Lesson
Benedict Arnold and Dishonor
Founding Principles
Guiding questions
Essential Question
- Why is acting dishonorably destructive to a healthy political system and civil society?
Guiding Questions
- Why is acting deceptively and without integrity associated with dishonor?
- How can dishonor challenge our ability to act with integrity?
- What does it mean to act with honor?
Learning Objectives
- Students will define the vice of dishonor by examining the story of Benedict Arnold.
- Students will explore examples of individuals acting with dishonor to identify the dangers of deception and lack of integrity in a civil society.
- Students will assess how their own behaviors and habits reflect honor and dishonor.
Materials
Student Resources
Teacher Resources
- Analysis Questions
- Virtue in Action
- Journal Activity
- Sources for Further Reading
- Virtue Across the Curriculum
Lesson Components
Lesson plan
Key Terms
- Dishonor
- Failing to demonstrate good character and integrity, and acting deceptively.
- Integrity
- To tell the truth, expose untruths, and keep one’s promises.
- Self-deception
- Acting on a belief that a false idea or situation is true. Being deluded or deceived by ideas that endanger the humanity of others and movements that are unjust.
- Treason
- The crime of betraying one’s country, especially by attempting to kill the sovereign citizens or overthrow the government.
- Conspiracy
- A secret plan by a group to do something unlawful or harmful.
More Information
Procedures
- The following lesson asks students to consider the vice of dishonor and how it affects individuals and society.
- Students will engage with the story of Benedict Arnold and his acts of honor and dishonor, as they consider these essential questions: Why is acting dishonorably destructive to a healthy political system and civil society?
- The main activity in this lesson requires students to read and analyze a narrative that explores how Benedict Arnold made decisions that led him to dishonor. Students may work individually, in pairs, or in small groups as best fits your classroom. The analysis questions provided can be used to help students comprehend and think critically about the content. As the teacher, you can decide which questions best fit your students’ needs and time restraints.
- Lastly, the lesson includes sources used in this lesson for further reading and suggestions for cross-curricular connections.
Standards
Related materials
Why is acting dishonorably destructive to a healthy political system and civil society? Explore the story of Benedict Arnold in this video feature of BRI's Heroes and Villains Curriculum to help determine how he exhibited the vice of dishonor. Heroes and Villains uses narratives to discuss the concepts of civic virtue in all classrooms. Each virtue narrative includes corresponding discussion guides, journal templates, a toolbox with additional activities, and suggestions for further reading on each topic or virtue.
They always say “learn from the past,” but looking at the vastness of history, this is a daunting task. This week, Gary is joined by guest Kirk, Director of Content, to look at the decisions of Benedict Arnold, a prominent American Revolutionary military hero who defected to the British side in 1780. How can looking at Arnold’s own virtues and vices teach us how we can make good decisions?
This Lesson can be used at the beginning of Chapter 4 to reinforce and review the key events of the American Revolution covered in Chapter 3. This activity will also introduce students to the effects the Revolution had on the world stage in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.
