The Great Government Debate

Post date: Oct 7, 2013 4:28:07 PM

This past week, we began learning about types of government. Governments are something made up of people that we create to help resolve conflicts and allocate resources without all of us killing each other. Governments set the rules for our society (usually with our consent) and they enforce those rules for us. You know, so if someone comes to your house and steals your TV, you don't have to solve the problem yourself with violence. Instead, a police officer can help resolve it for you.

While all humans live with government, all governments are also different. This week we begin taking a closer look at how they are different and what are the advantages and disadvantages of each type. Before you learn about the assignment, review the presentations below about types of government. Then keep reading to learn about the assignment.

Now that you have learned a bit about some types of government, it's time for our assignment. It is called the Great Government Debate, and it is explained in detail on the assignment sheet here. Each group will research their type of government and government and then prepare some persuasive arguments about why their government is the best one. Then you should prepare some arguments about why the others are not so great. Be prepared to also defend your government type from criticism. The types for this debate are:

• • democratic republic

  • autocracy

  • oligarchy

  • totalitarian

  • direct democracy

This assignment will take some role playing on your part. I expect you all to take it seriously. There is a lot to be learned during this assignment. Part of that learning will be how to debate. Debates are formal arguments where facts and logic are used to win rather than passion and emotion. See an example of a good middle school debate below. This one is about the what is the best type of energy.