This is a follow-up to Jill Smith’s “History Will Repeat Itself” reflection and the first-ever From The Civic Mirror Trenches video submission! Jill ponders why she and her classmates allowed horrible and undemocratic events to unfold in their simulated country (despite learning about similar ones in their required history classes) and the real world lessons she’ll take from the experience. This is an outstanding submission, one which people of all ages can learn from.
First-Ever CM Trenches Video, by Jill Smith
Posted in From the CM Trenches
Tagged civic apathy, Civic Mirror, dictators, Student Reflections, Video Reflection
Comments Off on First-Ever CM Trenches Video, by Jill Smith
History Will Repeat Itself ~ by Jill Smith, a Pangean citizen
In this post Jill Smith, a citizen of Pangea (the Civic Mirror country of Grade 12 students from Shanghai American School), reflects on the tragedy of civic apathy. Hopefully we can all remember Jill’s story when we find ourselves observing situations unfolding for the worst. Her statement that, “(History) is easy to forget” is frighteningly true.
Here’s Jill’s post, and a special thanks to Kevin who, by all accounts from his teacher, carried out his Civic Mirror agenda with maturity and skill … which happened to involve being viewed as a tyrant in order to put stress on Pangea’s democracy:
History Will Repeat Itself ~ by Jill Smith
The lesson that I value the most from my Civic Mirror experience is that if you are not careful history repeats itself.
Before the simulation I, like many other students, sat through history classes confused. How could a war like the Vietnam War happen when so many people were against it? More importantly how could the United States allow the same mistakes to happen again in yet another unpopular war – the War in Iraq? How have corrupt leaders risen to power time and time again in so many countries? How did the holocaust occur? How did the rape of Nanking occur? Why don’t countries learn from their mistakes, and other countries’ mistakes?
The truth is that it is easy to forget. It is easy to not examine events from the past when your country is in danger, or when your county has a leader coming into power that has an impressive ability to convince people of their views. I learned that manipulation is a superpower and that it takes more than one person to identify the manipulation in order to wake a country up.
The country of Pangea – our country – had a modern day Stalin. His name was Kevin. Kevin manipulated “the people” to go along with the many things that they didn’t believe in; things that even went against their hidden agendas. The vast majority of the citizens elected Kevin as president of Pangea, which led to the deaths of 16 people.
During the election a citizen who had once fought with me for the same things – who once had the same values and distrust of Kevin – switched sides and became his biggest supporter. She rambled on about how Kevin was good and why he should be trusted despite the fact that he contributed to the deaths of innocent citizens through over-consumption and breaking contracts that no longer benefited him. Kevin was the only citizen who was sued every year and a lot of the time by more than one person. When this girl spoke I couldn’t understand why people agreed when all I heard was,”Bahhhh!” She was like one of the blind sheep in Animal Farm, a book that everyone in the class including her read earlier in high school. Why didn’t she see it, why didn’t others see it?
I told everyone to stop, take a step back and look at what was happening and think about what he was saying, what his promises were and how he had behaved in the past. Nobody listened. The only people who did not vote for Kevin were already against him in the beginning of the class.
Kevin went power crazy, stole the government hexes, stole the government money, gave himself legal immunity, removed the house, and threatened to destroy all energy hexes if we went against him. We had to get smart and think up how to take him down without killing ourselves. When he created enough destruction to drive his followers away we took him down.
It was too late, history had already repeated itself. Our country was no better than the rest.
Posted in From the CM Trenches
Tagged civic apathy, dictators, history, Student Reflections
2 Comments
Dictators, Democracy, and My Success in Pangea – Justin Mei
Pangea is a Civic Mirror country made up of Grade 12 International Relations students from Shanghai American School. Pangeans are action-oriented, as evidenced by their national slogan:
Some people make things happen,
Some people watch things happen,
and some people wonder what happened.
Be the change you want in the world.
