America- Three Ring Government

From Schoolhouse Rock (Season 4, Episode 10)

Categories:

Run time: 2:58

Clip Description: This song from Season 4 of Schoolhouse Rock teaches about the branches of the US Government, using a three-ring model circus as a model to show the main responsibilities of each branch as well as how the branches interact. This song can help with discussions of separation of powers and the US system of checks and balances.

American Politics Concepts Discussed/Connected To: This clip is a humorous take on the three branches of the US government using a circus metaphor

Possible Uses in Classroom: This clip is a great tool to start discussions on the three branches of government, explain checks and balances, and introduce the importance of civics.

Discussion Questions

The circus has three rings of the same size. Is that accurate? Choose a measure of a branch’s power, such as who can stop whom, who gets obeyed without asking, or who sets the agenda others must respond to, and say which branch wins on your measure. Then say what a different measure would show, and whether co-equal is a description or an aspiration.
The three rings leave out the part of government most people actually deal with: agencies that write rules, enforce them, and hear disputes about them. Which ring does a federal agency belong in? Does the fact that it does not fit cleanly mean the model is out of date, or that the agencies are the thing that needs fixing?
You learned some version of this song as a child. Name one thing you believed about how American government works that turned out to be wrong or badly incomplete. Was the children’s version a lie, a necessary simplification, or a civic ideal people are expected to grow into?

For AP Students

AP U.S. Government and Politics
Unit 1: Foundations of American Democracy

Topics: 1.6, on the principles the government operates by, including separation of powers and checks and balances
Skill: Concept Application (1.D): describe institutions and processes illustrated in a scenario
Anchors: Federalist No. 51; Articles I, II and III

The song gives each branch its own ring of a circus and walks through what each one does. It is the most elementary clip in the library, and that is the use: run it in the first week, then run it again in April and ask what it leaves out. Federalist No. 51 is about why the branches must be able to resist one another, and the song shows the resisting without ever naming the reason for it.

Discussion questions

The circus gives each ring a separate act. Federalist No. 51 argues that ambition must be made to counteract ambition. Name one thing the song shows accurately about how the branches interact, and one thing it leaves out.
Pick any single check shown in the song and explain what would happen if that check did not exist.
The song was written to teach civics to children. Does simplifying government this far help people take part in it, or hand them a picture tidy enough to mislead? Take a side.

Short activity

Write the missing verse (10 minutes). In pairs, students write one additional four-line verse covering something the song leaves out: the bureaucracy, judicial review, the filibuster, the veto override. It has to be accurate and it has to scan. Read two aloud and ask the class which omission mattered most. The constraint of writing it in the song’s own voice forces students to state the mechanism plainly, which is harder than recognizing it on a multiple-choice question.

Clip hosted on Critical Commons.