First Day of Lab

The communitarianism lab began the day with an introduction reflective of the distinction UNT makes between being a workshop versus a camp. After giving the standard information (name, grade, school) each student was asked to list the ten most important rights, according to them, and give justifications for those rights. In keeping with the stereotypes for their age group, the most popular rights where the right to unrestricted access to media and to change any rules they did not agree with. After everyone was sufficiently acquainted the lab got straight to work. They engaged the camp topic by analyzing the most important part, how to define Justice. The lengthy first meeting concluded with a brief introduction to other key words in the resolution such as "citizens", "provide", and "government." After lectures, reading groups, a demonstration debate by the staff, and of course meals the lab met a again to close out the day with a discussion of the strengths and weaknesses exhibited by the debaters in demonstration debate and further topic analysis. Of course it was not a day of all work and no play for the BA(Bexley, Alston) lab. The seriousness of the issues discussed in topic analysis was always lightened by the antics of Mr. Alston who employed cultural references as a technique for remembering student's names. Many were surprised to learn that they could be linked to such characters as Jordan Baker of The Great Gatsby, female members of the Catholic Clergy, and the timeless western "Shane."