So after dictatorial maneauvers by a Pangean named Kevin resulted in a civil war (i.e. Crisis Vote), citizen Justin Mei reflects on the pros and cons of having an authoritarian ruler, efforts made to restore democracy in Pangea, and his overall success in the game:
“Entering the fourth year of this game, it has been interesting to see how people react to different situations. While working with Kevin Huang, one of the more dominant figures in our country, there has never been a year where I struggled to obtain the necessary units to survive. Where others resisted his dictatorship, they had years where multiple deaths occurred (the worst being Dennis losing three members in one year); I supported him because he was helping me achieve my hidden agenda. The measures taken by the other party were pretty drastic, including signs of protest (courtesy of Christine), hunger strikes (again courtesy of Christine), and the ultimate solution: The Crisis Vote (aka, a violent revolution).
“No one was willing to compromise with the other party and consequently it led to a Crisis Vote. The other party was able to regain control over the government, however they had to go further and coax Kevin out of one of his two energy hexes. It’s interesting to see how far and how worked up the other members of the party got. There were multiple classes where there was arguing and shouting – some of the time the shouting turned into a different language. Anyway, seeing as we have one year left, there’s not enough time to try and achieve my agenda again. Things would have been easier if there was some military component. 🙂 “
Drawn adaptation of a Liger seen in the Pangean wild.
Posted in From the CM Trenches
Tagged Crisis Vote, dictators, protests
Comments Off on Dictators, Democracy, and My Success in Pangea – Justin Mei
The Civic Mirror at the 2009 STA Convention
Join Regan Ross for a full-day Civic Mirror game/workshop at the 2009 Surrey Teacher’s Association Convention. Check out the Civic Mirror Trenches Blog for highlights from a recent Civic Mirror workshop for educators.
By playing The Civic Mirror, participants will learn:
- Its game rules and major events,
- How the online program works and how it sets up classroom events,
- How to use its Web2.0 tools to extend learning outside the classroom,
- How to capitalize on the teachable moments it provides (related to law, government, economics, and active citizenship)
For more info on The Civic Mirror, click here.
For conference registration and location information, click here.
This workshop is ideal for British Columbia teachers who want to enliven their classrooms with this citizenship simulation, especially teachers of Social Studies 11, Civic Studies 11, Social Studies 8 – 10, Law 12, Economics, Business Ed., as well as other courses.
Posted in CM News
Tagged BC, Civic Mirror Workshop, Events
Comments Off on The Civic Mirror at the 2009 STA Convention
Citizenship Simulation Kicks Washington State Social Studies Retreat Up a Notch! (Part 2 of 2)
Part 1 (of this two-part series showcasing a weekend-long Civic Mirror game/workshop for Washington state social studies teachers at the 2009 Lake Chelan Leadership Retreat) left off with Justice Campbell asking Congress to determine exactly what “appropriate compensation for presidential services” is, so he could decide whether President Parkinen was guilty or innocent of embezzlement.
The three senators left the room to discuss. Before this trial, however, several citizens accused the Senate of being in cahoots with President Parkinen, so the pressure to redeem themselves and make a just decision was mounting.
When they returned, they took turns explaining their position. First Senator Pete spoke, rather passionately, about “what is fair.” This generated a heated discussion and Justice Campbell had to wrap the mallet and call for order in the court. Some citizens thought President Parkinen’s alleged transaction (where she moved $20,000 from the government account into her own, personal account) was acceptable because the law didn’t state she couldn’t. Others argued it was down-right criminal: they were penniless, homeless, and starving, while the President – with her two mansions and healthy financial portfolio – thought that there was nothing wrong with fluffing her account up by $20,000 (i.e. 20% of the cash in the economy).
Senator Pete Presents his Interpretation of the Constitutional Law
Next, and after listening to the counsel of her miniature but brilliant political adviser, Senator Currie spoke, explaining that – in her opinion – $20,000 does in fact exceed the implicit notion of “fair.”
Senator Currie offers her comments on the issue.
And here we see Senator Connor explain how Congress decided that $1,000 per year would be “fair compensation” for services rendered as President. Congress successfully maneuvered out of a tight spot with the support of the people.
