Sunday, January 25, 2009

Theolog: Charity, justice or both?

I have been looking for a way to play monopoly that would give us a chance to play with social justice principles here I found four! I still would like to find a way to roll it all in to one game the way that anti-monopoly introduces the concept of competition.

Theolog: Charity, justice or both?:

by Meg E. Cox

Recently, I was delighted when someone asked whether I still had instructions for an educational version of Monopoly I developed over a decade ago to illustrate various responses to poverty. I hadn't realized that the game was still in use after all these years.

Here's how it worked:

I divided a class into four groups, and I gave each group a Monopoly game with its own set of instructions.

Game One proceeded according to the usual rules.

Charity: In Game Two, one team got $200 each time it passed Go, and the other received $20—to illustrate a difference in income. When the team with low pay got into financial trouble, the higher-earning team was to help them out.

You're on your own: In Game Three, one team received most of the property at the outset, and the other team received just a few pieces—to illustrate a difference in wealth. When the team with little property went bankrupt, the game was over. (This happened much more quickly than in Game One.)

Jubilee: In Game Four, the property was distributed equitably at the beginning. Players could assemble monopolies and buy houses and hotels, but every 15 minutes all property returned to its original owners, along with whatever had been built on it in the interim.

The point was to provoke fruitful discussion"

2 comments:

  1. Ok I'll bite. How did the discussion go. BTW Barbara Lane sent me.

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  2. I haven't actually tried it yet. It ought to be interesting though. Thanks for stopping by!

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