Here is the Challenge as they received it:
#1 Unify the Islands (Distributive Justice and Legal Rights)- 3 Parts
Part 1: Distributive justice and resource allocation
The Islands will all unify to have 1 national Constitution. This will not take away any of the individual island’s autonomy. When the islands unify they will be given a start-up budget of $1,000,000 (1 million $$). You must determine how to meet the needs of your United Island Confederation using this budget.
Some questions to ask:
- what are the needs of confederated islands? sewer, water, welfare, free health care, fire and rescue, electricity…
- how will you distribute this money for these needs?
- Will all the islands be treated equally or fairly? What if 1 island is wealthy, do they get less resources?
Part 2:
The islands must all agree on a constitution. You must include certain legal and natural rights. Some questions to address:
- How long do you want your constitution (The US is short, California’s is very long and spells everything out)?
- What natural rights should you include?
- Which legal rights should you include?
- Where are you willing to negotiate?
Part 3:
When you come to class you must elect 1 person to represent your island in the confederation negotiations. Who will that be and what are they authorized to do without taking it back to the group.
The students were to think about Parts 1 and 2 at home, prepare for the class by reading and watching videos and then come ready to do Part 3. Most groups broke up the work and came back together with their portion completed. Here is a sample:
Morning Class:
They got frustrated throughout the negotiations because one island was high-tech and the other island wanted to remain primitive. The Morning class decided that they would not and could not unite.
Night Class:
The night class had many different ideas about why they wanted to spend the money and were able to communicate that with al 5 islands. They came to a consensus on the budget within 40 minutes.
An Ethical Island 