Senator Connor Breaks Down the Numbers for Members of the Court
With Congress’s decision, Justice Campbell was ready to make his judgment. He wanted, however, to verify that the alleged dollar amount was $20,000 … something the President never admitted to, claiming instead that it was a fabrication. Justice Campbell ordered her to disclose her financial records using the computer projector. It was a moment of truth.
Justice Campbell Requires President Parkinen to Disclose Personal Money Transactions
And was the proof ever in the pudding.
President Parkinen's personal financial records indicate that she indeed withdrew $20,000 from the Government's Treasury, without Congressional approval.
There it was, for all to see, the $20,000 transaction with a comment written to herself, “Pay Day.” Yet, in a shocking judgment, Justice Campbell concluded that President Parkinen was not guilty, and only ordered her to return $19,000 of the deposited amount back to the government account.
The court couldn’t believe what they were hearing, and President Parkinen was even overheard asking the judge in a whisper, “You mean … (gulp) … I’m not in trouble?”
Justice Campbell announces verdict.
This was the last event in the Civic Mirror workshop, the points were calculated, hidden agendas were scored, and the winner was … would you believe … the student teacher, Hayley Henry!
Civic Mirror Winner ~ Hayley Henry!
All in all, the Civic Mirror Workshop was a huge success! So much so that the four teachers from Alderwood Middle School had “Lake Chelan” sweatshirts made the afternoon before the evening court date.
From left to right: Hayley Henry, Marnie Parkinen, Sarah Connor, and Bonnie Vijarro.
And check it out! They even had their Civic Mirror roles printed on the back!
Rear-View of the Alderwood Middle School Teachers Civic Mirror Sweatshirts
And here’s Regan Ross, workshop facilitator and creator of The Civic Mirror, posing with the Alderwood gang!
Regan Ross, creator of The Civic Mirror, with the Alderwood Middle School Crew
STAY TUNED Washington state social studies teachers: there are plans a-brewing to arrange a series of Civic Mirror workshops that will train teachers how to develop unit plans and course outlines with the program so that their students can experientialy prepare for the social studies CBA’s.
Posted in From the CM Trenches
Tagged CBAs, Civic Mirror Workshop, National Court, Washington State
Comments Off on Citizenship Simulation Kicks Washington State Social Studies Retreat Up a Notch! (Part 2 of 2)
Citizenship Simulation Kicks the Washington State Social Studies Retreat Up a Notch! (part 1 of 2)
A new Civic Mirror country came and went in the form of a weekend-long game/workshop for teachers at the 2009 Lake Chelan Leadership Retreat (hosted by the Washington State Council for the Social Studies), and was it ever lively!
Beautiful Lake Chelan, WA ~ 2009 WSCSS Leadership Retreat
The simulated country was called “Chelan 2009” and – on the first morning of the retreat – these Washington state teachers were given political and/or economic Hidden Agendas before their country’s election (click here for more info). Below we see participants discussing tax, economic, environmental, and humanitarian issues in an effort to win votes in the upcoming elections … knowing that certain policies would score them points while others wouldn’t. Discovering what the other participants wanted their government to do proved to be a tricky challenge.
Election Campaigns and Discussions
Election campaigns and discussions
The elections found Ms. Sarah Connor, Mr. Mike Pete, and Ms. Colleen Currey winning the three congressional seats, and Ms. Marnie Parkinen winning an amazingly close presidential race … so close that two votes resulted in ties and the newly elected Congress was asked to decide – by dinner time – who should become president. They chose Parkinen. Some screamed of conspiracy.
The Hex Auction (i.e. property auction) took place in the banquet hall on the first night of the conference and President Parkinen – the richest citizen in Chelan 2009 – purchased massive amounts of property for herself and for the government. This upset several citizens. And during the trading season the next day, President Parkinen’s straight-up leadership style and business-friendly political policies angered even more.
President Accused of Embezzlement and Corruption!
Alas, Ms. Bonnie Vijarro, a hard-working citizen, had had enough of President Parkinen’s shenanigans and accused her of embezzlement and political corruption. In the final Civic Mirror event of the weekend, she was taken to National Court . Below we see Mr. David Campbell (Justice Campbell) calling court to order and asking for the charge and the plea.
