Social Studies Final Study Guide

The Study Guide for the Economic Systems is posted below this post. Here is your study guide for the rest of the final. The economic systems part of your exam is matching and short answer.


Be able to label the oceans and continents on this map.

Know the properties of a country... This part of your exam is multiple choice.

A country needs land. Then it needs leaders to run it. It needs to have a type of government (like Colombia is a republic and a democracy). It needs to have an economic system (Colombia is capitalist). It needs a capital city where the government leaders meet. It needs money, so it has to have a currency. It needs a constitution which is a document that explains how the country will work. It needs people and most of the people need to speak the same language so everyone can communicate. Then, it needs a flag, which is a symbol of the country.

There is one type of "government" which is NOT a government... it is called an ANARCHY. It means there is no government. A country can't have anarchy because there is no government.

You need to know about taxes and budgets...
This part of your exam is true/false and short answer.
1. Taxes are essential for a democracy because that is the money a country uses to pay for social and public programs.
2. Taxes are the money we pay to the government so the government can do things for us.
3. The government needs tax money because otherwise it will not have any money (in a democracy).
4. We pay three main types of taxes: INCOME taxes, PROPERTY taxes, and SALES tax. Income taxes are taxes we pay on money we make when we work. Property taxes are taxes we pay if we own land or a house or an apartment. Sales taxes are what we pay when we buy things.
5. Governments make a "budget", which is a plan for how they will spend the tax money. Even though they need a LOT of money to do everything they want, there is never enough money. They have to pick what to do, and so they need to make a budget. (We practiced "cutting" the budget in class.) Budgets are based on how much money the government gets in taxes. Every government department has a budget.
*You need to know what government department you were in for our budget activity. For example, you might have been in charge of the military or you might have been in the Department of Education.

YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT HUMAN RIGHTS!
This part of your exam is short answer and multiple choice.
1. You should know the definition of human rights. Look at this website if you do not know.
2. You should know about Human Rights in Colombia. The Colombian Constitution guarantees human rights. Know as many as you can remember! (You need to know them in English, but if you didn't write them in your notebook, you can read them in Spanish here: Derechos constitucionales.)
3. You need to know what the United Nations' International Declaration of Human Rights is. Find out at this website: http://www.youthforhumanrights.org/introduction/udhr_abridged.html .

Here is the video we watched in class about human rights and the International Declaration of Human Rights: http://www.youthforhumanrights.org/introduction/index.html.

Here is the other video we watched:


4. You also need to know who protects human rights. (The Red Cross (Cruz Roja), the government, the people of a country, the police, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Profamilia, UNICEF, and the United Nations are all supposed to protect human rights.)

Finally, you have an essay question. This is the question: How do countries, constitutions, governments, and taxes help protect human rights? You need to write at least 2 paragraphs explaining your answer.


Good luck! I'll post a review for Friday's L.A. final later tonight.