Civics, 1st Period - Thursday 3/30
Today the class met in the Danger Shop, which had been programmed to look like the floor of the US House of Representatives, complete with some seriously '70s looking leather chairs. The place was empty other than some simulated tourists up in the balcony and the presiding officer--a hapless junior Republican Congressman signing photos of himself with a group of school kids who visited from his district.
"Today you're going to pretend that you're all at least 25 and are thus duly elected members of the House of Representatives," Steve began.
Tony raised his eyebrows at the class like he was urging them to consider this cool. "And the topic of discussion will be Internet privacy, as a very recent vote occurred repealing the protections granted to people in regards to what their Internet service providers are allowed to store, use, and sell concerning your information and browsing habits."
Which was only a lot dystopian sounding.
"It's even worse than it sounds," he added cheerfully.
"And it sounds pretty bad," Steve said. "There is a tradition in the House of the one minute speech at the end of legislative business of the day. Members can talk about anything, although the parties send out suggestions, and today we're giving you the topic of internet privacy. You get a half hour to research the topic since you don't have staff that already did that part for you, and then you get exactly 60 seconds to make your case in front of God, country, and the fourteen people watching on C-SPAN."
"Half of them are asleep, so don't be too nervous," Tony assured the class.
"Today you're going to pretend that you're all at least 25 and are thus duly elected members of the House of Representatives," Steve began.
Tony raised his eyebrows at the class like he was urging them to consider this cool. "And the topic of discussion will be Internet privacy, as a very recent vote occurred repealing the protections granted to people in regards to what their Internet service providers are allowed to store, use, and sell concerning your information and browsing habits."
Which was only a lot dystopian sounding.
"It's even worse than it sounds," he added cheerfully.
"And it sounds pretty bad," Steve said. "There is a tradition in the House of the one minute speech at the end of legislative business of the day. Members can talk about anything, although the parties send out suggestions, and today we're giving you the topic of internet privacy. You get a half hour to research the topic since you don't have staff that already did that part for you, and then you get exactly 60 seconds to make your case in front of God, country, and the fourteen people watching on C-SPAN."
"Half of them are asleep, so don't be too nervous," Tony assured the class.