[p4k] Getting closer to a topic
This week we did work refining our topic for our game. Earlier we had unanimous agreement to do a game about racism. But what about racism?
We spent the last few weeks prototyping games, just to learn how to prototype. The students made a game about a slave trying to escape to freedom in the north. Another group of students made a scavenger hunt about civil rights leaders.
This week we discussed the differences between institutional racism and racial prejudice, and then looked at institutional racism in a variety of settings. After we voted on what institution to focus on we found we had an even split between the health care industry and education.
To learn about the former, we listen to recent NPR radio interview with Harriet A. Washington, who published Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation On Black Americans From Colonial Times To The Present. We heard about horrific events from the times of slavery through to prisons today.
To learn about the later, we learned about something referred to as the school-to-prison pipeline, in which many youth of color are set up not to graduate but to enter the juvenile justice system.
What to do about the split? Not only did the groups prefer different subjects, but each side said they didn't like the topic selected by the other. So, how to find consensus? Without consensus, there is no buy-in.
When in doubt, turn it over to the youth. We asked them what they thought we should do. "Do both," Tashawna said. Easier said than done, we explained. Within either medical research or education we still would need to find a subtopic. To pick both would mean finding a subtopic that spanned BOTH institutions.
"Prisons," Tashawna said. "The school-to-prison pipeline and unethical medical experimentation on the prison population."
I asked one group. They enthusiastically nodded. I asked the other. They were in agreement as well.
We found consensus and everyone, enthusiastically, had buy-in.
