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Summary and Objective
By exploring historical means of drafting military personel, as well as probability, students will understand that men have been chosen for military service in times of need by means of a random process that can be duplicated in a classroom.
Teaching Plan
Step 1.
Ask students if they know of ways that might be used to choose people to do an job when there are not enough volunteers to do it. Some suggestions might include drawing names, asking for volunteers, rolling a die, tossing a coin, or having a person (adult, parent, boss, teacher) assign the job. You may want to discuss which ways seem most/least fair and why.
Step 2.
Create a simple lottery in class in order to assign particular jobs. Have students determine the odds of their name being drawn. Slips of paper with student names can be place in a paper bag. Before being drawn out, have students determine the odds of their name being chosen. Does this seem to be a fair way to get jobs done in the classroom?
Step 3.
View the pictures from World War I and of the Civil War era draft cylinder. Does a draft seem to be a fair way to choose people to for military service?
Step 4.
To learn how the Selective Service conducts the draft lottery, read the information from the Selective Service website. Notice that the lottery would be conducted "with full coverage by the media." The YouTube video of the 1969 draft lottery is an example of this media coverage. It is not compelling television, but after watching a few minutes, discuss with students why it is considered important enough to put on national TV. How has the process changed from the time of the Civil War to that of the Vietnam War?
Step 5.
As a follow-up, you may want to discuss with students why workers for other jobs that are considered to be of national importance (building roads and bridges, serving in Congress, or protecting national borders are a few examples) are not determined in the same way.
Step 6.
Older students may want to read the Selective Service website more fully to investigate the exact methods by which men are chosen (two independent, random events). It may be too complicated for middle school students.
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