Lesson Objectives:
* What are the issues and challenges in becoming a parent?
* What do you need to know before deciding to have a child?
The National Procreation Council (NPC)
What if prospective parents had to apply to some authority for permission to have children? What if you had to have a license to become a parent? Who should have children? What are the qualities of a good parent? Why do people want and choose to have children? Why do others choose not to have children? These basic questions are the focus of the role play activity.
Prospective parents (Groups of two students).
- Form family units and prepare a case to present to the National Procreation Council. The family units may consist of any combination of people with any type of cultural, religious, socioeconomic, sexual orientation, educational and career background.
- Produce an application and a letter of reference to the NPC. The aim is to indicate:
o The personal qualities you possess that would qualify you to be a good parent
o The situational factors that affect families and the raising of children
o Your reasons for wanting children
o How you intend to raise and care for children.
- Present the application and letter to the NPC to show how worthy you are of children and why your application should be approved.
- Respond to any questions asked by the NPC.
National Procreation Council (five to six students)
- Your job is to develop criteria for evaluating and deciding who shall be approved as parents.
- Produce a set of criteria for evaluating cases and a set of questions to ask prospective parents that will elicit the necessary information for determining each case.
Role play procedure
- Read the What if …? Scenario included in the Curriculum Support Materials, and discuss it with the class. Parent applicants swear an oath to tell the truth as in a judicial procedure and present their case to the NPC. Courtroom-like order is expected to prevail. The NPC hears each case, collects and reads applications, and questions the prospective parents. The NPC then deliberates and evaluates each case. The outcome of each case is presented along with the reasons for the Council's decision. Debrief the activity after the last case is heard.
The National Procreation Council Role Play Debriefing
ReplyDelete1. During the role play activity, applicants generally appealed to the Council for permission to have a child using four sets of criteria:
* situational factors;
* reasons for wanting a child;
* personal qualities; and,
* child care knowledge and skills.
2. Brainstorm specific details for each of the categories. Of these categories, is there one that predominates? Why or why not?
3. Priorize the categories in terms of importance to the healthy nurturance of children. Explain your rationale.
4. Describe some of the most interesting/important/worthwhile qualities and reasons for wanting children stated by prospective parents. Explain why you think the way you do.
5. What were the most interesting/important/challenging questions asked by the NPC? Why?
6. Would a Procreation Council or some other authority be a good idea? Explain. Who should decide who is worthy of having children? Why?
7. Do we have the inalienable right to have children? Why or why not? Should reproduction be managed and controlled? Why or why not?
8. Are there intangibles, things that cannot really be measured, in making judgements about who should be parents? Are there intuitive ways of discerning and judging who will be good parents?
9. What influence, or impact, did the various types of family units have on their application to the NPC? Is one type of family unit best suited to raise and nurture children? Why or why not?
10. What have you learned about the issues, skills, challenges and needs to be addressed before you have a child?