Political Cartoons… They’re on the GED!
So, you know what’s on the GED test that’s fun and interesting to study? Political cartoons! Yes, there always seem to be political cartoons on the GED practice tests. They want you to look at them, understand them, and make conclusions about them. So, here’s some fun practice for GED social studies… go look at political cartoons!
There’s a website with new political cartoons every day. Here’s a link:
http://cagle.msnbc.com/politicalcartoons/
If you can figure out what they mean, why they’re funny, then you’ve got a leg up for the GED test. For example, the one for 3/7 (today) from Daryl Cagle is the states of Florida and Michigan as monsters, and a scared donkey. What’s that mean?!? Well, you gotta relate it to the news… a donkey means the democrats… that’s good to know. Also, FYI, an elephant means the republicans. That’s like a little comic code that you just need to learn. And in the cartoon, the donkey’s afraid because Florida and Michigan decided to have primaries early, and so the Democratic Party said their votes for the democratic candidate wouldn’t count. Now the race is real close… and Florida and Michigan could make a BIG difference! That’s the point behind the cartoon.
Here’s another gallery of political cartoons:
http://politicalhumor.about.com/od/politicalcartoons/ig/Political-Cartoons/
Some of the cartoons on the GED might be about the past. Here’s some political cartoons from World War II by…guess who? Dr. Seuss. Yeah, the guy who wrote The Cat in the Hat. He made political cartoons during the war:
http://orpheus.ucsd.edu/speccoll/dspolitic/Frame.htm
Here’s another web page of political cartoons. These are even older, from World War I, and it tells you about the history and asks questions about the cartoons. This is great to help study:
http://rutlandhs.k12.vt.us/jpeterso/uboatcar.htm
Here’s the Library of Congress’s webpage on political cartoons, too:
http://memory.loc.gov/learn/community/cc_pcartoon.php
I think political cartoons are a fun way to learn more about social studies and to study for the GED test. More fun ways to study makes studying easier… and then you’re more likely to do it! So, go study… and make it fun!
For more information about the GED test and GED test preparation, visit The GED Academy at http://www.passged.com.
