No taxation without representation!

This week, after reading about events leading up to the American Revolution (the Quartering Act, the Navigation Acts, the Sugar Act, and the Stamp Act of 1765), the Pioneers found out what it really felt like to be taxed unfairly. One student played the part of king, one played the tax collector, and the rest gave up candies as taxes were levied on the color of their clothing, their use of pencils and classroom supplies, and other miscellaneous taxes. General unhappiness led to cries of "Boo!" and "No Fair!" when the King fined the Pioneers 10 candies just for looking at books. Here's some of what the Pioneers had to say about the experience:

It was terrible! All of us were yelling "Boo!" Thumbs down. No taxation without representation! [J.G.] was pretending to be the king and [J.C.] was pretending to be the tax collector. [J.G.] called out a tax and [J.C.] collected it. I only had seven [candies] left at the end!

It made me mad, angry and sad that I had to give my candy to the tax collector and give it to the king. No taxation without representation! Boo to the king. 

Being a colonist was not fair because I ran out of money. The king was not fair. I felt very angry to be taxed too much candy. He didn't care for the colonists. No taxation without representation!

I hate the king very much. It wasn't fair. The king wasn't fair. He was taking all of the candies away. No taxation without representation! My rating is 0 stars.

I did not like [paying taxes]. The king was the worst! I only had three more [candies]. If I was a colonist, it would not be fun. I [would have] had to pay a lot of money! Taxes are not fair.

To be taxed as a colonist is awful, horrible, and bad. I don't like taxes because, well, it's not fair. I'm glad we did not live at that time. Go get 'em, George Washington!

And, from the student who played the king: 

It felt like I was being bad to my people because they were HORRIBLY TAXED! It also made me sad because they were yelling "No taxation without representation!" I had to let go of my sadness afterward.

This all led to a very interesting discussion referring back to our initial questions about transitions, our overarching concept. We started the year wondering WHY things change, WHAT kinds of things change, WHEN things change, and if change makes things better, or worse?

Understanding the anger of the colonists gave us some insight into why things change; for example, some of the Pioneers said that when people become upset or angry they want things to change, or when things are not fair people want to change things so they will be fair. We talked about how this kind of anger among the colonists could lead them to want fairer taxes and fairer government, and whether taxes themselves are unfair. (The general consensus was that some taxes are probably needed, as long as they are fair.) 

We also started to delve into the idea of whether change makes things better or worse. Some of the Pioneers thought that if it leads to war, it means things are worse. Some thought that if the colonists won the war and were able to get rid of unfair taxation, it would make things better. We'll definitely continue thinking and talking about this as we study more about the American Revolution!