Lesson 10

In preparation for the Section Diagnostic, we will identify ethical issues and questions raised by the mandating of vaccinations. We will learn more about how California has worked to restrict exemptions for vaccinations by reading the article “California Law to Restrict Medical Vaccine Exemptions Raises Questions Over Control.” We will use evidence from the text read to analyze the arguments and discuss if California should be a model for the rest of the country when the question of mandating vaccinations and limiting exemptions arises.

Lesson Goals

Can I evaluate the relevance and credibility of information, ideas, evidence, and reasoning in arguments for and against mandatory vaccinations?
Can I formulate and use questions to establish and deepen my understanding?
Can I understand the ethical concepts, approaches, and themes related to balancing the common good with individual rights and personal liberty?
Can I develop and clearly communicate a meaningful and defensible claim about the ethics of mandating vaccinations that represents valid, evidence-based analysis?

Texts

Core

- “California Law to Restrict Medical Vaccine Exemptions Raises Questions over Control,” Katherine Drabiak, The Conversation, 2019

- “The Vaccine War,” Frontline, Public Broadcasting Service, 2015

Materials

Tools

Question Sets

Editable Google Docs

Activity 1: Discuss

We will review our notes from the previous lessons and arguments, and discuss how the common good versus personal liberty is at the Center of debates concerning mandatory vaccinations.

Review your notes from both readings and class discussions and from watching "The Vaccine War." With a partner or small group, share your responses to the following questions:

Do the common good benefits of mandating vaccinations outweigh the potential compromises to individual rights and personal liberty?
Reflecting on the arguments you have read in favor of and against mandatory vaccinations, what is the most compelling claim or evidence for you?

Activity 2: Read – Write

We will read and annotate the article “California Law to Restrict Medical Vaccine Exemptions Raises Questions over Control” by Katherine Drabiak.

Read and annotate the article "California Law to Restrict Medical Vaccine Exemptions Raises Questions over Control." Pay close attention to the arguments and claims made by Drabiak, and make notes about how these arguments are supported by evidence.

Identify a place in the argument where Drabiak most clearly and directly states her position on mandating vaccinations and limiting exemptions.

After you have delineated the argument on your own, work with a partner and use an Evaluating Arguments Tool to evaluate Drabiak’s argument.

As you use the tool to evaluate the argument, pay close attention to and discuss details from the text that are related to the following questions:

How does the author’s background, approach, or language indicate a bias that affects the argument’s perspective or reasoning?
How is supporting evidence used by the author? How credible, convincing, and complete is it?
Is the argument well-reasoned and logical? Are its position, claims, and evidence organized and presented coherently?

Activity 3: Read – Write – Discuss

We will review some of the claims Drabiak makes in her argument.

As a class, make a list of the major claims made by Drabiak about restricting exemptions to vaccinations. Then, discuss and evaluate the strength of each claim. Note: A claim’s strength will be determined by how clearly and forcefully it is expressed, how well supported by evidence it is, and how reasonable and defensible it seems to be.

Your teacher will list two columns in front of the class, one for the claims and one for an evaluation of their strength.

From your notes, identify claims you see as central to the argument, citing where you found the claim in the text. Suggest your evaluation of how strong the claim is on a scale from one to five, with one being very weak and five being very strong.

Discuss your rating of the claim as a class, and determine if you can reach a consensus on the strength of the claim.

When you have discussed all the claims identified by members of the class, look at the pattern of evaluations, considering the following questions:

What distinguishes the claims that the class agrees are strong or very strong?
Based on the overall strength of its claims, how effective or convincing is Drabiak’s argument?

Activity 4: Write

We will use the article as the basis for writing a short claim, using evidence from the text that summarizes a position on California’s law to restrict exemptions.

Based on your reading of Drabiak’s argument and the other arguments in Section 2, both for and against strict mandating of vaccinations, consider the following question:

Based on the ethical issues involved, should states mandate vaccinations and strictly limit parental exemptions?