Justice Campbell Announces Court
Here citizen Vijarro, leading prosecutor, makes her case, outlining how President Parkinen abused her political powers and embezzled over $22,000 into her account – 22% of the cash in the economy!!!
Citizen Vijarro Argues her Case Against President Parkinen
President Parkinen – looking rather contrite – explains that she has a right to be compensated for her services as President, siting Article 2, Section 7 of their constitution (which is a “CivicMirrorized” version of the U.S. Constitution). She denied, however, that she illegally transferred $22,000 of government money into her account.
President Parkinen Pleads her Case to Justice Campbell
This caused a ruckus in court, and President Parkinen’s attorney, Hayley Henry (a top-notch student teacher at Alderwood Middle School) pulled out a pocket-book constitution to back her client’s case, arguing that their constitution does not state minimums or maximums for Presidential compensation.
Attorney Hayley Henry
Citizens of Chelan 2009 listen to both sides of the case, waiting for Justice Campbell to make a decision.
Attendants Listen Intently to the Court Proceedings
And Justice Campbell showed that he was no constitutional fool either – siting Article 1, Section 6, Clause 1 and Section 9, Clause 7 – and concluding that Congress, keepers of the Treasury, must first determine what “appropriate compensation for services rendered” is before President Parkinen’s guilt or innocence can be determined.
Justice Campbell Calls on Congress to Make Historic Decision
STAY TUNED for Part II to find out what the Congress of Chelan 2009 decides and whether or not President Parkinen is found guilty or innocent.
Posted in From the CM Trenches
Tagged Civic Mirror Workshop, political corruption, rights & freedoms, Washington State
Comments Off on Citizenship Simulation Kicks the Washington State Social Studies Retreat Up a Notch! (part 1 of 2)
Civic Mirror at the 2009 Encompass Conference
Join Regan Ross at the 2009 Encompass Conference as he leads teachers through a hands-on Civic Mirror workshop, giving them a chance to learn how to use this innovative program in their own classrooms by playing it. Ideal for social studies teachers looking for new and exciting ways to bring subjects like law, government, economics, citizenship, and life preparation to life.
Location ~ Heritage Woods Secondary School
1300 David Avenue, Port Moody, BC, V3H 5K6.
Civic Mirror Workshop Time is 9:00am to 12:00pm
Conference Information here.
Map of Encompass Conference Location
View Larger Map
Posted in CM News
Tagged Civic Mirror Workshop, conference, News
Comments Off on Civic Mirror at the 2009 Encompass Conference
News from TropiCanada (Part 4 of 4)
Action-Ed is showcasing TropiCanada, a country made up of Grade 11 social studies students from Fleetwood Park Secondary School, in Surrey, BC. If you would like to showcase your Civic Mirror Nation, email us your story. info@action-ed.com
SAD NEWS IN TROPICANADA
We begin our final post on TropiCanada with sad news: 13 citizens passed away at the end of the second simulated year, including Sukhi’s cousin Danny and Tricia’s son Rainbow … both due to homelessness. Sukhi – stricken with rage and grief – is already preparing another case against “Daniel the Landlord” for the upcoming year.
Many deaths in TropiCanada in the year 2001.
Note: You will have to ask Tricia if her son Rainbow struggled with his name at school. 🙂
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
The Government of TropiCanada, however, was able to address the nation’s energy crisis by developing another Energy/Industry (E/I) hex (see red arrow in picture below). Many citizens are excited as the added E/I units will help TropiCanada develop its economy. More E/I units means more opportunities to improve the health care, education, and housing shortages that are hampering the well-being of many TropiCanadian families.
Economic development of this kind won’t please everyone. For example, Brennan and his family saw the beautiful forest they lived beside suddenly turn into a polluting E/I factory (see picture below).
