D4.8.6-8: Using Deliberative and Democratic Procedures to Decide and Act

Overview

Lesson Procedure

80-80 minutes of class time across 5 phases.

1. Warm-Up10 minutes
2. Direct Instruction25 minutes
3. Guided Practice15 minutes
4. Independent Practice20 minutes
5. Closure10 minutes

1. Warm-Up10 minutes

   Warm-Up Prompt

   "Your class has to choose one field-trip day. Five students want Monday, nine want Wednesday and eleven want Friday. Did Friday win? Write one reason it might be fair to say yes and one reason it might not."

   Take answers. Friday got the most votes, which is called a plurality, but eleven of 25 is less than half, so it is not a majority. Ask what else the class could do: talk more and look for a day most people can accept, hold a second vote between Wednesday and Friday, or decide whether some students cannot go on certain days at all. Tell students that the first idea is deliberative, the second is democratic, and that today they will use both.

2. Direct Instruction25 minutes

   Part 1: The question and the sources. The compelling question is "What makes a group decision fair, in a school or in a town?" The sources are a vehicle for the skill. Words to know: a charter is a document that sets up an organization and its rules; in School 125 each class was called a borough (a part of a city), and the student lawmakers were aldermen, the old name for city council members; a bill is a proposed law; a veto is when a leader refuses to approve a bill, and an override is when lawmakers pass it anyway by a bigger vote. "6 B" and "8 B" are class names from the school's own grade system, and "4 A" and "4 B" were younger classes. A declamation is a speech recited from memory, and a primary is an election to choose candidates. In Source 3, equitable means fair, and political patronage means the giving out of offices. In Sources 4 and 5, a civic club was a neighborhood group of adults meeting in a school building; the "commission plan" was a new way of organizing a city government; prohibition meant banning the sale of alcohol, and a saloon was a bar.

   In Source 1, paragraphs 1-2 describe Public School No. 69, New York, where Cronson worked in the 1890s under its principal, Dr. Matthew J. Elgas; paragraph 3 describes School 125, where Cronson himself was principal.

   1It was under these conditions—with children trained to a wholesome respect for school duties, with teachers eager to put forth their best efforts for the children and the school, and with a principal level-headed, capable and broad-minded—that the idea of pupil self-government was conceived and successfully applied.

   2When I was appointed to that school in 1893 I found there the custom of allowing the pupils from the upper grades to meet as a class society during the last hour of each school week. The avowed purpose of this was to give these pupils an opportunity to learn concretely how to conduct meetings and to supplement informally the regular studies of the grade. I was present at these meetings and from the first became greatly interested in them. For each meeting the committee prepared an elaborate program consisting of readings, declamations, essays, and debates, and I was surprised at the zeal with which they entered upon their tasks. But what attracted my attention most was the orderly manner in which the pupils conducted themselves and the cheerful manner in which they responded to orders.

   [...]

   3As has been stated in the Introduction, the writer had been principal of Public School No. 125, Manhattan, for exactly three years before he decided to introduce self-government in the four upper grades of the school. He announced this intention to the pupils during the morning assembly and appointed a day for the election of officers for the self-government school. A day later he visited the class-rooms of the four upper grades, explained briefly the purpose, form, and extent of the self-government scheme, and expressed the hope that the pupils would prove themselves worthy of the great trust reposed in them by their teachers and the principal.

   1Sec 1. All students of the school, from 6 B to 8 B inclusive, shall be citizens of the city. Sec. 2. Any other class, from 5 A to 6 A inclusive, may join the association, provided its application is endorsed by the teacher and is approved by the Principal.

   2Sec. 3. Clause I. Any pupil of the school, from 4 A to 4 B inclusive, who has been rated A in conduct, and, at least, B in lessons, and who can pass a satisfactory examination in accordance with Section 3, Clause III, may be admitted to citizenship.

   [...]

   3Sec. 2. It shall consist of two members from each borough, elected by the citizens thereof. Sec. 3. The members of the Board of Aldermen shall be elected to serve one-half of the school term. Sec. 4. The presiding officer of the Board of Aldermen shall be known as the President of the Board, and shall be chosen by the majority vote of those cast at a general election.

   [...]

