Discussion: Service-Learning

[Adalbern]

So here is the proposal (under education, of course):

The World Assembly,

Believing that schools should teach students civic responsibility;

Noticing the need for a more holistic approach to students' educational experience;

Stressing the importance of education in helping to strengthen communities;

Hereby:

1) Defines service-learning as 'an approach to teaching and learning in which students use academic knowledge and skills to address genuine community needs';

2) Such acts include, but are not limited to:
a) Teaching underprivileged children basic literacy skills, mathematics, and science;
b) Assisting with community projects;
c) Conducting environmental conservation projects;
d) Staging musical performances in nursing homes.

3) Designates service-learning as a core part of the teaching curriculum in every member state;

4) Declares that all students will be required to fulfill a certain number of hours per year for their service-learning, whether individually or in a group;

5) Preserves the right for schools to choose between organise a mass service-learning project if needed, or assign students to come up with service-learning projects by themselves;

6) Prohibits schools and students from committing any kind of action that is deemed criminal or illegal during the course of the service-learning period;

7) Requires all schools to review the standard of their service-learning curriculum at least once every 2 years;

Requires all member states to adhere to the aforementioned regulations regarding service-learning in their respective nations.

So as Araraukar kindly pointed out (thanks telegrams!), this one is likely to fail, and probably because it isn't really worth being debated by an international organisation like the GA, and I can see that: that was the problem I faced when writing this after all, but I thought it was a good shot.

I just want to know if there is anything else I can improve on (e.g. writing skills/possible alternatives lol) because I'm not really that creative and I found it pretty hard to choose a topic in the first place. (Originally it was factory farming, but I didn't know which "branch" it was under.) Thank you!

Also, thanks Araraukar for taking the time to directly tell me this!

[Imperium Anglorum]

Examples of Education Category: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=381752#education_and_creativity

Code: Select all

The World Assembly,

Believing that schools should teach students civic responsibility;

Noticing the need for a more holistic approach to students' educational experience;

Stressing the importance of education in helping to strengthen communities;

Hereby:

1. Defines service-learning as 'an approach to teaching and learning in which students use academic knowledge and skills to address genuine community needs';

2. Such acts include, but are not limited to:

[list=a][*]Teaching underprivileged children basic literacy skills, mathematics, and science,


[*]Assisting with community projects,


[*]Conducting environmental conservation projects, and


[*]Staging musical performances in nursing homes;[/list]
3. Designates service-learning as a core part of the teaching curriculum in every member state;

4. Declares that all students will be required to fulfill a certain number of hours per year for their service-learning, whether individually or in a group;

5. Reserves the right for schools to choose between organise a mass service-learning project if needed, or assign students to come up with service-learning projects by themselves;

6. Prohibits schools and students from committing any kind of action that is deemed criminal or illegal during the course of the service-learning period; and

7. Requires all schools to review the standard of their service-learning curriculum at least once every 2 years and adhere to the aforementioned regulations regarding service-learning in their respective nations.

[Araraukar]

OOC: Just pointing out that I didn't ask for any acknowledgement from Adalbern, I just thought their draft was well enough written that it deserved some attention.

And Adalbern, I'm very happy you want to participate in the GA writing. It can be difficult to come up with ideas, especially as different people roleplay their nations in very different ways, and so it's hard to find a "one size fits all" solution. Or even a common problem!

Some things to remember on your GA career:

1. This is mostly an IC (in-character) forum, which means that many people who post here, have a persona, an ambassador, who does the "talking" - I and many other posts here have that character pointed out in our forum signatures. Out-of-character comments are usually marked with "OOC", like I did at the start of this post.
   
2. Don't take IC comments personally; some people's ambassadors are more polite than some others'. Also, calling a proposal or part of a proposal stupid does not mean they were calling you, the player behind the screen, stupid.
   
3. Not everyone's IC people are human, and even some humans aren't necessarily the same as RL (Real Life) humans. Additionally, the Earth doesn't exist in everyone's RP.
   
4. Not all WA nations exist on the same planet, solar system, galaxy or even universe. Some nations exist on a tiny island, while others encompass several galaxies.
   
5. Technology levels matter in-character. Some people RP their nations as Past Tech (meaning, in the past from where we are currently in real life), some as Modern Tech (pretty much real life situation, possibly with some variations), and some as Future Tech (as in, technology that doesn't exist yet or which is counted as scifi). Then there are also Alternative Tech and Magic Tech nations, who combine elements of the timeline techs with things that aren't necessarily explainable as anything else but "magic".
   
