NY Social Studies 8.9c

Social Studies8th GradeKey Idea 8.9

The Standard

The Great Society programs of President Lyndon Johnson strengthened efforts aimed at reducing poverty and providing health care for the elderly, but the Vietnam War drained resources and divided society.

New York State K–12 Social Studies Framework

Key Idea 8.9

DOMESTIC POLITICS AND REFORM: The civil rights movement and the Great Society were attempts by people and the government to address major social, legal, economic, and environmental problems. Subsequent economic recession called for a new economic program. (Standards: 1, 4, 5; Themes: TCC, SOC, CIV, ECO)

Teacher's field guide

What This Standard Means

What Students Need to Do: Students explain how Johnson's domestic programs addressed poverty and health care. They distinguish Medicare, mainly for older adults, from Medicaid, for eligible people with low incomes. They connect war spending and the draft to reduced domestic resources, protest, and counterculture.
What Mastery Looks Like: A student can correctly match Medicare and Medicaid with the people each program serves. The student can use a budget figure, draft notice, speech, or protest image to explain how the war affected domestic policy and public opinion.
Common Misconceptions: Students often reverse Medicare and Medicaid or assume both cover only older adults. They may treat the Great Society as ending poverty, rather than reducing it through specific programs. They may view antiwar protesters as one uniform group and miss how draft rules and war costs widened opposition.
How to Assess It: Exit ticket: In three boxes, define Medicare, define Medicaid, and write two sentences linking the draft or war spending to protest and domestic reform.

Lesson moves

Ways to Teach It

Give pairs 20 budget tokens to divide between domestic programs and Vietnam, then reveal rising war costs and require reallocation.
Using a draft notice and protest poster, ask: How could the draft change a teenager's view of the federal government?
Read beneficiary scenario cards and have students move to Medicare, Medicaid, Both, or Neither corners, then defend each choice.
Compare current Medicare and Medicaid eligibility pages, then identify which 1960s goals each program still serves.

Free download