   4Sec. 4. No bill shall be passed except by a majority vote of all the members of the Board of Aldermen. Sec. 5. Every bill that is passed by the Board of Aldermen, must be presented to the Mayor for his or her approval. Sec. 6. When a bill passed by the Board of Aldermen, receives the approval of the Mayor, it shall be a law. Sec. 7. If the Mayor disapproves the bill passed by the Board of Aldermen, he or she shall, within three days, return the said bill with his or her objections. Sec. 8. If the Board of Aldermen, however, express its approval of the measure by a two-thirds vote of all the members of the Board, the bill shall then become a law.

   1The conclusion of the reading was a signal for as boisterous a demonstration on the part of the children, as was ever heard at a packed primary. Whether this was due to the masterly delivery, to the lucid explanation of the plan, during the reading of the charter, or to the sudden recognition of their own importance, certain it is that the sense of propriety of the teachers who were present was shocked beyond measure by this unseemly conduct. No such scene had ever before been enacted within these staid walls, and certainly no such self-initiated and unrestrained enthusiasm or disorder, whichever you like to call it, had been witnessed in this school since the present principal had taken charge of it.

   2Fortunately all this had been foreseen, and the teachers had been forewarned to remain mere spectators of the whole proceeding no matter how strongly they were tempted to assume control. It required great powers of resistance and of inhibition, no doubt, to overcome the habit of regulating the child's every step, but in this instance, the teachers felt it would be senseless to give children self-government one minute, and the very next, to give them proof of the teacher's own lack of self-control.

   3The children calmed down eventually. Exhaustion and the daily training they had received triumphed. However, they were in no condition or mood to take part in an election. The meeting was therefore adjourned and the children advised to be prepared to nominate only the best pupils of the school for the various offices, as the Principal retained the right to reject any boy or girl whom he deemed unworthy of the honor.

   4Two days later, the election took place, and resulted in the choice of a boy for Mayor, a boy for President of the Board of Aldermen, three girls as judges, and a boy for City Attorney. It must not be inferred from this that the citizens of Self-Government School 125 deemed the boys better fitted for the executive and legislative work of the government, and the girls better fitted for the judicial work. The fact is that, when the result of the election to the second office was made known, and there seemed to be a disposition to ignore the girls entirely in the matter of political patronage, the Principal suggested that courtesy to the female citizens demanded a more equitable distribution of the offices. This suggestion was acted upon to the great satisfaction of everyone present.

   1At the second meeting of the first neighborhood body of the electorate using the schoolhouse as headquarters for deliberation in Rochester, New York, the speaker was Alderman Frank Ward. The question which this neighborhood voters' league or civic club, as it called itself, had decided to take up was the advantage of the commission plan of city government. The spirit of the organization was shown in the method followed. In order to get at the facts, it was decided to call first upon a man who could tell the advantages of the existing ward representation. The alderman was invited to speak on the duties of an alderman. After he had spoken for forty-five minutes there was an hour's orderly, but free and frank discussion of the question from the floor. At its close he was given time to sum up and answer questions. The assembly then voted him thanks. The response of the alderman was in these words: "You have given me a vote of thanks. I want to give you a vote of thanks, and mine is also unanimous. If every member of the common council and every other public servant had frequently such opportunities as this to come before the people whom he is supposed to represent, and discuss with them the things in which he is supposed to represent them it would mean that we would have a better representation of the people's interest and a more intelligent government."

   1Among the members of one of the neighborhood civic clubs, as the all-inclusive district organizations of the electorate are called in Rochester, New York, there were several ardent advocates of prohibition. One of these men proposed that arguments for the adoption of this "improvement" should be presented by Mr. Clinton Howard, an experienced advocate of prohibition, and moved that he be invited to speak before the club. The motion was amended by the attachment of the resolution to invite Mr. Joseph Reuter, a manufacturer of that city, to speak in defense of the saloon at the same meeting, the topic to be "The Social Value of the Saloon." The motion as amended carried. Both men accepted the club's invitation.

