Lessons Learned Through Self Government
As part of the curriculum she developed a simulation replicating what the American colonies experienced with Britain. Mrs. Denton was the queen and we were her royal subjects. The class was divided into colonies. Mrs. Denton appointed a parliament, and started establishing laws. At first these laws were simple classroom rules with strict consequences. For example, if you got out of your chair without permission, you had to sit at the front of the room. I was fine with these rules, because they kept a focused learning environment. Soon, these rules extended to being unfair and unreasonable. As an example, the color of shirt that you were wearing was reflected in your grade that day. Every day there was a chosen color of shirt. If you were wearing that shirt color, then you had to complete your in- class work for yourself, and another person could give you their work to complete as well. This does not help anyone to learn. The person giving up their assignment does not have the experience of doing the worksheet, and the one doing multiple assignments is too rushed to complete the assignments that they do not have a strong take away from them, all because of the color of shirt that they chose to wear that morning. At first these rules bothered me, but then one day I fell victim to the shirt law, and I saw how dumb these laws were. As Frederic Bastiat’s The Law he teaches that laws are created to eliminate injustice and they should not be “lawful plunder.” In this circumstance, they added injustice and were established so the government was more feared and respected by its people. Bastiat writes, “Men naturally rebel against the injustice of which they are victims.”
As our class studies approached the signing of the Declaration of Independence, I got really tires of these rules. I decided to rebel, but in a peaceful manner. My plan was to get my colony and colonies in my class and other classes to declare our independence and to sign a pact. One thing that really surprised me was who agreed to this. Soft spoken people who I never imagined would disobey the class rules were so willing to help. But, people who I thought would jump on board in a second we afraid of their grade dropping and Mrs. Denton not liking them anymore. I started to get many people on board, but I was missing the support from my class. So, I asked Andrew Teague to help me. Andrew is a very well respected individual, and he helped our class on our road to independence. He got a lot more colonies to declare their independence. I sent an email to Mrs. Denton declaring our independence and stating that I had been chosen as an ambassador to keep peaceful relations between our new country and her majesties kingdom, and she responded saying that she would be happy to talk to us about independence. The next class period, she said that we could be free if we wrote and unanimously signed a declaration declaring our independence and completes an in class assignment. First, we had to choose a chairman for our convention. Both Andrew and I were nominated, and Andrew won, which I was fine with because I felt like we had built a relationship and he would listen to my ideas. To divide the work and do it efficiently, Andrew had the left side of the room work on the assignment and the right side of the room work on the declaration. I was sitting on the right side, so I was excited to help draft the declaration. As we got settled down, Andrew asked me to help work on the assignment. Trusting in his judgement, I went to help the other group. My group finished early and I started listening and watching what was happening. The history classroom is a lecture style room so it, and I was sitting at the top of the room and could very easily watch what was happening during the convention under the leadership of Andrew. Andrew started to become what he hated most, a tyrant. He shut down people’s thoughts and told them that they were stupid, and made people conform to his ideas. After two class periods, we got the declaration signed and we were now a free country.
As a new country, we needed to establish a constitution. A chairman of the class constitutional convention needed to be chosen. Both Andrew and I were nominated once again, and I ended up winning by a large majority. As the new class president, I knew how I wanted to led the class. As we started to have discussions, I noticed that the class was getting really crazy and talkative. Then I realized why. Just like the Founding Fathers did when writing the Articles of Confederation, I was leaning to far towards anarchy. When coming out of an oppressive circumstance, in fear to keep your freedom alive, it is natural to fall towards the opposite extreme. Another thing that I noticed was that I was looking for special privileges and wanting everyone to acknowledge that I was their leader. I could feel that tug of wanting more control, just like Andrew felt. When given just a little bit of control, it is easy to start so assume more control. Within about two weeks, the Constitution was signed and ratified by everyone in the class. Very soon, it was obvious that some amendments needed to be made. This showed me that self government is always a work in progress, and a self governing society will never be created in one attempt.
For a couple more months, the amended Constitution operated and ran our class very well. John Lane, who was from Andrew’s state, was elected as the class president, and although I lost that election, I was happy that he won, because I trusted his judgement. Up until the end of the semester, his administration was great until some weird things started to go on. Andrew proposed an amendment to the Constitution abolishing the states. I was very confused at why he wanted to do this. The amendment did not pass.
One day in class Andrew was grading one of my large assignments when he came up to me and told me that if I wanted to get the grade of an A, then I had to join his plan that he had created to make John the supreme dictator. As someone who cares about their grades a lot, I wanted to get a good grade on this assignment, but I also did not want to join in on this plan. I decided to say that I was joining in on their plan, but instead be working against it. As Mrs. Denton had individual meetings with students to talk about their grades, the class was allowed to have a study period. Andrew, John, and I went around discussing the plan with other states. Instead of convincing people to make John the king, I told them that there was no point to this plot and that we were just ruining what we had worked so hard towards, a Republican form of government. Once Mrs. Denton brought the class together, Congress had a vote on this issue. Congress passed to make John the “supreme ruler” by one vote. Very confused on why their was not more support, Andrew talked to other states and figured out what I was doing. He was very upset. John appointed him to be the chancellor of this monarchy. It soon became very obvious that this was not a monarchy, but rather an oligarchy made up of John and Andrew. Then, I saw why they tried to do away with the states. Without dual jurisdiction, there are not checks and balanced on a vertically. Without the states, virtually no one would be able to interfere with the control of John and Andrew.
I wish that I could say that this experience in 4B American History ended with everyone living happily ever after in a republic. Instead, we ended up with a monarchy that no one, except for those who benefited from it were really happy with. But, with every trial there is an important lesson learned. I learned that a republic is hard to keep. Human nature gets in the way, and self government is not instinctive. As said by Thomas Jefferson, “The qualifications for self government in society are not innate. They are the result of habit and long training.” The master of self government himself needed practice keeping the Republic, and so de we. Today, Americans young and old are accustomed to living in a passive democracy. But, if we want to have something to pass down for generations to come, then it is important to practice “habit and long training,” so that we can keep our Republic.
Laine McKay Norton is a 15 year old sophomore in high school at Heritage Academy in Mesa, Arizona. Laine is a company member with the prestigious youth ballet, Ballet Etudes. She participates in her school's debate club and newspaper, and has owned a small business since she was 12 years old. She is a student at the Center for Self Governance and enjoys studying human nature and social contracts. Laine has traveled with her father speaking at various conferences. Laine currently resides in Gilbert, Arizona.
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