From the viewpoint of life on college campuses, increases in minority enrollments and the relaxation of parietal rules and of regulations regarding course requirements were among the significant consequences of the 1960s. Although not every college or university introduced major changes, a very large number did so. Ask several students to research the matter at their own institution, using admission-office publications, college catalogs, campus newspapers, and such committee records as may be open to inspection. Did any changes take place? Under what circumstances? Ask the students to present their findings, categorized as either social or academic, to the class. If there were changes, were they beneficial? Let the class discuss their judgments.

In 1964 Beatlemania swept the nation. The response of the adult public was variously indifference, appreciation, amusement, or apprehension at radical changes in music, hairstyles, and appearance. Five years later Woodstock celebrated hard rock and an orgy of self-indulgence. Are the two phenomena related? Was Beatlemania a musical happening or something else? What about Woodstock? Ask several interested students to prepare a brief paper. Morris Dickstein, Gates of Eden (1977), and titles in the "New Left and Student Movements" section of the chapter bibliography are excellent sources. Depending on the nature of the class, the instructor may determine that this subject should be explored further and invite the students who have prepared a paper to make a presentation and lead class discussion.

Tragedy struck at Kent State and Jackson State in 1970. Public reaction to Kent State was far greater than that following the killings in Mississippi. The instructor can provide a somewhat fuller summary of the events at the two institutions, including discussion of public reaction. Assign a pair of students to read about Kent State in Newsweek and another pair to read about it in U.S. News and World Report. Similarly, assign two pairs of students to read about it in the two magazines. Why was the Jackson State incident so much less of a shock? Was it because it occurred weeks after Kent State and the nation was tired of the issue? Was it because there were fewer deaths? Was it race? These questions are for class discussion, beginning with the eight students who have done the reading. Additional sources include Joseph Kelner and Thomas Munves, The Kent State Coverup (1980); Scott L. Bills, editor, Kent State: May 4 (1988) and Tim Spofford, Lynch Street: The May 1970 Slayings at Jackson State College (1988).

As a follow-up to a lecture on the Vietnam War, or in place of it, you may wish to encourage students to grapple with the problems of why the war was fought, how it was fought, and what happened both to the combatants and to others who were drawn in. Using those three broad topics as a starting point, narrow the questions and sharpen the focus according to the particular emphases desired; assign a small group of students to prepare short responses that can be used to generate class discussion. See Robert J. McMahon, editor, Major Problems in the History of the Vietnam War (second edition; 1995), and David W. Levy, The Debate Over Vietnam (1991).

Let the instructor prepare three different scenarios describing the behavior of a military unit dealing with an indigenous and hostile population, many of whom are mere citizens by day but guerrillas by night. Each scenario will be a page or so. The first is essentially the story of My Lai, but disguised by use of fictitious and nonexistent names and nationalities. The second will be a very similar situation, but the actors involved are the Soviet army and the Hungarians in 1956. The third scenario is yet again a similar situation, but the actors here are Serbs and Bosnians in 1995. Give the students the scenarios one at a time in reverse order, My Lai last. After each reading, some discussion. With whom are one's sympathies? Of what does justice consist in such situations? Do the political views and the nationality of the military unit make a difference in determining guilt?

Why the Watergate break-in? President Nixon's election victory in 1972 was virtually assured. What was there about the president and the people around him that led to such an act? A biographical lecture about Nixon and the text account should provide enough material for students to engage in useful discussion of these questions. For those who wish to read further, direct them to titles under "Watergate" in the chapter bibliography; to Fred Emery, Watergate: The Corruption of American Politics and the Fall of Richard Nixon (1994); and to Stanley I. Kutler, editor, Abuse of Power: The New Nixon Tapes (1997).