The Game of Village

Appraisal Day

Today was a very important day for the villagers.  A team of appraisers came and assessed the value of their land and houses.  I was thrilled that several alumni were able to come back and appraise houses, after all, few people know better the challenges posed by tiny hinges and the expense of peep wall to wall carpet.  This year, for the first time, appraisal did not happen during mini-fair.  What a difference.  Students presented their land with confidence and appraisers had the time to ask about the students' work.  Everyone really seemed to enjoy the process.  They're all very anxious to receive their appraisals.  

Sometimes I wonder if the appraisals are too much like a numeric grade on their project.  Village is so much more than building a house - sometimes students who spend a lot of their time doing other elements of the game feel disheartened if they compare their house values to their peers.  This is why I send home the financial  pieces of the game to be figured out at home so that we limit comparisons.  The appraisal is not how you "win the game" and children and parents can have great conversations about all the other ways to find success at village (and, of course, life).

At the same time, the appraisal helps students see why doing their best work matters.  They also see the value of careful presentation.  The element of  uncertainty created by having to pay back one's loan makes it very important to create a valuable property.  The perceived realness of their financial portfolio and its health make the work of the game that much more authentic.  I often smile when I use the word "authentic" to describe a world in 1/24 scale but it is remarkable how few times students refuse to suspend disbelief.  To them, this is very real indeed.

Many thanks to our appraisers:  Sarah Gallagher, Bo Aylin, Michelle Wieber, Sofie Scheuerman, Tammy Prichard, Scout Gregerson, Meredith Reese, Patrick Ganey and Meaghen Hoang.  Thanks to to Phoebe Gray, Linda Gallagher, and Jennifer Sawyer who fearlessly led mini fair preparations as students finished their appraisal presentations.

Zombies, Corruption, and the Saint Benjamin Baby Boom

O.K.,  I admit it, I have tried to foment dissent and rile up the masses.  To me, the biggest lessons of Village emerge from conflict.  A counterfeiting ring leads to a destabilization of the currency which leads to inflation -- how will the town deal with that?  Dissatisfaction with not having a say in decisions leads to a recall on the government and a return to more direct democracy.  This year, our Village schedule has been a bit compressed and the majority of citizens are still working on their houses.  When you're worried about having a roof over your head, you don't necessarily have time to care about civic issues.  Not to be deterred, I've been looking for opportunities to introduce a little intrigue (Gus has always been a meddler.)

First I tried abusing government funds.  The town had voted to make the federal government "Chief Financial Officers" and have control of all government spending.  "They aren't going to cheat us!" was one comment during the brief debate.  Heh, heh, heh.  I called out, "Free stimulus money!  Let the town write you a check!" during recess but to no avail.  I convinced one peep to be in charge of turning our lovely big stump into a Times Square like advertising column.  I would give him $500 to post advertisements for his hair salon and rock climbing wall and he would also post ads for other businesses, free of charge.  I tacked them up with our staple gun (one of the few "no students" tools we have) and waited for the outcry.  There was none.  "Nice ads!" one student shared.  What about the inappropriate use of public land?!  What about the destruction of natural beauty?!  This was evidently not the right tactic.  (I haven't given up the idea of bankrupting the town by hiring myself to provide donuts to the citizenry at NASA toilet seat prices but that seems extreme.)

Next I tried fear.  We've had a group of zombies being made during recess.  Initially they were going to be used as props for a movie, or at least that's the story that was given to me.  Then, they started to take on a life of their own in peep village, necessitating imprisonment and taking up a lot of their creators' time.  "Real" zombies are technically out of bounds for Village because they are elements of fantasy and peeps operate within the bounds of known science and physics (they cannot fly or have two heads, for example.)  But I decided to let the game take care of itself and ran a free Peep University class on Political Action and the Dangers of Zombies.  I taught the students about the Red Scare of the 1950s and then explained that the paranoia about Communists was unwarranted but that a Green Scare would be very appropriate because zombies, unlike Communists, eat people's brains.  They couldn't be trusted in our town.  The makers of the zombies joined in the class and we had  a lively debate that swirled around issues of slavery, rights of the undead, what makes a "peep" a "peep," the fairness of having a workforce created by you, oh, and brain eating.  Even Billy Bobby, the zombies' original creator admits to being afraid.  "We need a logo!"  "We need a slogan!"  "We need persuasive arguments!"  We had a mob and chanting.  Unfortunately, it was the end of the day and we had to go.  The zombies laid low all day on Friday and the Green menace seemed to have been forgotten.

