These high-profile foreign policy programs have
only bred resentment and created new
U.S. enemies. It is time to sharply scale back our foreign involvement and turn our attention
to the real threats facing Americansa
sagging economy, decaying schools, a shaky healthcare system, and inadequate resources
to protect against terrorismeven if this
may upset the worldwide balance of power and cause insecure countries to seek nuclear,
biological, and chemical weapons.
N
ovember
/D
ecember
2008
371
must engage them in informed delibera
-
tion on the uncertainties of history and
the challenges of the presentanalysis
typically conducted by scholars and pol
-
icy elites. A Jeffersonian outlook on the
responsibility of an informed citizenry
would suggest that the public has a key
role to play, to set the broad parameters
within which policy is made.
If our st udents a re goi ng to be prepa red
to participate as active citizens shaping
the world of tomorrow, they must under
-
stand that history didnt just happen, it
was made, and that they have a place
in making the choices that will become
the history of tomorrow. If they are to
appreciate fully the dynamic nature of
this continuum from past to future, they
will need to acquire a variety of intellec
-
tual skills. They must be able to:

Understand multiple perspectives

and competing interpretations;

Grasp the concept of multiple causa

-
tion;

Contextualize the past;

Make connections across time and

place;

Differentiate among fact, opinion,

and interpretation;

Weigh the impor tance and reliabilit y

of evidence and explain its signifi
-
cance;

Comprehend and use primary

sources; and

Formulate rational conclusions.

The theme of this years National
Council for the Social Studies confer
-
ence is Embrace the Future. If we want
our students to embrace the future that
we are, in fact, constructing together, we
must help them understand that we do
not study history because its good for us,
we study it because it is also about our
future. They will only understand this
if they can see the continuum from past
to future and view the content we teach
within the context of that continuum.
When we at the Choices Program say,
Explore the pastshape the future, it
is this very continuum that we have in
mind.
notes
1.
Robert Heilbroner,
An Inquiry into the Human
Prospect
(New York: W. W. Norton and Company,
1974), 150.
2.
David McCullough,
The Course of Human Events
,
2003 Jefferson Lecture.
3.
To help students appreciate that the choices we make
affect the future we are building, the policy options
considered before the war in Iraq are still available
at
www.choices.edu/resources/twtn_iraq.php
.
Susan Graseck
is director of the Choices for
the 21st Century Education Program at Brown
University and a Senior Fellow at Browns Watson
Institute for International Studies.