Drawing the Line on Rights

Session One

Introduce continuum descriptors.

• Display an overheard transparency of Food continuum or construct your own continuum by drawing on the chalkboard a line with nine points. At one end, write "No food" and at the other, "As much food as you want, all the time." Label three intermediate points spread evenly between the two polar descriptors. Explain that this continuum shows degrees to which a person's food needs might be met. Draw attention to the spaces between the five descriptors. Invite students to suggest descriptors that might be written in the four spaces midway between the existing descriptors.

Locate youths on scale.

• See Judging Quality of Life (Modelling the Tools) for stories about Emma and José, two young people with different lifestyles. If your students have not yet used Judging Quality of Life (Modelling the Tools), you may want to introduce them first to those tools.
• Point out that in the previously read story, José had some food to meet his needs. Ask students to identify the nature of the food that the family enjoyed. Invite students to indicate where they would place José on the Food continuum. Record José's name at the appropriate place. Invite students to comment on the placement of the markers.

Identify consequences.

• Referring to the continuum, ask students to consider the implications of the levels where they and José were situated. How would a person's location on the continuum affect his or her life? For example, what would be the consequences of having very little food? (e.g., be hungry, might die, feel weak, lack basic nutrients) Record suggestions on the board.

Distinguish direct and indirect consequences.

• Point out to students that being hungry is a direct consequence of not having enough food. Direct consequences are the immediate results of a situation. For example, bleeding is a direct result of cutting a finger; feeling cold is a direct result of going outside in the winter. Invite students to suggest consequences of being hungry; e.g., might not be able to concentrate, might be cranky. Explain that these effects are indirect consequences of not having enough food—they stem from a condition, i.e., feeling hungry, that arises from the initial situation; i.e., not having enough food. Indirect consequences emerge as a result of some other consequence. For example, staining one's shirt with blood is an indirect consequence of cutting a finger; getting sick is an indirect consequence of going outside in the winter. These are indirect consequences: if cutting a finger didn't have the direct consequence of lots of blood, the shirt would not have become stained; similarly, if going outside in the winter hadn't resulted in the person feeling cold, then the person would not have become sick.
• Refer students to the previously developed list of consequences of inadequate food and discuss which of these consequences are direct and which are indirect. Record the direct consequences and the indirect consequences that flow from them. Encourage students to see that indirect consequences can themselves give rise to yet further consequences. No doubt students will legitimately dispute whether particular consequences are direct or indirect. The important point is not to label every consequence correctly but to appreciate how a particular initial condition can have ripple effects throughout a person's life.

Consequences of Inadequate Food

 
Optional: Make a web of effects for direct and indirect consequences.

• To solidify students' understanding of direct and indirect consequences and to help them visualize the ripple effect of these consequences, you may want to distribute a copy of Web of Effects to each pair of students. Invite students to web the direct and indirect consequences of inadequate food by using the list and other consequences they might identify. Alternatively, use the structure outlined on the activity sheet as the basis for creating a class-developed web of effects on the board.