So now we're back to babies.  Large families seem to be de rigeur.  Peep Baby Bjorns have been created and everyone seems very happy.  There have been a few small disputes about babysitting fees but those were cleared up outside of the courts.  Food is far and away the most popular product (after all, we have our broods to feed.)  And I'm left asking, "What about the zombies?"

There were Peace and Houses Throughout the Land

We've introduced Land Time at the end of every Village day.  Peeps interact on the land and sell things to each other.  Not only does it make the work of owning a business authentic, it also creates the opportunity for conflict which is where some of the key learning around law and society occurs.  However, this is a very peaceful bunch of Villagers so far.  After the initial glow of litigation wore off, we've had very few law suits.  

There is a trend toward domesticity that I've never seen before.  Peeps have gotten married and are now settling down and having children.  The strange thing is the lack of drama.  In the past, marriages have been titillating events, the source of rumors and much giggling.  This year, people are simply deciding to get married.  Friends attend the wedding, a few honey moon pictures are taken and life goes on.

We're expecting our first children to be introduced on Tuesday, Marei and Amber Mc. Jamiy.  Their parents went to the courts to straighten out their legal status before they were born.  They will be afforded all of the rights given to peep citizens but will not have a vote unless one "parental unit" dies or goes missing.

One of the benefits of peace and domesticity is that we're getting a lot of work done on the houses.  In fact, the first houses were put on the land on Friday and even more were finished at our work day today.  Suddenly, it's beginning to look like a town with houses, gardens and even fences thanks to Sarah's Peep University class.  Hmmm...I was just thinking about Plimoth Plantation, the first successful European settlement here,  It succeeded in large part because it was not military in purpose and there were women and families in the first group of settlers.  Perhaps Saint Benjamin is similar.

One last note, we end the year with Village because it is so completely absorbing for most children.  Today they were lamenting that there were only nine days left of school.  There's an intensity to their work that we strive for in progressive education.  There's an excellent, excellent article in this Sunday's New York Times, "The Case for Working with Your Hands."  It's by a man who has a PhD in political philosophy from the University of Chicago but has found his true work running a motorcycle repair shop.  What he says about his life and his fulfillment echo, almost to the word, so much of what I believe about progressive education.  It was a good reminder to me to step back and reflect on how we can weave even more authenticity into the work we do with the children.

Sheep Rights

Today as I sat teaching a Peep University class (more on that below) I overheard a very interesting court case.  Our high court judge was taking a law to the two lower courts to be approved.  The system works kind of like a random representative democracy in that the high court judge has the power to suggest laws (executive function) but they must be approved by the juries in two lower courts so 1/4 of the citizens have a say on any given law.  In this case, the law was about animal rights.  The high court judge felt that animals should have rights since he had witnessed several peep sheep being thrown against walls.  He had reviewed the six rights guaranteed to citizens:

The right to a safe life.
The right to a free voice.
The right to reasonable privacy.
The right to assemble
The right to free action.
The right to personal property.

Animals, he felt deserved some of these rights.  "Well, the right to a safe life.  They don't need the right to a free voice since they don't talk.  They have the right to reasonable privacy, so like, we shouldn't take their fleece off.  They shouldn't have the right to assemble, except to make sheeplets."  I apologize that I don't have a transcript for the rest of the rights -- I was trying very, very hard not to giggle disruptively.

Two issues came before the town.  They've decided to have a C.F.O. (chief financial officer) who will be in charge of the town's check book.  People with proposals for the town will come to this person for approval.  So, if someone wanted to construct a baseball diamond on town land, he or she would go to the C.F.O. with a written proposal that stated what they would do and how much they would charge the town.  It's a volunteer position.  I'm fascinated by the town's decision -- many peeps were frustrated that no one seemed to be making decisions for the town.  It's a lot of power for one peep to have' we'll see what develops.  Mikko asked to be reinstated for judge but the proposal didn't pass -- many in the town seemed neutral but didn't feel like reversing the original decision.