6. Gameside nation stats and issue choices generally have nothing to do with IC stats and values, nor do necessarily the players' real life situations and opinions.
   
7. Since technically compliance with WA resolutions is mandatory, people just saying "my nation ignores resolution X" tends to get them ignored fairly quickly. You can sometimes be sneaky about applying the "letter of the law", without actually doing what the resolution wanted you to do; this is called "creative compliance", and if you stick around, you'll find that because of RP constraints, many people have to apply this one way or another.
   
8. If you're not sure of something, ask! Most people are willing to reply to polite questions, be they IC or OOC, and explain things or at least link to explanations and helpful threads.

[Wallenburg]

Ogenbond enters the room. "Ah, fresh meat!" he says to himself. He approaches the new ambassador and smiles. "Hello there, Ambassador! Curious draft you have here. It certainly beats out many others that I have seen, but this still has several major issues. So let me get straight into it:

"First, Ambassador, your preamble indicates a 'need for a more holistic approach' in educating students. Such a need certainly does not exist in all nations, whether by the current educational policy of member nations, or the different necessities of different societies. You would do better to assert that this need exists in 'many member nations'.

"Second, why exactly is service learning, as defined in this draft, so important as to merit international attention? Does a deficiency in such 'service learning' opportunities impact the international community significantly and negatively? Is it really necessary to force all students, young and old, to engage in these activities? And what exactly constitutes service learning? You have examples, but arguably basic mathematics and language classes could qualify as service learning, albeit by a line of questionable rationality and reasonability.

"Third, the requirements of the fourth clause are extremely nebulous and could leave room for nations uninterested in the spirit of this draft to reduce those 'hours per year' to a span so negligible that compliance becomes irrelevant. In addressing this issue, I caution you not to replace this clause with a mandate using specific numbers. If there is anything more terrible than hazy requirements, it is arbitrary ones.

"Fourth, the sixth clause is redundant. It unnecessarily illegalizes that which is already illegal.

"Fifth, your seventh clause runs foul of a standard expectation that the World Assembly should not set arbitrary figured in its mandates. Ambassador, why must service learning be reviewed every two years? Why not every year? Or twice a year? Or once every ten years?

"Finally, your eighth clause is also unnecessary, as all it does is require member nations to do what the draft would already require member nations to do.

"Ambassador, I'm afraid I do not see a future for this draft, but I wish you the best of luck nonetheless. I hope you consider my advice in reviewing your proposal."

[Tinfect]

Believing that schools should teach students civic responsibility;

"As opposed to actually educating them, and teaching them the information and skills they will need to function in the Imperium?"

Noticing the need for a more holistic approach to students' educational experience;

"Perhaps in your Nation, Ambassador. The Imperium has no such defeciencies within our educational system."

Stressing the importance of education in helping to strengthen communities;

"When properly constructed, it does far better than simple community work. An Educational System must be constructed so as to promote progress. Reducing it to a support of 'community' is solely damaging to that goal."

a) Teaching underprivileged children basic literacy skills, mathematics, and science;

"Ambassador, either your writing staff must be replaced immediately and prohibited from ever again working in the field, or you intend to mandate that States force students into teaching roles. If the latter... There is little to be said, I simply have not heard of a worse idea relating to the subject matter in some time."

b) Assisting with community projects;

"And I have found yet a worse idea. You would have Students waste their education on labour? Ambassador, I simply should not have to explain why such a thing is unacceptable to any even slightly developed Nation."

c) Conducting environmental conservation projects;

"A student will likely have neither the resources or skills neccessary to do so. Such projects are best left to the State, rather than damaging the education of students."

d) Staging musical performances in nursing homes.

"Ambassador, I am now beginning to question whether or not you are aware of the function of an Educational facility."

3) Designates service-learning as a core part of the teaching curriculum in every member state;
4) Declares that all students will be required to fulfill a certain number of hours per year for their service-learning, whether individually or in a group;

"The Imperium will not have progress undone so as to replace core components of our educational system with pointless activities that serve solely to damage one's education.

This draft is entirely unsalvageable, unwanted, and most certainly unacceptable. The Imperium recommends that the draft be placed in an incinerator at your earliest convenience, and that your delegation consider a different avenue of legislation, or, preferably participateing in other debates before returning to the drafting process."

OOC:
It is written fairly well all things considered. I'd say it's best to heed Markhov's advice up in the In-Character bit up there. Stick around for a while, get a better idea of what can be done around here.

[Grays Harbor]

Schools are for educating youth to be functioning members of society, not to function as a social experiment factory. This is outrageous.