Student responses to culture-creating activity

After the students debated the best courses of action in our culture-creating activity, I asked them to respond in writing to a series of questions about the issues that came up. Each student was required to find a connection between a difficult decision the group had to make during the activity and a real world issue that is or has been debated in the US.

Some examples of the connections students made:

I thought that the most interesting thing while we were on the island that compared to the US was the system pf punishment. As a single man, I was killed. However, the expecting couple of which the man used to be the leader was spared, to almost being accepted back into the group. This compares to how in the US racial/cultural status plays a large role in figuring out sentences.
For example, until recently, the sentence on crack was longer than that of cocaine. Even though they are essentially the same drug, African Americans more commonly use crack, while richer, upper class white people did cocaine. This shows that a lot going into one's punishment is one's race, and social status, and even though the type of crime committed does have some say, it may not be the most primary reason.
- Gavin Maddock, 7th grade, who played the professor who was killed by the group