Civic Mirror Country Eden Works to Construct Own Perfect Land

Posted on February 23, 2010 by Civic Mirror

The citizens of Eden, a class from Hudson High School in Hudson, Massachusetts, are working to create laws that will better their country and (hopefully) give some citizens more well being points. In order to help Edensians write these bills, their Instructor Ken High posted this assignment,

“As citizens or government representatives, it is your job to pass laws and policies that will help you gain Well Being points or fulfill Hidden Agenda goals. Therefore, each of you must persuade the government by proposing at least one bill that you want to be passed as a law. Your classmates can then comment on your proposal and engage in a discussion before the lawmaking session tomorrow.”

In response, Edensians came up with many useful ideas. Each citizen had different goals in mind, however, when creating these laws. Citizen Trevor wanted to be sure the president as the head of the government did not hold too much power,

“Any property bought by the government should be used for the government. Not for the president to use for his own purpose. What ever the government spends the money one, its only for governmental use.”

Citizen Shannon responded with,

“Why would we have the government use the property they bought for the government it should be used for the people so that they have what they need to survive. I think you are saying this because you are a reprisentive and think that you should get special treatment because of it.”

“I propose that we make a law saying that anything bought by the government should be used for the well been of the people.

I also propose that we pass a law to keep the government from seasing and buying any citicen ouned land.”

While her fellow citizens worry about individual versus government rights, Citizen Rachel felt it was just as important to protect the environment,

“I think that a law should be passed to keep a certain amount of wilderness hexes from being developed on. For instance, only one wilderness hex per year. This will help ensure that we still have enough wilderness hexes to keep our well-being points high and the citizens happy.”

In a third vein,Citizen Melissag wanted to ensure the economy had boundaries as well,

“I think that agoodlaw that should be passed is one that allows a cap unit prices.That way if someone wants to buy a food unit they do not have to pay $400 for one because that is ridiculous and based on what else every person has to buy like health care, power, education, security etc. having a food unit or any one of those other “necessary” units cost too much is not right. The price of units should be affordable but obviously not too low, so no one is making money.”

Edensians have a lot of interesting ideas for their country. It is obvious that Edensians care deeply about their country as well as their own self interests, however, it seems as though there is an underlying current of mistrust as well. While citizens can suggest as many laws as they like, at the end of the day, they must trust that the government officials they have elected will represent them. Will the government live up to these expectations or make choices to fulfill their own self-interests? Only time will tell….

Posted in From the CM Trenches | Tagged bills, environment, government, law, social studies | Leave a comment

Citizens of Civic Mirror Country Leafland Explore Budgeting

Posted on February 16, 2010 by Civic Mirror

Every organization must find a way to pay for expenses, the same holds true for countries. There are a lot of programs and general upkeep that must be financed, and a system has to exist to determine where and how funds are collected and dispursed. The citizens of Leafland, a Humanities class at Learning By Design High School in Haysville, KS, spent time learning about this process and have now determined the importance in using that knowledge as a citizen. Lead by instructor, Angela Quiram the citizens began with this question, ”

“Why should a citizen of a country know the budgeting process and what can he/she do about the process if he/she agrees or disagrees with it? Use examples/support from what you learned today in your answer.”

Representative LaurenW began the discussion with a feeling that citizens should be informed,

“A citizen of a country should know the budgeting process because if they know who to go to first then they can let them know what should change and what should stay the same. I first started looking at the budget and what I thought should be spent, and what was actually spent surprised me. I think the budget should have been spent more on education than some of the others that the money was spent on. Besides we should have a say in the budget because we are the ones that pay for the budget. They need to talk to us first.”

Citizen KathleenF feels that knowledge is important for citizens to form their own opinions,

“Its important to know about budgeting in our community so we can use our money wisely. If the people don’t know much about whats going on then they should try learning more about whats going on in the county. If someone doesn’t like the way the money is being handled then they should take their issues to congress and work on getting their ideas out there.”

President StuartL also feels that to have an opinion, citizens need to be informed,

“I think that that everyone should know about the budget because it gives people more of an understanding of what is going on in the government so that people can speak up if they don’t like what the money is being spent on.”