New Energy/Industry Hex; house-owner Brennan
Not only will this worsen the quality of TropiCanada’s environment, but it will directly decrease the quality of Brennan’s neighborhood. Whether he seeks compensation in court for this development remains to be seen. One thing is for certain, however: How TropiCanada develops its economy in the coming years will be rich with controversy.
GOVERNMENT OF TROPICANADA’S LEGISLATIVE TRACK RECORD
Before we reveal the results of TropiCanada’s 2002 election, we’ll show you some of the noteworthy legislation from the first government’s term in office:
War Measures Act ~ “In times of violence or rebellion, government has full power to intervene until problem has been solved if the majority of people vote yes.”
House vote of 3-3, Speaker voted in favor of bill, 4-3 passed
Hex Ownership Law ~ “No individual can own more than 5 hexes including government.”
House vote of 2-4, rejected.
War Measures Act amendment ~ “Starting now the poeple do not need to vote for the government to intervene with the problems. But the government has to make an announcement prior to the intervention.”
4-2 passed.
Hoarding Act ~ People are not allowed to hoard food. One family per food unit.
6-0 passed unanimously.
Caps Law ~ “Maximum cost of food per year is $500. Maximum shelter costs are: a) Apartment rent, $500, b) House rent, $750, c) Mansion rent, $1,000.”
6-0 passed
2002 ELECTIONS
Winds of change swept TropiCanada’s political landscape. For starters, one of the previous two political parties dissolved and a new one – The Danger Rangers – replaced it, running against The People’s Party for control over the country’s House of Commons. Both parties put forth similar platforms, calling for change, equality rights, and a better effort by the government to listen to the people’s concerns. In fact, both parties accused one another of stealing their political and economic ideas. Below we see the results of the 2002 election:
Voting results for TropiCanada’s”For The People” party.
Voting results for TropiCanada’s newly-formed “Danger Rangers” party.
Although difficult to tell from the pictures above, The People’s Party won the 2002 elections, winning a majority of seats in the House of Commons. The citizens called for change and change they got. Only two of the previous seven politicians were re-elected, and five new citizens will be taking hold of the reigns of political power. What mandate will they bring? What changes will they really make?
END NOTES
This ends our Four-Part series on TropiCanada. We hope you learned lots about The Civic Mirror, how it enlivens the study of government, economics, law, and citizenship, and – most of all – enjoyed reading it too!
Citizens of TropiCanada … send us updates when you begin your next simulated year, and email them to info@action-ed.com.
Posted in From the CM Trenches
Tagged BC, Country News, elections, End of Year Calculations, eviction, family deaths, Legislation, National Court, rights & freedoms
Comments Off on News from TropiCanada (Part 4 of 4)
News from TropiCanada (Part 3 of 4)
Action-Ed is showcasing TropiCanada, a country made up of Grade 11 social studies students from Fleetwood Park Secondary School, in Surrey, BC. If you would like to showcase your Civic Mirror Nation, email us your story. info@action-ed.com
SUKHI & TRICIA VS. “DANIEL the LANDLORD”
The tensions were high leading up to this case with everything at stake. As was explained in our first TropiCanada post, “Daniel the Landlord” was charged with illegal and discriminatory rental policies for kicking out – without notice – two of his tenants: Sukhi and Tricia. The national sentiments were split. The poorer citizens were hoping for a guilty verdict, hoping the courts would send a message to all the affluent TropiCanadians that human rights and freedoms must be respected. And the more affluent citizens were hoping “Daniel the Landlord” would be found innocent, sending a message that business owners could conduct their business privately, without government or judicial meddling. Everything depended on the random jury selection. The room was silent as the three jurors were selected (shown below).
Court Marshall selecting jurors for TropiCanada’s second trial.
Here we see the prosecuting team, Sukhi (left) and Tricia (right), who were evicted from “Landlord Daniel’s” apartment without notice. Sukhi argued that not only was this act a violation of his constitutional rights, but it was a crime against society because no tenants should have to worry about being thrown out on the streets without notice.
Prosecuting Team
This is “Daniel the Landlord,” the defendant. In his opening speech to the jury he reframed the issue, saying that his rights as a landlord to conduct business as he wishes were being infringed upon in this case. “It’s my business who I rent my apartment to,” he explained.