We also began Peep University today.  Peeps can earn a bachelor, masters, or  PhD degree by taking courses.  Many courses focus on home improvement and landscaping (today's were on couch building and making vehicles) but we've had some esoteric classes (cheese tasting) in the past.  The federal government is also subsidizing all spanish classes so that citizens can prepare for some special visitors who are coming to mini-fair on June 4.  Please contact Michelle if you'd like to teach a Peep U. class.

A Couple Thousand Words

Landrush

Students await landrush with anticipation.  Most know just where they would like to put their home but neighbors are an issue, too.  It's always fascinating to see who picks land right in the middle of things and who stakes a claim far from the maddening crowd.

Land Time 

Now that Village is clipping along, we'll try to provide land time every day.  During land time, peeps interact with each other, buying and selling, scheming, playing.  Sometimes there are sports games planned or disco dances.  Many times, conflicts arise that move the discussions in town meeting forward.  Today we had a wedding.  It's through this interaction that the game becomes more than just a house building exercise (although that has value, surely).  At our first land time, one entrepreneur had sod to sell to our lawn poor peeps.  She sold out almost instantly.  "I think I might raise the price next time, there seems to be a lot of demand." she said.  In years past, some students have brought a lot of something, only to discover it's not something anyone wants.  Students also learned about the system of customs and tariffs on Friday -- the federal government tends to put very steep tariffs on anything made by anyone outside of Saint Benjamin. We also encourage unique ideas with low tariffs (the sod was given some hefty subsides).  Truly some micro economic lessons.

Just When You Thought it was Safe

A comment on a previous post noted that this year's Village seemed "boring."  Everything was going too smoothly.  Not so today.

A grassroots movement had begun yesterday around lunchtime.  There were concerns around the lower court judge.  Some people were frustrated by how the judge was running cases, others were upset by some language they considered inappropriate that the judge had used.  Supporters rallied to the judge's side, forming a political party and beginning to craft a defense.

Today a petition surfaced asking the head court judge to hold a town meeting about the matter.  He agreed and the town met this afternoon.  The debate was very, very spirited -- at one point there were over 19 people on the speakers list.  One of the most central issues was the judge's use of the words "retarded" and "shut up."  Both had been uttered out of court and under stress.  

Some students talked about why "retarded" is offensive to them (it denigrates a group of people who are indeed mentally retarded -- I was heartened by an instant connection students made to a conversation we'd had earlier this year about using "girl" as an insult.)  Others talked about how, while it's true these words aren't nice, they're commonly used and shouldn't be cause for dismissal.  It was countered that judges are our representatives and should be held to a higher standard.  Someone then cited that Al Franken had been elected and he had used swear words.  Another student gave that point but also said that Franken's language was an issue in the campaign.  The lower court judge summed up by asking the citizens for a second chance.

Sarah and I sat quietly during this process as the head judge was moderating.  The students listened to each other respectfully for over 45 minutes.  When, at the 40 minute mark, someone asked if they could leave to do work, the judge agreed but less than half of the kids went.  In the end, by a very narrow margin, the town decided to give the judgeship to the person who had won the next highest number of votes in the original election.

By the end of the day, a new petition was being circulated, in support of re-instating the original judge who now understood more about the expectations for the elected officials in Saint Benjamin.  Since many of the original judge's supporters had left the meeting before the vote, it was unclear what the outcome of the proposal would be if brought to town meeting.  We'll see.

I can never predict exactly what civics lessons will be taught during Village, they emerge from the students' play.  But I have never been disappointed.  Today, the students explained the power of language more eloquently and effectively than I ever could have.  I've droned on about these issues at class meeting after class meeting, but to have the student's voice their own values to each other is so much more important.  They also made it clear that elected officials should be held to a higher standard since they have been chosen to represent us.  I have no doubt it's a belief they'll still hold when they step into the voting booth seven or eight years from now.

What's in a Name?

