Governance

Today, the class reached the "governance" stage: two of the young men wrote on a piece of paper in pencil proclamation that they were the rulers of the city and that they were going to be in charge. They ceremoniously taped their proclamation the black board at the front of the classroom. There immediatley arose a clamour from another student -- a young woman -- who loudly voiced her opinion that "they can't just do that!" This alerted others who were going about their business. "Can they just do that?"

My explanation was that no one had made any laws, there was no government in place. The two class mates had gotten together and made something happen. Now, they had to consider one of Harrington's two "Prime Directives": No crime may be instigated. Was there a crime instigated? To decide, I advised them to take a look the history of how governments came into being. One member of the class immediately respnded: "Divine Right!"

I hope their social studies teachers take note.