Simcountry: The nation of Radsu (a student project)

Malleus · March 13, 2003, 14:29

Welcome to Radsu, a tiny nation in the south of the Draca Mixor continent of White Giant world. After the recent revolution in government established a democratic government, the national records have become open to us, and I will endeavor to share the progress of the new government's efforts.

Radsu is the name chosen by the students of my elementary class, and as a class project they are using democratic methods to make decisions and try to best administer the nation.

Radsu is a democracy, and is ruled by a president, elected by the House of Representatives. The House is the law making arm of the government, and they ratify bills that may alter how the game is played or how they will interact with their project.

Radsu's president is assisted by seven Ministers, each responsible for an aspect of the nation that needs attention.

The first government of Radsu (which governed the nation for the balance of the year 2120 until February 2121) was made up of the following persons:

The Executive Branch
President James S.
job duties: Control of the mouse. Veto power over any in-game decision.

The Home Ministry
Minister of Finance: Robbie E.
job duties: Awareness of the financial condition of the nation.

Minister of Transportation: Brandon B.
job duties: Maintaining adequate roads, rails and water supplies.

Minister of Human Services: Kevin E.
job duties: Maintaining adequate educational facilities, health facilities and social security for the people.

Minister of National Security: Steve W. (their Teacher)
job duties: Maintaining the function of the nation, safeguarding it's password, and providing direction where needed.

The Foreign Ministry
Minister of Trade: Colby K.
job duties: Maintaining government corporations and making trade contracts with other nations as needed.

Minister of Foreign Policy: Cody B.
job duties: Maintaining government contacts with other nations and maintaining the international federation of Bronze.

Minister of Defense: Mindon W.
job duties: Maintaining the military forces of the nation and protecting it's sovereignity.

Legislative Branch
Speaker of the House: Colie P.
job duties: Help run the the House meetings, present bills for vote into law.

House Representative: Josslyn, Anjouli, Brittany, Monica, Jahnavi
job duties: Vote in the interest of the nation on bills to become law.

The further innovation of this setup was the apportionment of votes by population to every member of the project.

For every 10,000 residents represented, the person received one vote.
Further, if you possessed a job other than Representative, you received ten votes.

The votes thus were:
James 82, Jahnavi 52, Robbie 52, Monica 51, Josslyn 50, Brittany 39, Colie 32, Mindon 29, Kevin 29, Colby 27, Cody 27, Anjouli 25, Steve 22.

At the first House meeting the following 4 bills out of five were proposed and voted upon:

A Bill to establish a Space Program for Radsu
This bill establishes a Space Program that will be funded by the government of Radsu for the purposes of research and national prestige.
For: 223
Against: 90
Abstentions: 132

A bill to establish the office of Vice President
This bill establishes the office of Vice President that will assist the President and take the president's duties on when needed.
For: 240
Against: 108
Abstentions: 97

A bill to establish right of censure
This bill requires the Minister of National Security to determine a service to the community that any member of the House must perform if they become disruptive during House meetings.
For: 289
Against: 82
Abstentions: 104

A bill to establish refreshments to the House
This bill requires the Minister of National Security to establish a committee to provide refreshments during House of Representatives meetings.
For: 416
Against: 0
Abstentions: 29

Finally, a new president was elected to serve the nation. There were nine candidates, which split the vote considerably. In the end:

Colie P. was elected president with 96 votes.
James S. was elected vice president with 82 votes (his own).

At this time, there is no change being suggested to the Ministers. The interim Speaker of the House is Anjouli B.

M

Az · March 14, 2003, 14:36

cool idea.

I wish I had teachers like that.

Frozzy · March 14, 2003, 23:42

That's great

Like Azazel, I wasn't lucky enough to have teachers like that, but it's very eductional at the same time

How old are they, by the way?

Az · March 15, 2003, 04:26

I suggest imroving the performance of your corporations.

say... how do I make my strategic indices secret?

Malleus · March 15, 2003, 11:29

My students (in this lesson) are between 9 and 12 years old. We call them the "Upper Elementary" and they correspond to 4-6th graders.

Azazel: Go to "My Actions" and look for secrecy.

M

Az · March 16, 2003, 08:53

thanks.

Malleus · March 19, 2003, 02:57

Changes in the Executive Branch:

The current officers of the republic:

President Colie P.
Vice President James S.

Speaker of the House Anjouli B.

Home Ministry
Minister of National Security Steve W.
Minister of Human Services Kevin E.
Minister of Transportation Brandon B.
Minister of Finance Robbie E.

Foreign Ministry
Minister of Defense Mindon W.
Minister of Trade James S.
Minister of Foreign Policy Cody B.
Minister of Space Mindon W.

Issues before the House:
Accelerating debt, splitting the Human Services ministry into Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health and Welfare, Space Program (building an in-game space presence), ejection of a Federation member.

These will be discussed tomorrow.

M

Skanky Burns · March 19, 2003, 21:29

Keep the updates coming.

Malleus · March 20, 2003, 00:39

The House of Representatives met today. A good deal of work was done:

All Ministers offered their reports about their Ministries. The President gave her State of the Nation address, then we encountered a number of bills. They will be reported on in a later post.

A new president and vice president was elected. They have stabilized the Cabinet and the Executive branch with the following:

President Jahnavi S.
Vice President Mindon W.

Speaker of the House Anjouli B.

Ministers of:
Human Services Kevin E.
Finance Robbie E.
Transportation Brandon B.
National Security Steve W.
Defense Mindon W.
Trade James S.
Foreign Policy Cody B.
Space Mindon W.

The measure to determine the flag of the nation has not been resolved.

Several other bills were voted upon, with varied results (more on this later).

M

DarkCloud · March 20, 2003, 15:05

Interesting idea

...they're not reading these fora, are they

how are they enjoying the project?

Malleus · March 20, 2003, 23:27

They are NOT.

(reading the forums that is)

They enjoy the meeting, getting out of class and voting aspect. When it comes time for the Ministers and executives to gather their reports, they are less enthusiastic.

They were really happy that they have something of a fan club going over here.

M

DarkCloud · March 21, 2003, 20:58

Ah, so you haven't given them the address

and none of them have figured it out for themselves yet

Well, it's commendable that you can incorporate such an idea into your cirriculum. Kudos!

Giovanni Wine · March 22, 2003, 13:17

LOL

That's is a great project.

I truly wish I had a teacher like that in my elementary, or middle schools... sigh.

Also, it seems like the little students are running their countries much better than how me and my brother are running ours

Saluti