To conclude our study on democratic government systems Grade 5/6 experienced a topsy-turvy day where the laws in the classroom changed dramatically. 10 new laws were instated by one student, who became our leader for the day. Kristen Watson worked hard to make sure the rules suited some people and not others and made people just uncomfortable enough to start asking questions around fairness. Some of our new rules included Kristen being able to choose who sat on a chair for the day and who didn’t, who could use their right hand to write and who had to use their left, who got to go first to recess, who could use an eraser on their work and who was allowed to talk and when. Other rules meant that only the boys were allowed to have their fruit break, everyone had to run a lap of the oval every half an hour, people wearing black socks had to pick up playground rubbish after recess and lunch, on an even hour anyone with an ‘L’ in their name had to stand and sing or dance to entertain Kristen and on every hour the people born between January and June received a grinner – just for being born! The rules were in force throughout the entire day with a consequence of performing various mundane tasks if the rules weren’t kept. The following day was a reflection of our experience with much discussion around fairness and what others would do in the same situation as our leader. We compared this experience to our system of government and started to piece together that living in a democracy isn’t such a bad thing after all.  

Mrs Tucker