The way a government uses money can be a difficult process to understand. The citizens of Leafland, however, believe that it is important for the average citizen to know how money is raised, spent and why in order to be able to participate in goverment. How will Leaflanders use this newfound knowledge within their own country?

Posted in From the CM Trenches | Tagged Budegt, government, Haysville, Humanities, Learning By Design High School, Money | Leave a comment

Civic Mirror Country Chapan Discusses Poverty, Inevitable?

Posted on February 11, 2010 by Civic Mirror

Poverty effects every country in the world. Some countries deal with poverty more than others, but it is a problem in some form or another everywhere, the question becomes is it inevitable? The CM country Chapan, otherwise known as the students from Shawnee Mission North High School in Overland Park, Kansas, took on this question as a class and came up with some answers based on experience within the Civic Mirror. The citizens of Chapan began with a question posed by Instructor Kayte Cormack,

“We’ve talked a lot recently about poverty and impoverished nations and people. Are economic imbalances that occur between citizens something people just have to accept, or could and should they be minimized? “

Citizen Michael began by discussing not only experience, but his understanding of one political philosophy he knew well,

“Both definitely. We should try to minimize it and maybe even get rid of it entirely. But i guess theres a problem with that too because Karl Marx wanted to get rid of the class system (close to/exactly the same as “economic imbalances“). what started out as a good idea from Karl Marx went sour because it was way to easy for smart/powerful people to take over. I think we should make the standard living in all countries a lot better. I don’t have a proposal for how to do this but thats where we should start. Much past just raising the standard of living would just be making a socialist society. People should learn to accept differences of economic status as part of the world.”

Arriving at the same conclusion, albeit by different means, Citizen Nate shares his opinion,

“I believe that the economic imbalances between citizens should be minimized at all cost. People should not have to live in an economy where such imbalances occur, because they can cause discontentment among the populace. Imbalances in the economy will be hard to correct, however, I believe that if we all work together than we will be able to stabilize the economy. i realize that even if you stabilize the economy there will be some people who squandor what they have, thes toe people are the only ones who should have to learn to live with economic imbalances.”

Meanwhile the Government of Chapan, most likely the President, shares a more politically conservative viewpoint,

“i think some people are placed in a situation, where in order to be out of poverty, you would have to rob a bank or hold someone ransom, but since those are illegal i would come to the conclusion that depending on your situation.

But in a place like America i think we do see some people who rely more on the check coming in the mail from the Government then, they, themselves actually working to get meals on the table.

there are both people in poverty who work constantly to earn a dollar a day, they just have to accept they are in poverty and always will be. although they dont.

and there are others who take care of their 20 bebe kids and earn a check in the mail. could this poverty they are in be minimized. yes. but they would rather accept the poverty and accept the check.”

While Representative Saran shares a less idealistic view,

” I think that economic imbalance is something that should be accepted by people. The reason I think that is because, no matter how hard the government tries to make the gap between rich and poor smaller there always seems to be a problem. The fact of the matter is that there will always be a difference. Some people make more money then others, that’s the way it is now and that’s the way its always been. If this was to be minimized there will be a lot of conflict. Therefore to avoid all that, the richer people should just accept it. Take taxes for example, there is no way that rich people can get the same amount of taxes as the poor people. The reason for that is if you don’t make a ton of money you can’t pay a ton of taxes. With that said I believe that economic imbalances should be accepted unless someone comes up with a better way to approach the problem.”

Can a society fix poverty? Does society want to fix poverty? These questions are quintessential when it comes to deciding how a society should be governed and what kinds of laws should be passed. It is obvious that the citizens of Chapan have very strong opinions on this subject, but how will they use these points of view to better the lives of their citizens?

Posted in From the CM Trenches | Tagged class, Economy, government, imbalance, poverty, Shawnee Mission North High School | Leave a comment

Silver Liberty Citizens Desperate for Cash… Families Dying!