   2At the meeting, Mr. Howard pointed out the evils of the saloon. Mr. Reuter granted the evils, but said that the saloon serves an essential function as a democratic gathering place, where men of average means may find the fellowship of level association and the necessary education of untrammeled discussion. The audience was made up of a few men who were decidedly opposed to the saloon, a few who were ardent defenders of the saloon, and a large majority who had no strong feelings either way, who had not given the subject much thought. In the discussion which followed the addresses, there was, of course, some of the mere thrust and parry of debate, but soon there began to evolve, in accordance with the natural tendency of discussion in which men participate who have not taken sides on a mooted question, and who therefore come to the discussion with minds free from sentiment or prejudice, the idea that neither of the contestants had the complete answer.

   3The idea began to take form as a consensus of opinion, that the solution was to be found neither in attacking nor in maintaining the saloon, but in the development of an institution which should provide opportunity for the man-to-man liberty of comradely association, and the education of free discussion which the saloon now offers [...]

   How to cite. The "[...]" lines mark cuts and are not numbered. Source 1 has paragraphs 1-3, Sources 2 and 3 have 1-4, Source 4 is one paragraph, and Source 5 has 1-3.

   Part 2: Model the procedures. Work through the examples, placing each procedure on Diagram 1.

   • A democratic procedure in a school: majority, veto and override (Source 2, paragraph 4)

     The charter says no bill passes "except by a majority vote of all the members", that the Mayor may return a bill "with his or her objections", and that the Board can still make it law "by a two-thirds vote of all the members". Suppose (an invented example) the Board had 12 members. How many votes would a bill need, and how many to override a veto?

     Result: A majority of 12 is more than 6, so 7 votes. Two-thirds of 12 is 8, so 8 votes override a veto. The bigger number protects a leader's check on the Board while still letting a strong majority win. Diagram 1: the "Decide" step.

   • Who gets a vote? (Source 2, paragraphs 1-2)

     All students "from 6 B to 8 B inclusive" were citizens, but a younger pupil had to be "rated A in conduct", earn at least B in lessons and pass an examination. Is that a fair rule for a democratic school?

     Result: The rule includes every older student automatically but makes younger students earn the vote, so it mixes democracy with a test of merit. A fair answer names one argument for it (older students had practice) and one against it (some students are shut out of decisions that affect them). Diagram 1: "Hear all sides" asks who is in the room at all.

   • Adjourning when a meeting is not ready (Source 3, paragraph 3)

     After the charter was read, the children were too excited to vote, so "The meeting was therefore adjourned". Why is ending a meeting sometimes the fairest procedure?

     Result: A vote taken in disorder may not show what people really think. Adjourning, which means ending a meeting to continue later, gave everyone two days to think about whom to nominate. It is a deliberative choice: slow down so the democratic step works. Diagram 2: the "not ready" exit.

   • A deliberative procedure outside school: hear, discuss, sum up (Source 4)

     A Rochester civic club wanted to study the "commission plan" of city government. How did it run the meeting?

     Result: It invited a speaker who could explain the existing system, the alderman, "to get at the facts". He spoke for forty-five minutes; then came "an hour's orderly, but free and frank discussion of the question from the floor"; then he was "given time to sum up and answer questions". The steps are hear the facts, discuss with rules, and let the speaker answer. Diagram 1: the first three steps.

   • Motion, amendment and both sides (Source 5, paragraphs 1-3)

     In another Rochester club, a member "moved" that a speaker for prohibition be invited. "The motion was amended" so that a speaker against it would come to the same meeting, and "The motion as amended carried." What did the amendment change?

     Result: The original motion would have let the club hear one side; the amendment made the meeting deliberative, with both sides heard. After discussion, "a consensus of opinion" began to form that "neither of the contestants had the complete answer". A democratic step (the vote on the amended motion) set up a deliberative one (balanced discussion). Diagram 2: the amendment loop.

3. Guided Practice15 minutes

   Pairs read Source 6, two sets of invented class council minutes (a record of a meeting). Tell students before they read that the second set describes a deliberately unfair meeting. Pairs list every difference between the two meetings, sort each difference into deliberative or democratic, and rewrite the Room 206 meeting so that it is fair.

   1Room 204 (invented). Question on the agenda, posted two days before: how should our class fix the crowded line at the classroom pencil sharpener? Present: 26 of 27 students. The chair read the question and the time limits: two minutes per speaker, and no one speaks twice until everyone who wants to has spoken once.

