{"id":5523,"date":"2016-09-25T18:41:43","date_gmt":"2016-09-25T18:41:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.plato-philosophy.org\/?post_type=teachertoolkit&#038;p=5523"},"modified":"2025-10-24T11:40:24","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T18:40:24","slug":"fair-or-equal","status":"publish","type":"teachertoolkit","link":"https:\/\/plato-philosophy.org\/teachertoolkit\/fair-or-equal\/","title":{"rendered":"Fair or Equal?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Materials needed<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>List of roles and responsibilities (see below)<\/li>\n<li>A bag of candy<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Description<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Begin the exercise by holding up the bag of candy (make sure you have enough for at least one piece for every student) and ask, \u201cWhat\u2019s the fair way to distribute the candy in this bag? Who all should get a piece?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Usually, students will agree that everyone should get the same number of pieces. (Occasionally, a student will\u2014usually half in jest\u2014claim that he or she ought to get the whole bag; this naturally doesn\u2019t fly with their classmates and a discussion about why it\u2019s not right can ensue.)<\/p>\n<p>After talking about the fair way to distribute the sweets, pass out the candy according to the decision of the group. After giving students a few moments to enjoy their treat, ask, \u201cIs everyone getting the same thing always the fair way? Are there situations in which it\u2019s okay for people to be treated differently?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Field the responses to segue into the roles and responsibilities exercise as follows.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Activity<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Ask for four volunteers to come to the front of the classroom. Explain that they are going to be working together to build a house. Each of them, though, has different tools. Pass out to each student a slip of paper, each of which has a different description of the tools he or she has, and ask them to read aloud what they\u2019ve received. Here is what they\u2019ve got:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>(On Slip 1): You have a bulldozer and a dump truck. You are an expert in the use of these machines.<\/li>\n<li>(On Slip 2): You have a full collection of hand tools, like hammers, drills, and screwdrivers. You are an expert in the use of these tools.<\/li>\n<li>(On Slip 3): You have a huge supply of bricks and cement. You are an expert bricklayer and cement-mixer.<\/li>\n<li>(Slip 4): You have all the paints and brushes anyone could need. You are an expert painter.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Now ask students who they think should do what when the house is being built, and why. Usually, it\u2019s pretty obvious, but the discussion can be fairly interesting as the class begins talking about why so-and-so should do such-and-such. (It\u2019s also not unprecedented that students will say, for instance, that the painter ought to help do brick-laying, for example, as a way to learn new skills.)<\/p>\n<p>As this discussion dies down, bring a different group of four students to the front of the room and give them slips that read:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>You are the world\u2019s greatest dessert chef.<\/li>\n<li>You are the world\u2019s greatest dishwasher.<\/li>\n<li>You are the world\u2019s greatest soup-maker.<\/li>\n<li>You are the world\u2019s greatest sandwich maker.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Now say something like: \u201cOkay, it\u2019s time to make lunch for everyone. Who should do what?\u201d Again, the discussion is likely to be pretty straightforward, with the class generally agreeing that the tasks should be divvied up according to expertise. (This isn\u2019t always the case; again, because sometimes students argue that people should be expected to do whatever is needed or that everyone ought to get good at everything, but most of the time, the consensus is that it\u2019s good for everyone if everyone does what he or she does best.)<\/p>\n<p>Time permitting, do one more iteration. This time, bring five students to the front and pass out slips that read:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>You are the world\u2019s best rebounder.<\/li>\n<li>You are the world\u2019s best shot-blocker.<\/li>\n<li>You are the world\u2019s best three-point shooter.<\/li>\n<li>You are the world\u2019s best passer.<\/li>\n<li>You are the world\u2019s best free-throw shooter.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Obviously, the question now is, \u201cWhat the best way for this basketball team to play?\u201d And again, pretty much just as obviously, students will respond that the players who are good at a given skill ought to focus on that skill. It\u2019s worth talking some about why this is the case though; there might be different reasons to consider ranging from something like, \u201cIf everyone does what they\u2019re good at, the team will win;\u201d to \u201cPeople have more fun if they do the thing they\u2019re good at.\u201d In any case, by this third iteration the class will have explored in some depth their positions on when it\u2019s appropriate (if at all) for people to have different responsibilities given that they have different skills and abilities.<\/p>\n<p>At this point, pass out to all students slips of paper with the phrase \u201cWhat I do best is\u2026\u201d and ask them to fill in the blank. When they\u2019ve done so, bring a group of four (randomly chosen) students to the front of the room. Ask each student to read his or her slip of paper, and then ask, \u201cIf you were building a house, who should do what?\u201d Compare the answer in this discussion to those from the earlier example. What\u2019s similar? What\u2019s different? Why?<\/p>\n<p>Do the same thing with different groups for the lunch-making and basketball-playing examples. Again, compare similarities and differences and probe together with students as to why they\u2019ve answered as they have.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, get everyone back in their seats, and have each student read his or her slip out loud. Then, have a large-group discussion focused on the question, \u201cGiven our skills and abilities, who should do what in our classroom? What\u2019s the fair way to divvy up the tasks?\u201d Typically, this leads to an interesting contrast with the other discussions, although sometimes students will want to assert that since they\u2019re all good at different things, they all should have different kinds of assignments in the classroom.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The hope is that the students have begun to explore whether fairness always means that everyone should get the same thing. Are there cases in life where it\u2019s fair to give some people more (or different things) than others? Often, students will give examples like handicapped parking spaces or extra time in test-taking for people with learning disabilities.<\/p>\n<p>At the end of the discussion, it sometimes works to do a fill-in-the-blank \u201cpoem,\u201d where students fill in this sentence, \u201cWith my special talents, one thing I can do to make the world a little better is\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Here are some sample answers from a fourth grade class:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>One thing I can do to make the world a little better is play with new friends.<\/li>\n<li>One thing I can do to make the world a little better is be nice to my brother.<\/li>\n<li>One thing I can do to make the world a little better is share my toys.<\/li>\n<li>One thing I can do to make the world a little better is play basketball.<\/li>\n<li>One thing I can do to make the world a little better is draw and paint.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Materials needed List of roles and responsibilities (see below) A bag of candy \u00a0 Description Begin the exercise by holding up the bag of candy (make sure you have enough for at least one piece for every student) and ask, \u201cWhat\u2019s the fair way to distribute the candy in this bag? Who all should get <a href=\"https:\/\/plato-philosophy.org\/teachertoolkit\/fair-or-equal\/\" class=\"more-link\">&#8230;<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Fair or Equal?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":2980,"template":"","toolkitcategory":[756],"gradelevel":[47,46],"topics":[402,290],"class_list":["post-5523","teachertoolkit","type-teachertoolkit","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","toolkitcategory-ethics","gradelevel-middle-school","gradelevel-primary-elementary","topics-fairness","topics-justice"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Fair or Equal? - PLATO - Philosophy Learning and Teaching Organization<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Fair or Equal? - PLATO - Philosophy Learning and Teaching Organization\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Materials needed List of roles and responsibilities (see below) A bag of candy \u00a0 Description Begin the exercise by holding up the bag of candy (make sure you have enough for at least one piece for every student) and ask, \u201cWhat\u2019s the fair way to distribute the candy in this bag? 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