Posted on February 7, 2010 by Civic Mirror

As the citizens of Silver Liberty, a Civic Mirror country out of The Urban Assembly School of Design and Construction in New York City, prepared for the end of their first simulated year, the citizen pleas for help and assistance were echoing throughout the online discussion forums. Here are two excerpts:

1. Chris posted: Good afternoon/evening/Night ladies and gentlemen i am here asking for money. I’m not doing this for no basketball team I’m just here tryna stay out of trouble and put money in my pocket in a positive way. My children need education and they are dying. Please if you can find it in your hearts to contribute and spread the wealth and make Silver Liberty a better place.

To which these replies followed from his fellow citizens:

Martin: Chris and everyone that is suffering from poverty. Re-elect me into congress and I promise you I will pass my bill that will help you people survive.

Alexander: “Oh god…”

2. Juan, takes a different approach to solving his money problems. Here’s what he posted:

“Okay wassup its juan and i need some money. i dont have anything to help me generate money so i thought i could offer some cool things:

– i can teach u how to solve a Rubik’s Cube quickly. 200 cm dollars
– i can teach u how to play a cool song on the guitar. 300 cm dollars
– ill sell u Pirates of the Caribbean 1 brand new, sealed and everything for 100 cm dollars

How cool are those things? Come on … Hit me up”

What happened when the year ended? Fortunately, both Chris and Juan were able to provide well enough for their families to keep them alive. In fact, by the end of the year Juan had a good sum of money in his bank account (well done Juan). However, and very sadly, FIVE Silver Liberty citizens incurred family deaths due to starvation and homelessness. What will their next simulated year bring?

Your Comments! Citizens of Silver Liberty, what do you think of all this? What can be learned from your first year as a nation? What are your plans for year 2? Post your comments for the world to see. And world: if you have any questions for Silver Liberty, post them here!

Posted in From the CM Trenches | Leave a comment

Innovative Legislation from Civic Mirror Country NFPC

Posted on February 4, 2010 by Civic Mirror

It can be difficult for citizens to make money within The CM game. What do you do if you do not own a hex that can either be rented or can produce something you can sell? The citizens from NFPC have not only had the mindset to create jobs, they made laws to protect them.

” HR-1 1/26/10

Proposed by: Franklin

Summary: Details out the new paid positions of Time Keeper and Marshal and explains the pay, hiring practices and policies about said jobs.

The Position of Time Keeper and Marshal shall no longer be volunteer positions and instead they shall be changed to paid positions.

Members of any branch of the Government, be it Executive, Judicial or Legislative cannot apply to hold this position as these jobs can influence important events that said parties might not be part of.

Hiring will proceed as follows:

1. People will sign up that they wish to hold the position. Applications will be sent via email to the Government account in Civic Mirror.

2. They will be interviewed by both the Presidents of each Legislative branch in addition to the President of N.F.P.C.

3. The best candidate for the job shall be hired into the position.

Hiring may only occur prior to the event for which the service is rendered.

Unless specified the duration of the job shall last one year. After the one year period the person shall be removed from the position they were appointed.

If during one meeting they are found to be unsatisfactory the Time keeper shall be replaced by one of the other candidates.

If the marshal fails to complete their duty then they shall be replaced by the runner up candidate for the position.

Unsatisfactory employment shall be decided by the Presidents of the Senate and House of Representatives in addition to the President of the N.F.P.C.

Pay will only be delivered to the person that completes the majority of the service.

Replacements must be decided before the next day in which the events will occur, for example the marshal cannot be replaced between one court case and the next.

Pay for both positions shall be $200 per year paid from the national treasury. ” –From the Legislation page of NFPC

Posted in From the CM Trenches | Tagged economics, Employment, Legislation, Politics, social studies | Leave a comment

Civic Mirror Country Pleasure Town Has Pleasant Day…Almost

Posted on February 2, 2010 by Civic Mirror

The country Pleasure Town, otherwise known as the 12th grade International Relations class from Shanghai American School in Shanghai, China, seemed to begin the Civic Mirror with flying colors, at least according to their country forum page. The lively discussion began with a question posed by their Instructor Samuel Vierra:

“What did you learn about your classmates(and meetings in general) as you worked through the student-run lesson?”

