AP Comparative Gov't Class Presents on Nigeria

by Yoni Pedram, SSLI '27

This past Monday, the AP Comparative Government class presented on Nigeria, the last unit in their curriculum. In AP Comparative Government, the students study different countries and their governments and compare the different country’s political systems. For each country they learn about, the students are assigned one of the following topics to present on: current issues, economy, relationship to the US, relationship to Israel, American citizens who are from the country, and arts and culture.

Mr. Trupin, the class’ teacher, explained the purpose of these presentations. “When we learn about other countries' approaches to a problem, we can better assess the effectiveness of our own approach.” He further explained, “They [the students] learn about how things work in another country and also get some experience making a presentation to an audience.”

Eden Greenfeld, who presented on Nigerian arts and culture, remarked, “Presentations are my favorite part of the class. I enjoy making the presentations and hearing the other students present, and hearing what they found on their topic is really interesting.” She expanded: “Something I learned about Nigeria from the presentations was that Nigeria is sometimes called the ‘Silicon Lagoon,’ instead of ‘Silicon Valley,’ the American version.”

Senior Shir Levenson's slideshow cover. She presented on Nigeria's economy. (Shir L.)

Trupin concluded, “My hope would be that my students feel the class was worthwhile and that they enjoyed it.”

Yonatan Pedram is an editor for Paw Print Now and has been published on the site since October 2023. Yonatan is currently a junior at the Schechter School of Long Island and can be reached at the following email address: ypedram27@schechterli.org.