Newsletter: News and Journals

I had mentioned I wouldn't post a newsletter this week, considering there was so much going on. However, old habits are hard to break. I would miss sharing our work with you. So here's an overview of our most recent work with news and journals.

News/Journals 

The kids have been sharing all sorts of great information, ideas, questions, and news stories during our Morning Meeting. Over the past week, the discussions from our class journals have included: the lunar eclipse, peeper frogs, the Hebrew language, and a debate over who is allowed to do the Scout salute during the pledge.

Our news articles have included: the State Fair, information about gold, living a month under the sea, sports fans who have rioted in response to the outcome of a game, and ways to become more "mindful" like Sherlock Holmes.

Today I shared articles from the front page of the State over the past two days about how the Supreme Court's ruling on marriage bans/legality of same-gender marriages will effect South Carolina. Much of this discussion was spent considering how a nation of more than 300 million people who have a wide variety of beliefs work to create, revise, and eliminate laws that effect everyone. Some, we decided, were easy -  harming others or stealing. Other laws, however, are much harder to decide upon.

Asked how they would achieve a solution, the kids responded with many ideas. For each, I introduced a counter-argument to consider. These included...

"We should just split the country up in two."
Counter-argument: We could do this if it were only one issue we couldn't agree upon. However, there are hundreds and hundreds including gun rights, alcohol, smoking, and illegal drugs. Knowing my own household can't even agree on many issues I wonder how many new smaller countries we'd have to make. Dozens? Hundreds?

"We should just get rid of the bad stuff and not have any other laws."
Counter-argument: Who gets to decide what the "bad stuff" is? There's bound to be the same disagreements. If you say alcohol is bad (and almost all the kids do) someone else might argue it's important to have the freedom to make responsible choices for ourselves. What does this mean in regards to seat belts? Or illegal drugs?

"We should have a vote and whatever most the people want should be the law."
Counter-argument: Is the majority always right? Is there a possibility the minority might lose some of their rights just because there are fewer of them? Knowing no system is perfect, would we be okay with this?

"It should be like Cloud Cuckoo in the Lego Movie where there are not rules so long as you don't make anyone mad."'
Counter-argument: But with millions and millions of people, aren't we bound to make someone mad? How many mad people become enough to make an issue or a law worth talking about? How many make it worth changing? One? One hundred? One thousand? One million?

"We should just give people shots that make them feel happy all the time."
Counter-argument: Is happiness from the chemical in a shot real happiness? Would feeling happy from a shot change whether a law is fair or unfair?

It really was such  a great discussion. And like all great discussions there didn't seem to be an easy answer. How would you say we should create laws for so many? We'll spend the year learning how it does happen here in the U.S. If you know a lawmaker who might visit us PLEASE let me know. Or, if you have some personal experience with politics and laws maybe you'd like to come in and share your knowledge and experiences with the kids. We'll definitely keep thinking about this over the course of the year as we learn about government and South Carolina history.