As the students began their discussion it became obvious fairly quickly that the CM experience was already a positive one. Patrick began by commenting on the class as a whole and their progress,

Dramatization of Pleasure Town Discussion

“To be completely honest, everything ran quite smoothly during the student run lesson. If there was a disagreement, a simple anonymous vote was taken. This seemed to please everyone and therefore creating our national identity was relatively problem free. In terms of classmates, everyone was completely reasonable and it seemed that everyone seemed comfortable to put their own opinions out. Overall the experience was extremely assuring that the future of this country will be very smooth.”

Jocelyn, who also found the experience to be positive, also commented on how their country felt as though it belonged to the citizens,

“I think that being able to construct our own country and choose its specific characteristics personalizes this for us and motivates us to be active citizens in the upcoming simulation. The personalized feelings make us think: this is our country and we should take care of it. This also gave our class a national identity that gives us something in common and bonds us as the citizens of Pleasure Town. As everyone above said, things went smoothly. The name of the country was the hardest to decide on. The decisions were made either by everyone’s agreement or by voting anonymously. Overall, our class seems to be cooperative.”

Citizen Chua thought the experience was still positive overall but this citizen could still think of some realistic issues that could trip the country up,

“Like many above had said, everything ran “smoothly.” This is because many of us know each other, and we are generally fair and giving people. It was also easy to come to agreements because we were all in the same room, so talking things over would be easier. However, I can see a potential problem when we do Civic Mirror outside of class, as there will be less physical interaction and perhaps miscommunication will occur one time or another. The consensus is, though, that all of us are ethical people, so I am convinced that, even though there may be miscommunication, there will be not cheating of any sort.”

While Paige enjoyed that the votes were anonymous,

“The National Identity event instilled a lot of confidence in me about our class for this simulation. We all worked together very smoothly and there were no real conflicts. Like Patrick said, whenever there wasn’t agreement, we would just hold an anonymous vote. The element of anonymity really helped in our decision making process. At first, we tried to come up with country names by calling out ideas as a big group. When that didn’t go very well, however, we all wrote ideas anonymously on scraps of paper and came up with a lot more ideas. I think if we stick to those methods and others that worked last class, we’ll be very constructive as a group.”

It has been said “Dissent is the highest form of patriotism.” While most of the citizens gave favorable reports about their time with Patrick as their leader, Justyn was willing to give a different account of how he felt the events unfolded that day,

“The student ran session went pretty well. The only thing that I would have to point out that was negative out of the whole lesson would be the ganging up on the only junior in the class. Robbie was gone so I was the only one who was a junior and when it came to assignments they straight out bluntly picked on me. the whole class admitted to it and i guess with them being older it is only normal to do such a thing. They must look down on me because I am a junior and have their thoughts of superiority.

After Patrick mentioned he liked pancakes, everything about the country after that had to be a pancake joke or some sort of relation. cause of this event i feel like patrick is naturally going to be one of those people who when they open their mouths people are just going to listen to. as opposed to ppl like me who are looked down upon, are tried to be silenced.

i only bring this up because there were so many replies of positivity and great stuff about the student ran session so i’m here to provide the constructive criticism – because there’s always room for improvement.”

It seems as though for the most part Pleasure Town had a surprisingly great day. Although there was a substitute, the citizens were able to stay on track and have a fairly good experience. It is important to note the dissenting opinion, however. How will Pleasant Town respond to ideas and opinions that are different in the future? Any action or inaction by the Pleasure Townsians has the possibility to change the course of history….