   2Eleven students spoke. Three ideas came up: a sign-up sheet, a second sharpener, or sharpening only before class. Ana moved that the class buy a second sharpener; Jamal seconded. Lucy moved to amend the motion to add "and keep a sign-up sheet for the first two weeks"; the amendment passed, 17 to 9. The amended motion then passed by secret ballot, 19 to 7. The chair said the decision would go to the teacher as a written plan, and two volunteers agreed to write it.

   3Room 206 (invented). Question: same. Present: 13 of 26 students; the rest were at a band rehearsal that had been announced the week before. The chair said, "My friends and I already decided we want a second sharpener." One student who disagreed raised a hand and was not called on. The chair asked everyone who agreed to stand up, counted 9, and announced that the motion had passed. No one took notes.

   4Teacher's note printed with the minutes: the Room 206 meeting is deliberately unfair. List every way it differs from Room 204.

   Teacher key (discussion points). Room 204 posted the question in advance, set time limits and a fair speaking order, heard several ideas, used a motion, a second, an amendment and a secret ballot, and turned the decision into a written plan for the teacher. Room 206 met when half the class was away at an announced event, let the chair's friends decide before the meeting, ignored a student who disagreed, used a standing vote that can pressure people, counted only supporters, and kept no record. Ask which single change would have made Room 206 fairest.

4. Independent Practice20 minutes

   Each student writes a procedure plan, on paper, for an invented question at our school, such as choosing a theme for a class display. The plan must include at least two deliberative steps and two democratic steps from Diagram 1, say what kind of vote will decide and why, and end with the action step: who writes the plan and how it goes to the teacher.

5. Closure10 minutes

   Exit ticket: "Name one procedure that protects people who disagree with the majority. Explain how."

   Teacher note on the sources: Cronson writes as a principal proud of his school, and his charter keeps final power with the principal; ask students where adults still decided. His account of the election reflects 1907 ideas about boys and girls; treat it as evidence of its time and discuss whether a principal's "suggestion" is a fair way to fix an unfair result. Ward, whose title page calls him an adviser in civic and social center development at the University of Wisconsin, writes as the centers' champion. Source 5 mentions a historical debate about alcohol only as an example of a procedure; keep the class focus on how the club decided, not on the topic.

   Quiz passage. Questions 1-8, 15, 16 and 17 use Source 7, an invented town meeting.

   1Osprey Bend is an invented town of 3,000 people that decides some questions at a yearly town meeting open to every adult resident. This year, the town owns an empty lot on Main Street and must decide how to use it. The town's rules say that a decision needs a majority of the votes cast, and that any project costing more than $10,000 needs a two-thirds vote.

   2The moderator, who runs the meeting, kept a list of speakers and gave each three minutes. Before the vote, she invited a speaker for each of three choices: a community garden ($6,000), a small playground ($12,000), or leaving the lot as open grass ($0). A resident who had spoken once asked to speak again; the moderator said he could after everyone on the list had spoken.

   3On the first vote, 100 residents voted: garden 41, playground 35, open grass 24. The moderator then held a second vote between the two choices with the most votes: garden 52, playground 48.

   4A resident then moved to amend the garden plan to add two benches, at a cost of $800. The amendment was discussed for ten minutes and passed, 70 to 30. Finally, the meeting voted that a committee of five volunteers should write a plan for the garden and give it to the town board.

Differentiation Strategies

Assessment Guidance

1. Question 1 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Why did the Osprey Bend moderator hold a second vote (Source 7, paragraph 3)?

   AThe playground cost more than $10,000 BNo choice had over half the votes CToo few residents came to the meeting DA resident asked to speak a second time

2. Question 2 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   If Osprey Bend let the choice with the most votes win, without a majority, which choice would have won the first vote?

   AThe garden BThe playground CThe open grass DNo choice at all

3. Question 3 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   What percent of the votes did the garden receive in the second vote?

   A41% B48% C52% D59%

4. Question 4 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Suppose the playground had won the second vote, 52 to 48. Under the town's rules, what would happen?

   AIt would pass, because 52 is a majority BIt would pass, because it got the most votes CIt would go to the town board for a final vote DIt would fail, because it needs two-thirds

5. Question 5 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   The moderator kept a list of speakers and gave each three minutes (Source 7, paragraph 2). What kind of procedure is this?

