Students have been separated into groups of ten. The groups have been talking about different themes that were: happiness, essential institutions, culture, human rights, entertainment, and values. Members of each group had to do some research about their theme and they also had to write it down. They were talking about subjects related to the theme of the group.
In culture, for example, they talked about keeping or not keeping old customs and habits, they figured that everyone was unanimous about keeping them, but they thought about changing them or making them more suitable for today’s standards.
In the group of most important institutions we have been talking about indispensable institutions Here are some of them: UNICEF helping kids from families that are not rich, amnesty international-an organization helping people damaged by violence, wars, and other human rights violations, Greenpeace that is helping the environment…
In a group about human rights, we were discussing why human rights are important, and we came to the conclusion they are important for peace and well-being. We also debated what they even are and what are their characteristics. We figured out that they are something nobody can take away from other people, they belong to each human being, just as they were born. It isn’t something you earn or fight for. They are universal. Now that we know what they mean and why they are important, which of them are the most important for us as an individual? We had different answers, but all of them were important. Some of them were: personal space or freedom of discrimination, freedom of slavery, innocent till proven guilty, equality for everybody no matter their gender, race, religion, or nationality, the right of political freedom (right to vote), etc. We were thinking if anybody’s human rights were taken away or violated and we talked about it.
In the group Entertainment, we mostly talk about the perfect sport for the perfect society. We talked about what sport is perfect for everyone. A sport multiple people can play together, a sport that can be competitive but also laid back and soothing. We brainstormed about different sports until one of us brought up “Kubb” or “Wikingerschach”. Kubb is a lawn game where the objective is to knock over wooden blocks (kubbar) by throwing wooden batons (kastpinnar) at them. The play takes place on a small rectangular playing field, known as a “pitch”. “Kubbs” are placed at both ends of the pitch, and the “king”, a larger wooden block, is placed in the middle of the pitch. Some rules vary from country to country and from region to region, but the ultimate objective of the game is to knock over the “kubbs” on the opposing side of the pitch, and then to knock over the “king”, before the opponent does. Games can last from five minutes to well over an hour. The game can be played on a variety of surfaces such as grass, sand, concrete, snow, or even ice. After we settled for “Kubb” the time we had to discuss entertainment was already over. We then got back together with the other groups and presented the outcome of our discussion. After every group presented their results, we finished the meeting.
In our meetings we were also talking about VALUES, what they are and how are they important for our lives. We came up to decision that values are a person´s principles or standards of behaviour, one´s judgement of what is important in life. We also made a questionnaire for students and for parents in schools and they both agreed on that that the RESPECT is one of the most important, because if you want to feel safe in society it is really important to be respected but also respect others. People should respect each other, should not laugh if someone is different and should accept everyone. Another important value is EQUALITY, and this means that people should be equal in status, rights and opportunities. SOLIDARITY which is agreement of feeling or action, especially among individuals with a common interest is also very important. So, at the end of the meeting, we created this list of m ost important values for happy society and those are listed here:
- respect
- equality
- generosity
- justice
- peace
- solidarity
- safety