Posted in From the CM Trenches | Tagged discussion, dissent, opinion, Practice Run, social opinion, social studies | Leave a comment

Civic Mirror Country Leafland Discusses Issues and Solutions

Posted on January 28, 2010 by Civic Mirror

Leaflanders, a civic mirror country from the Learning By Design High School in Haysville, KS, are starting out on a journey that will teach them about government, civics and themselves. Instructor Angela Quiram posted the following questions for her students as perparation for this journey and the decisions they will have to face along the way:

“a) three issues our country may face (and WHY they might be issues)

b) a possible solution for those issues

c) whether or not you will run for public office/which one(s)/why or why not… “

In order to respond to these questions, Leaflanders drew on past experiences in both the practice round and real life events with their fellow citizens. LaurenW. begins with a dark view of her beloved Leafland,

“Three issues our country may face are famine because everyone seems to be greedy (no offense), economic issues because we will be spending all of our money on stuff to be greedy about, and a lot of death due to the famine. A solution to these issues are to control the amount of units that are being sold. And I do plan on running for public office not because I have to, but because I think I have good ideas that could really help us.”

Misty has an equally bleak view of the future,

“I think the issues we might face will be running out of food/electricity, money, and/or lower prices. Because there is not enough electricity for everyone. So, my solution is to make another power plant to make sure everyone does not hog all the food and lower prices because people do not have money.
I plan to run as either the president or the judge because I will prepare before I take action. Honestly I do not want to serve in any office because it is too much of a hassle.”

BlakeB., however, has an equally opposite view of what the future will hold for Leafland,

“Our country will face no problems at all we are the most honest and smallest country ever. We are good people, with no issues what so ever.”

While DonovanT. seems to have the hidden agendas in mind as he contemplates the future,

“If there were 3 issues the Republic of Leafland might suffer from, I think the first one would be about someone taking over in the government and not being fair. Another issue would probably be everyone not doing it right and lots of families dying. The last issue would probably be high prices for everything and no one would be able afford them. A possible solution would be for everyone to try there best and not let our country die. I probably will not run for any office things because I do not know much about that stuff. “

BrookeM. cannot help thinking of her own time as an American citizen,

“-A few issues that our country may face is that many people may die due to the lack of food and energy supply. Also money could be an issue just because some of us don’t have very much.
-So a possible solution may be taking out a tree and replacing it with either another farm or power plant. Also the government controlling how much a person may get would also help.
-I would rather just be a normal American citizen because being in charge of something big is not really my thing. I’m just going to sit back and keep my family alive!”

RachelR is hopeful that the country will have a positive future,

“three issues, hmmmm…………disagreement on laws and ownership or placement of hexes, everyone putting in effort and having full understanding of the civic mirror game, and just keeping our families healthy and sticking to our hidden agendas. I know if we all work together our country could really be something. I am not sure if I will run for anything in office. I am still debating it but if I do I promise to try and be a positive influence. p.s. Blake i love your awesome attitude about our country!

While Kathleen understands how difficult it can be to raise a family in modern Leafland,

“Some of the issues our country might face is that everyone won’t have the things they need to keep their family alive. I see that as the biggest issue. One way to maybe keep that from happening is to make sure everyone has what they need before the other people of our country go building things and using up energy. I was thinking about running for president, it looks like fun and I already think there are some changes that need to be made.”

These concerns are all realistic and important. However, in the heat of the moment it is easy to forget these concerns, especially when a citizen has a lot to gain! Choose your politicians wisely Leaflanders, and pay close attention to the decisions made by citizens and politicians alike, the survival of your country and families may depend on it!

Posted in From the CM Trenches | Tagged electricity, family, hunger, Issues, politicians, public office, social studies, Solutions | Leave a comment

One Lost Civic Mirror Country Found..

Posted on January 25, 2010 by Civic Mirror

The citizens of the country Lost, a class from Newcastle High School in Newcastle, WY, may have felt that way when they first began The Civic Mirror, but are orienting themselves very well thanks to the fearless leadership of their instructor Sonja Karp. The citizens of Lost have begun to get the lay of the land as they discover where their priorities lie. Sonja Karp began the post with this important question,

“What hexes in The Civic Mirror are so important to the public welfare that they should be owned and operated by the government? What about in the United States?”

Woodk began the conversation showing his trust in the government of Lost,

“The hexes that are really impoartant for everyone are the farms, electricy one, the health care one, the school one, and houses. The reason they are so impoartant are because people would die if they dont get any of these resorces. If everyone dies then the game will be over. If the government owned most of them they would be cheeper because there are more people in the government that make different disshions and it will not be a dictatorship. When the government owns sertian spots it is less biest against other things like in the United States.”