Yesterday the judges shared the map they had made of the land.  A scale map that shows property boundaries and landmarks is a part of our land agreement with Caroline.  If it is not completed by Friday at noon, the land is forfeited back to Caroline and Village is over.  This is the earliest in my memory that a map has ever been completed.  They enlarged it on the copier today and it was accepted by Caroline.  I got a giant bear hug from one of the main cartographers -- she was very, very excited.

When the map was presented I asked if maps usually had a title.  It was meant as a seed, to be discussed later but this is, evidently, not a group to procrastinate.  The group generated about 40 names and voted to choose from among the top four vote getters in a run off election.  The top four names were "Iselandville," "Saint Benjamin,"  "Funky Town," and "Bonniecroft."  "Funky Town" needs no explanation (although I received only blank stares when I broke into song at the suggestion.)  "Iselandville" was suggested in honor of Cia Iseland who created the game of Village in the 70s.  "Bonniecroft" was suggested by Angus, one of our Scottish peeps, and means "good town."  "Saint Benjamin" was suggested in honor of the creator of our governmental system, Ben Andrew, a PCCS alumnus.

Saint Benjamin won, closely followed by Iselandville.  I'm not sure how I feel about the pedestal that our political philosopher has been placed upon (after all, Washington D.C. is not called "Locke Town").  But then, I'm one voice out of 84.

And Then There Was Land

Friday afternoon was our land rush.  On Thursday we had a remarkably calm and peaceful transfer of government to a three judge system.  Those judges randomly pick a new jury each day and hear the concerns of the citizens.  The high court judge may present ideas for laws to the lower courts who must approve it before it becomes a law.  As promised, the judges brought the important decision of land division back to the town for approval.

In the past, the discussion around land division is long and complex.  Notions of "public" and "private" have to be explored and everyone seems to have a slightly different plan each of which has to be presented, debated and voted upon before we explore the next one.  Parliamentary procedure has a lot of advantages but it is not swift.  This time, the three judges sat down and worked on a plan with a few interested citizens (it often pays just to hang around the meeting area in Village) and then presented the plan to the Village:

1)  Everyone will get 1 human square yard (which is 5,184 square mini feet).  The lots containing the two big trees and the stump will be part of the public land.  (The town owns 30 of the 70 lots and will have a lot of money to spend -- mentioned already are scholarships for the University and parks.)

2)  6 mf around the perimeter of each person's land will have a public easement so that people can walk through the land.  You may not build in this space.

Each proposal was brought before the town.  The judges and committee answered questions and then it was put to a vote.  Everyone was pretty happy with the ideas and they passed almost unanimously.  It's a dramatic demonstration of one of the weaknesses of direct democracy.  When everyone gets a say, the process takes a lot longer and the end results aren't necessarily any more palatable to the group.

Land rush also went smoothly.  We talked about the story of the Oklahoma land rush (and why the government might just give away land) and then we went out and picked lots by sticks (no Sooners in our town, thank you.)  The land clearing and construction of primitive shelters began immediately.  Peeps spent the weekend out on the land, gulp, and are eagerly awaiting the new houses that will be built for them in the coming weeks.

Never a Dull Moment

Well, it didn't take long for things to get interesting.  Today we saw the land -- a much more wooded section than we've ever had.  Students were already thinking about the implications of trees.  Who owns them?  What if your lot is all tree?  Can you build off of a tree?  Can your house go over someone else's land if it's in air space?

We went back inside and introduced a slew of peeps and then got down to the business of a town meeting.  Gus, the moderator of the meeting, quickly explained direct democracy, simple majority, parliamentary procedure and Robert's Rules of Order.  I am always amazed at how quickly students master these ideas.  What was once to me the driest of civics lessons becomes a valuable tool of power manipulation (and thus, very desirable information).  This is the most basic principle of progressive education: students want to learn what is useful to them.  When they feel a need for knowledge (beyond the artificial construction of needing to know what is on a test) they seek it out, remember it and understand it.

I'm often surprised at the first proposals brought before the town.  For me, the priorities are clear:  we need to divide the land so that we have collateral for the bank accounts.  Fourth and fifth graders often have different priorities, however.  Many have been thinking about "what Village needs" since last June.

