• A set of Wants and Needs Cards for each pair of students
• For the variation, several pairs of dice

   

1. Students form pairs, and each is given a set of Wants and Needs Cards.

2. Ask the students to imagine that a new government is being set up in their town or city. This government wants to provide all young people with the basic things that they want and need. The cards represent the list of wants and needs that the elected officials have drawn up. The officials would like the young people themselves to add any items that might be missing; ask the pairs to decide together on four additional items, and to write them on the blank cards.

3. Announce to the group that the new government has found that for political and economic reasons, it can provide young people with only 16 of the items on the list. Ask the pairs to decide which 8 items they are willing to give up. Have them actually return these cards to the teacher.

4. When all pairs have completed step 3, announce that still further cuts in what can be provided to young people must be made. Ask the pairs to eliminate another 8 items.

5. Discuss the following questions with the class:

• Which items were most commonly eliminated in the first round? Why?
• Was the second round of eliminations more difficult than the first? Why?
• Did you and your partner have any disagreements over the items to eliminate? Which ones? Why? How did you reach an agreement?
• What is the difference between wants and needs? Which items on the list were wants, and which were needs?
• Do wants and needs differ for different people? Why or why not?

6. Compare the final selection of wants and needs with the slate of rights for the Election, or with the full text of the Convention at www.itsyourvoice.com.

1. Divide students into groups of four, and give each group a set of Wants and Needs Cards. Allow several minutes for them to decide on four things to add to the list.

2. Explain that each small group is going to be able to get only some of the things that they want and need. Give each group one die; each member can roll the die once. The sum of the four rolls indicates the number of Wants and Needs Cards that group will be allowed to keep. Have each group go through their cards and eliminate the required number. (If teachers choose not to use dice, numbered cards can substitute.)

3. Have each group report on:

• What number of needs and/or wants they were allowed to keep.
• Which cards they decided to keep.
• How they came to their decisions.
• What, if anything, was difficult about the decision-making process.

4. Discuss these questions:

• Do all groups in society get their needs and wants met equally?
• If not, what accounts for the differences?
• Is it fair for these types of inequalities to exist?
• What can you do to address some types of inequality?
• Why is it important to protect minority voices in a democratic society?