Millsk also agrees that the government would own the hexes responsibly but disagrees on which ones,

“As the economy is a thing that is important to survial the government should own the forest and the school and the technology and at least on river hex. The forest hex would help with polution, the school the government owns in the U.S. already, the technology so the world would be more helpful because instead of creating bigger and better they would create what the people need, and the river would give the people some water instead of having them fight over it.”

Unlike Millsk and Woodk, Harleya has reservations about taking power out of the hands of individual citizens,

“In the Civic Mirror, I believe that the only hexes the government needs to operate and control are the green tree, green river, and education hexes. For the most part the citizens of Lost, and NOT the government should own most of the businesses and enterprises. The government of Lost is here to ensure that our precious natural resources, that take many years to redevelop, are not destroyed. The small amount of taxes that the government charges the citizens of Lost will help fund the free education they deserve.
In the United States, I believe that the national government only needs to own and regulate industries like education and national safety. The founders of our country intended for our economy to be a free enterprise, in which private individuals wheeled and dealed with each other; in turn creating a healthy, competitive economy. The U.S. Government should never become entangled in ownership of healthcare, private companies, power industries, or insurance agencies. The judiciary system has the right to declare what these industries do is right or wrong and the legislative body should make laws that ensure these agencies act in an appropriate manner; but they should never take permanent ownership in any situation.
Christiansenl also jumped on the bandwagon about the environmental hexes,

In the Civic Mirror, the most important hexes concerning public welfare that I feel should be owned and operated by the government are some of the environment hexes such as forest and river hexes. Because these hexes are so difficult to repair, the government should make sure that our country has substantial neccesities so that our community will not die as the manual explains will happen if too many of the environment hexes are developed into something new. I believe that the government should give the people the right to own and manage the farms and school systems along with the rights of free enterprise. In the United States, the government should also protect nature, but keep a close eye on industries such as power plants, and only step in if a populas is in danger.”

Mirelesk, approaching the subject with a slightly different agenda, brings another political theories into play,

“The hexs that are important enough to be government owned are power, security, healthcare, education and some natural resources. Why, one might ask, would these be manditory for our government to own? Simply stated, to ensure the instigation of equality. In a prior post I mentioned that the people would have issues with “unfair” money amount. I believe that the government should step in, when deemed important, to help stablize not the illusion of fairness, but the steady drone of equality. It was once stated that communism is the greatest government in theory. In prior experiments (conducted by Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin etc.) communism proves only to feed power-hungy dictators. Why not use the controled enviroment and the need for equality as a chance to test this erratic theory? I believe it will weild staggering results.”

The citizens of Lost would obviously like to trust their government but have some reservations in handing over hexes. While some citizens feel the government would do well with the most important resources, power and food, other citizens feel that it would be in Lostians’ best interests if the government stayed within the environmental sector. How will these citizens be able to compromise and what will turn out to be “best” for everyone involved? Only time will tell…

Posted in From the CM Trenches | Tagged citizen rights, electricity, environment, farm, food, government ownership, power, private ownership | Leave a comment

Civic Mirror Workshops for Ottawa Carleton Social Studies Teachers

Posted on January 16, 2010 by Civic Mirror

Ottawa Carleton Social Studies teachers will be given the opportunity to learn how to use the award-winning Civic Mirror education program at the upcoming Canadian and World Studies professional day, on February 12, 2010. The conference is taking place at Gloucester High School on 2060 Ogilvie Road, Ottawa.

Civic Mirror creator, Regan Ross, will show Ottawa Carleton teachers how the program works and how it covers significant portions of select curriculum while also sparking student interest at unprecedented levels. The Civic Mirror can be used to cover nearly 100% of the Civics 10 Open learning outcomes, but it is also being used as the experiential centrepiece of other courses like economics, law, history, and sociology.

Posted in CM News | Tagged Civic Mirror Workshop, Events | Leave a comment

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