Defendant ~ Apartment Landlord Daniel P.
As the case progressed, the court was getting rather rowdy with some of the arguments being made, and Judge Cory had to threaten certain persons with contempt of court charges. Here we see him issuing the threat after smacking his gavel several times.
Judge Cory threatens contempt of court charges while court marshall looks on.
“Daniel the Landlord” had a last minute surprise for the prosecution by hiring a smooth-talking attorney (to the right). Here we see a picture of some court room action.
Picture of the court room drama unfolding. Note that “Landlord Daniel” is now being represented by his attorney.
The jury deliberated on this case for almost 10 minutes. They understood very well what was at stake. In the end they found the defendant innocent on all charges. Below we see them explaining their reasoning to the court and their belief that “Daniel the Landlord” had the right – as a private business person – to make his own business decisions.
Jurors read and explain verdict.
With Sukhi’s long list of constitutional violations and the odds stacked against him, neither “Daniel the Landlord” or his attorney expected to win the case. Here we see them celebrating after hearing the verdict of “Innocent.”
Jubilant defendant celebrates with his attorney after innocent verdict is announced.
NEXT POST
Shortly after this trial, the TropiCanada’s teacher ended the second simulated year. Find out in our next post how many citizens incurred family deaths, whether or not Sukhi & Tricia were able to find shelter for their families, and what happened in the nation’s second election.
Posted in From the CM Trenches
Tagged BC, Country News, eviction, National Court, rights & freedoms
Comments Off on News from TropiCanada (Part 3 of 4)
News from TropiCanada (Part 2 of 4)
Action-Ed is showcasing TropiCanada, a country made up of Grade 11 social studies students from Fleetwood Park Secondary School, in Surrey, BC. If you would like to showcase your Civic Mirror Nation, email us your story. info@action-ed.com
Hamed et. al. vs. The Government of TropiCanada
As was mentioned in our first post on TropiCanada, a class action law suit was launched against the Government of TropiCanada, led by an impoverished citizen named Hamed. Here we see Judge Cory overseeing the random selection of jurors for the upcoming case.
Jurors being picked by Court Marshall
The prosecution was led by Hamed (left) and his legal partner, Sukhi (right). They are representing themselves plus five other TropiCanadian citizens who are homeless in the year 2001, and are suing their government for having unconstitutional social programs (note: TropiCanada is using CM’s Canadian Module, so they sited three sections from the Charter of Rights and Freedoms to support their case).
Prosecuting Team ~ Hamed & Sukhi
Below we see the defendants, the Prime Minister of TropiCanada and another MP. After hearing the prosecution’s opening, they chose to plead guilty to all charges, lessening the punishment by signifiying a willingness to cooperate with the courts.
Governing Members of TropiCanada being Sued.
Below we see Hamed presenting his case, explaining that The Government of TropiCanada has $23,000 in a $100,000 economy and they’re not using any of it to help the 7 families who are homeless and helpless. Hamed explains a list of homeless citizens to the judge and requests that the government give each family $2,000 to rectify their unconstitutional policies ($14,000 of the governments $23,000).
– government pled guilty much to everyone’s surprise
Hamed arguing for the prosecuting team.
After deliberating in the hallway for some time, Judge Cory returned to the court room and explains his decision for The Government of TropiCanada to give each of the seven families $1,400 of financial assistance. He noted that the government’s cooperation in pleading guilty led to the lower amount. Below we see Hamed and Sukhi with the thumbs up.
Hamed & Sukhi after winning $1,400 for each of the homeless citizens of TropiCanada!
COMING NEXT POST
In a second case, Suki and Tricia sue “Landlord Daniel” for illegally evicting them from his apartment. If Sukhi and Tricia win, they ensure their families stay alive. If they lose, one member of each of their families will likely die … unless something drastic happens.
Posted in From the CM Trenches
Tagged BC, Country News, eviction, National Court, rights & freedoms, welfare
Comments Off on News from TropiCanada (Part 2 of 4)