   AA democratic procedure for counting votes BA deliberative rule for a fair hearing CA way to choose the town's officers DA rule about how much a project may cost

6. Question 6 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   The benches amendment passed 70 to 30. Under the town's rules, how many of the 100 votes did it need?

   AAt least 30 BAt least 50 CAt least 51 DAt least 67

7. Question 7 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   After deciding, how did the Osprey Bend meeting turn its decision into action (paragraph 4)?

   AIt named a committee to write a plan BIt began digging the garden that same evening CIt asked each resident to buy one bench DIt held a third vote on the playground

8. Question 8 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Which setting does the Osprey Bend meeting represent in D4.8.6-8?

   AA classroom setting in a school BA school-wide setting for pupils CA private setting inside a family DAn out-of-school civic setting

9. Question 9 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   According to Cronson, what did the committee prepare for each meeting of the class society at Public School 69 (Source 1, paragraph 2)?

   AA list of rules and a set of punishments BA vote on which pupils could attend CReadings, speeches, essays and debates DA report on each pupil's grades and conduct

10. Question 10 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    How were the members of School 125's Board of Aldermen chosen (Source 2, paragraph 3)?

    ATwo per class, elected by its citizens BOne from each class, picked by its teacher CAll of them named by the principal DThose with the best grades in the school

11. Question 11 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Why did the teachers stay "mere spectators" while the pupils cheered (Source 3, paragraph 2)?

    AThe principal had forbidden them to attend BTaking control would undercut self-rule CThey planned to hold the election themselves DThey did not know how to stop the noise

12. Question 12 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    After the first results, the principal suggested "a more equitable distribution of the offices" between boys and girls (Source 3, paragraph 4). What does this show about the election?

    AThe pupils had used a secret ballot for every office BThe charter required equal numbers of boys and girls CThe girls had refused to run for the top offices DAn adult's suggestion shaped the final result

13. Question 13 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Why did Alderman Ward say the civic club meeting deserved his own "vote of thanks" (Source 4)?

    AIt had voted to make him the club's president BIt had agreed with everything he said CIt let an official talk with the people DIt had paid him for his forty-five-minute talk

14. Question 14 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    How did the principal introduce self-government at School 125 (Source 1, paragraph 3)?

    AHe let each teacher decide whether to begin BHe announced it, then explained it in class CHe held a school-wide vote on whether to start DHe copied a charter written by another school

15. Question 15 of 20 · Short Answer

    Using the numbers in Source 7, explain why the first vote did not decide the question and how the second vote did. Use the words plurality and majority.

    Show model answer

16. Question 16 of 20 · Short Answer

    Osprey Bend requires a two-thirds vote for projects over $10,000. How many of 100 votes is that? Give one reason a town might choose this rule and one possible drawback.

    Show model answer

17. Question 17 of 20 · Short Answer

    In Source 4, the Rochester club gave its speaker "time to sum up and answer questions" after the discussion. Osprey Bend (Source 7, paragraph 2) heard a speaker for each choice. Would adding Rochester's step have helped Osprey Bend decide? Explain, and say whether the step is deliberative or democratic.

    Show model answer

18. Question 18 of 20 · Short Answer

    Suppose (an invented example) School 125's Board of Aldermen had 10 members. Using Source 2, paragraph 4, how many votes would pass a bill, and how many would override the Mayor's veto? Explain.

    Show model answer

19. Question 19 of 20 · Short Answer

    In Source 3, paragraph 4, the pupils acted on the principal's suggestion while the election was under way. Was that a fair way to fix the problem? Propose a procedure the pupils could have adopted before the election to share offices fairly without an adult stepping in.

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20. Question 20 of 20 · Short Answer

    Write a procedure plan, on paper, for your class to decide one invented question (for example, a name for the class newsletter). Include two deliberative steps, one democratic step with the kind of vote, and an action step through the teacher.

    Show model answer

These standards connect to D4.8.6-8: prerequisites to review first, parallel standards at the same level, and next steps that build on it.

Standard text: National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS), The College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards: Guidance for Enhancing the Rigor of K-12 Civics, Economics, Geography, and History (Silver Spring, MD: NCSS, 2013). NCSS was not involved in the production of this lesson and does not endorse it.