In response, take one of the following two positions, form a claim that expresses that position and its basis, and write a paragraph that uses evidence from the texts to support its position.

Argumentative Positions

States should protect the common good by mandating vaccinations and limiting parental exemptions.
States should respect individual parental rights by ensuring opportunities for informed consent and allowing reasonable exemptions to mandatory vaccination.

Your teacher will assign your position randomly. Once you have been assigned a position, review the list of claims and evaluations of their strength we created as a class, as well as claims and evidence from other arguments.

Write a paragraph that expresses, explains, and supports the position you have been assigned to take.

Activity 5: Discuss

We will present our claims and paragraphs to another student who has taken the opposite position, and advocate for the position we have been assigned.

You will be paired up with someone who wrote a claim that opposes yours. Share your claim with your partner by reading your paragraph and responding to any clarifying questions.

As a listener, initially respond to your partner's claim in a respectful manner. If the argument is unclear, ask clarifying but not challenging questions.

Once you have both shared your claims and paragraphs, discuss the two positions and the claims and evidence that support them. Use these questions from the Analyzing Ethical Issues Question Set to further analyze and discuss the two arguments:

Philosophical Issues and Approaches

The Common Good: In what ways does the argument reflect consideration of the common good?
Individual Rights and Personal Liberty: In what ways does the argument reflect consideration of individual rights or personal liberty?

Public Health Issues and Controversies

Mandates and Objections: In what ways does the argument address the controversy between governmental mandates and citizen objections?

Activity 6: Read – Write

We will review the section 2 diagnostic checklist and identify a set of issues and questions that have arisen during the unit regarding the development and mandating of vaccinations to prevent infectious diseases. We will individually consider an ethical approach that we find relevant to one of the issues, and form a claim in response to the task question.

Step 1

Access the Section 2 Diagnostic Checklist and read through the question and prompt, annotating key words that suggest what you will be expected to do.

Step 2

Make a list of ethical issues and questions that have arisen during this unit, and your reading of arguments for and against strict mandates. You might begin with the question you addressed in the previous activities:

Based on the ethical issues involved, should states mandate vaccinations and strictly limit parental exemptions?

Now, think about and articulate other, related questions that have arisen within arguments you have read, for example:

Should parents consider the wellbeing of the community and others’ children when deciding whether to opt out of mandatory vaccinations for their own children?
Are efforts to educate parents and encourage informed consent more effective than strict mandates and limitations to exemptions?
Based on the Hippocratic Oath, what ethical issues and dilemmas do doctors face as they respond to both vaccination mandates and parental objections?

Generate a class list of five to seven questions related to vaccinations, public mandates and objections, and ethical perspectives on the issues.

Step 3

Individually, determine which of the questions you will address in the Section Diagnostic, write the question in your Learning Log, and explain why you have chosen it and how you will use an ethical approach to address it.

Form a claim that presents your response and solution to the question and issue, based on your current beliefs and the ethical approach you have decided to take.

Activity 7: Read

For homework and in preparation for the Section Diagnostic in the next lesson, we will review the texts we have read throughout section 2 and highlight key arguments, claims, and evidence related to the ethical question we have decided to address and the ethical approach we will take.

For homework, review your notes from the texts you read in Sections 1 and 2, identifying texts, arguments, claims, and evidence that are closely related to the question you have decided to address, the ethical approach you will take, and the solution you will advocate for in your central claim.

Read through the Section 2 Diagnostic Checklist again, this time paying particular attention to the list of expectations below the task prompt.

Think about how you will use the texts and evidence you have identified to explain and support your claim and successfully meet these expectations.

For homework, review your Vocabulary Journal. Identify a significant word or words that you would like to use in your response to the Section Diagnostic

Review your Mentor Sentence Journal. Select at least one technique that you plan to use when writing your response to the Section Diagnostic.