Introduction
Survival "Create Your Own Society" Activity
Task
Imagine that there has been a nuclear attack on the United States, and everything in the country has been destroyed. It is now a post-apocalyptic world. You and 300 survivors are the only ones left in the United States! Your task will be to create your own society with a government, guidelines for who will hold power, how laws will be determined, what your law will be, and what your punishments for breaking the rules will be (**must be school appropriate). You must also determine how your group will plan to gather sustenance (food and water) because all that is left after the nuclear attack is the natural environment (forest, natural water, mountains, etc).
Process
Together, you and your partner must create your own society. Please write your responses to each question in your journal.
(1) Choose a name for your new government (ex. The United States of Ms. Hill).
(2) Choose a type of government you wish to have for your new society that you feel would make your society a success. For a refresher on the major types of government, please visit the following link:
http://depts.alverno.edu/dgp/GEC/Types%20of%20Government.html
(3) How will you determine who holds the power in your society? Will it done by a vote? Will you hold the power because everyone is looking to you to save them? Will you share power with another person? Does the leader get determined much in the same way as leadership was determined on the island in Lord of the Flies? (Ralph found the conch, which was what brought the boys together).
(4) What will your laws be? What rules will all your citizens have to follow so that your society is successful? The following link will take you to basic human rights that many countries around the world follow today. Come up with 5-7 simple rules that everyone must follow in your society.
http://www.ohchr.org/en/issues/pages/whatarehumanrights.aspx
(5) What will the punishment be if your laws are broken? (It MUST be school-appropriate) Come up with 3 different punishments/consequences that people might face should they break a rule.
(6) How does your group plan to gather food and water? What will you do to make shelters to protect everyone from the elements? How do you plan to cook and make any food that you gather?
Conclusion
Congratulations! You have now created the beginnings of a new society! In your journal, reflect on this activity. What did you like about it? What did you think was hard? Now that you have had a chance to create the beginnings of a new society, think about the difficulties that Ralph and Piggy faced when trying to come up with rules for the boys on the island to live by. Answer the following questions: Do you think the boys on the island did a good job with trying to create laws and rules? Why or why not? What would you have done differently in their situation to make everything more successful?