|
|
Came the revolution!
Navigation: Main page
Author: Unknown
Section: THE REPORTER
Programs
SCHOOL NEWS
The items here were
chosen for their general interest. We hope they encourage people and
schools to get in touch. If your school has a program that you would
like to share with our readers, please send a brief description of it
(no longer than five double-spaced pages) to Sally Greene, editor. NAIS
Reporter, 75 Federal St., Boston MA 02110; or call (617) 451 -2444.
Came the revolution!
For one week this fall, twenty-five middle school students at The
Colorado Springs School had an opportunity to experience for themselves
the anger that led American colonists to revolt against England.
Assistant head Karen Huff simulated taxation without representation and
illegal search and seizure--within the normal context of middle school
life and without the students' knowledge.
As she hoped, the students nearly revolted.
Huff designed a
series of impositions on students that corresponded to actual events.
For example, the Navigation Acts, which, among other things, required
all ships bound for the colonies to stop first in England for
inspection, were simulated by daypack searches. Students whose daypacks
were judged "disorganized" were fined one kudo (a kudo is a coupon of
praise awarded to Colorado Springs middle school students.)
The Proclamation of
1763 prohibited colonists from settling west of a line along the
Appalachian Mountains. To simulate the proclamation, Huff drew a line
across one of the school's science laboratories, dividing it into upper
school territory and middle school territory, then forbade middle
schoolers to cross it for any reason.
To help students
experience the effects of the Sugar Act of 1764, lockers were searched
and sugar-related items found inside them were taxed--much as molasses
that was traded to the colonies was taxed.
As Huff was about to
impose a stamp act--require that students purchase a stamp before
turning in homework and tests, to simulate the Stamp Act of
1765--students began to revolt.
At first they
threatened to boycott classes, throw Huff's desk into a pond, and even
burn down her house. Cooler heads eventually prevailed, and, with the
help of their teachers and advisers, the students instead organized a
rational strategy to combat Huff's unfairness. They investigated their
constitutional rights and drew up a petition that cited the Fourth
Amendment prohibition of illegal search and seizure. Then they elected
representatives who went to the school head to protest Huff's arbitrary
actions.
At that point, Huff
repealed the "acts" and revealed her purpose, passing out a list of
historical events and the corresponding middle school events, so that
students could remember history by remembering their own feelings.
Huff considers the
experiment a resounding success: "I can honestly say that this project
embodies the goals and ideals of experience-based education at the
middle school level that we deem so important. When I designed the
project, my main objective was for the students to experience the anger
and frustration that the colonists felt, rather than simply reading
about it. I also intended for them to form organized protests,
petitions, debates, and discussions."
For more information
about the program, get in touch with Karen Huff, The Colorado Springs
School, 21 Broadmoor Ave., Colorado Springs CO 80906; telephone (719)
475-9747.
Some items on this website are used by permission granted
in the Fair Use guidelines of the 1976 U.S. Copyright Act.
info [at] singlearticles.com
Powered by CommonSense
|
|
|
|