Here is what happened in today's meeting:

• N.K. proposed:  If there is a lake with an island, the island should be public.  (passed)
• M.R. proposed:  One needs permission to go on someone else's land or property.  (passed -- after it was noted that we should probably think about ways to get from one part of the land to another) 
• E.P. proposed:  Everyone should have the same amount of land at the beginning. Extra land is public land. (passed -- there was a lot of concern about volume vs. area during this discussion.  Did people who had trees on their property have more or less land?  Could you buy or sell additional land?  What if one's land was all tree?  Who owns "air rights"?  While it's clear that many of these questions weren't specifically about the proposal, the moderator allowed them to prompt some future proposals) 
• S.H. proposed:  We should be run by a monarch.  Different groups wouljd have representatives, ideas or problems are brought to the group.  Representatives have one vote, monarch has 1.5 votes.  "passing" is a percentage to be determined by the group.  The four quadrants of the land would vote on their representative and everyone would vote for the monarch.   (failed -- a rich debate lead to considerable clarification of this proposal but it didn't have support.)
• L.W. proposed:  A government system like last year.  Details here. There were several changes to this "government by judges" or "kryptocracy."  Three courts were felt to be better than 4.  Juries would be 5 people, not 10.  Two courts in a row must agree and the high court judge has the power to make laws but they are treated as court cases and must be approved by the two lower courts.  Jury and judges are paid.  The federal government will rule where there is a conflict of interest.  (passed -- an initial attempt at voting failed.  More debate followed.  Last year's system had a minimum of drama and people generally liked it.  A second voting attempt was successful and the measure passed with 35 votes (out of 55 potential votes). 

It was only after the vote that students realized they had just ended direct democracy and had done so before we had divided the land.  This has never happened in my time at Village.  The high court judge will now have the power to make the proposal for land division.  "Wait!  But we didn't mean for it to be now.  We want it after land rush!"  Gus held firm.  The proposal as written had passed.  We'll have campaigning on Wednesday and an election either late Wednesday morning or early Thursday.  Students are still looking for a loophole (their word, not mine) but for now their decision stands.

Why not let them amend their decision?  I can't think of a better way to impress upon them the importance of thinking through legislation before one votes.  What will the full impact be?  Are their unforeseen consequences?  To be good voters, we must be informed voters.  The droning of a public service announcement becomes a vibrant argument when one's own land is at stake.

It will be interesting to see what the students take from tomorrow's trip to the capital.  It was meant to precede their government decision.  Now they'll have a comparison.  Will they long for a new way?

Where do we go? Where do we go now?

Village 2009 has begun.  Of course, it begins for many students in September -- scheming, planning, carefully constructing biographies.  But now we've made the peeps who have lived that biography and we'll introduce some of them on Monday morning in our first official town meeting.

We begin every day with town meeting which is moderated by my peep, Gus.  We'll use a modified parliamentary procedure to run the meetings.  We are a direct democracy -- all citizens (human and peep) vote on all decisions.  At least initially...untill many peeps begin to get frustrated with endless meetings and look for a different way to run things.

Tomorrow, we'll get a look at the town land which will be in the western side of the woods.  We'll sign a land agreement with Caroline who is lending us the land for the project.  Then, our first decision is how to split the land between the citizens and the town and then among the citizens.  Until we've done that, we have no way to guarantee a loan from the federal bank.

We've chosen land near our new classrooms (to which we'll be moving on Friday).  Our workshop space and tool storage will also be in new locations -- we're going to wait until we're relocated to finalize everything.

There's a wonderful website that has information about the history of Village (it's a project I learned when I apprenticed at the original summer camp in New Hampshire).  Cia Iselin is the originator of the "game" and she's written about beautifully http://www.thegameofvillage.com/history.html.

(And, before I get e-mails asking about gender equity, I realized after I got home that I only had pictures of boys sewing.  I was so charmed watching them work quietly and contentedly on Friday after our boisterous May Day festivities that I clicked away and then got involved with helping without remembering to get some more pictures.  It is Emily's hair, though -- she saved it from her last trim just for her peep.  More representative pictures in the next entry, I promise.)