Week 8, Marlborough School

November 1, 2011

Naming the town, discussing government


The original plan for today was to continue scouting for land and string up the acre for our village.  Mother nature had her own plan and sent us about two feet of snow over the weekend.  As many students did not have snow boots I decided to keep the class inside and have our first official town meeting.  Ostar was selected as moderator without an interview as she was the only one who applied for the job and had previous experience.

The first item on the agenda was choosing a town name.  Before we got started we glossed over parliamentary procedure and the role of moderator.  Many names were submitted for consideration.   The group moved in fairly rapid order and narrowed the nominations down to:  PizzaHut, Miniborough, and Tiny Town.  A vote was called and Tiny Town won!

Next on the agenda was government.  This discussion began with a few seasoned villagers suggesting a representative democracy with three select peeps.  It was suggested that we could select one peep from each grade to have better representation.  At this suggestion the seasoned villagers sort of withdrew their motion.  Another villager suggested direct democracy, in which everyone has the option to be a part of our legislative process.  Anarchy, tyranny, Free State and the Mafia were also suggested.  There was much discussion about possible benefits and disadvantages of all of the different governing types the students had suggested.  Ultimately the seasoned villagers came up with another proposal to split the village up into three clans, each clan will live within a designated land area of the village and have their own rules and government.  It was moved to a vote between Free State, direct democracy, select peeps, and three clans.  The three clans proposal passed.  Discussion ensued as to the next step.  Divide into the clans?  Name the clans?  Maybe we should select our land first?  The group moved to vote on the land for the village.  They chose between the woods, the bog and the river.  The bog won with ten votes.  We moved back to the discussion of clans and what that might mean for everyone.  Morton suggested they have three clans plus one neutral clan.  Danny offered that the clans were really too confusing, what happens when you leave your clan's land?  Do you follow the other clans rules?  How do you know where the boundaries are?  The discussion became a little heated at this point, a motion was made to have a thinking corner for those speaking out of turn.  "I second that emotion!"  Three strikes and you're out to the thinking corner.  This measure passed unanimously.  We next moved onto naming the clans and this is where we left it because the bell rang.  I wonder what will happen next week?