Legos and the political structure of a 3rd grade class

I was just reading an article entitle Why we banned legos, which is a critique of a power struggle over the communal set of lego bricks that morphed into a "lego town" where certain students got early into the game controlled most of the pieces and came up with finding interesting ways (or excuses) to pick up more pieces for themselves.

I highly recommend a read of this article purely for interest sake because the raw and honest perspective of a child is something that is something quite rare to find, especially when it comes to a political power system and finding ways of getting control or power in it.

Children are very well aware of power and ownership (ie. this is mine!), though this is obvious, it is not a point that pointed out very often. The students whom have founded "lego town" naturally were in control of many pieces and were very reluctant of relinquishing ownership or control of the pieces they used. Very interestingly, these students were very good at using "political" speak at the age of 8. I have excerpted a conversation from the article to illustrate this point:

Several times in the discussion, children made reference to "giving" Lego pieces to other children. Kendra pointed out the understanding behind this language: "When you say that some kids ‘gave' pieces to other kids, that sounds like there are some kids who have most of the power in Legotown — power to decide what pieces kids can use and where they can build." Kendra's comment sparked an outcry by Lukas and Carl, two central figures in Legotown:

Carl: "We didn't ‘give' the pieces, we found and shared them."

Lukas: "It's like giving to charity."

Carl: "I don't agree with using words like ‘gave.' Because when someone wants to move in, we find them a platform and bricks and we build them a house and find them windows and a door."

These children seemed to squirm at the implications of privilege, wealth, and power that "giving" holds. The children denied their power, framing it as benign and neutral, not something actively sought out and maintained. This early conversation helped us see more clearly the children's contradictory thinking about power and authority, laying the groundwork for later exploration.

I found it very interesting how clever these 8-year olds were when it came to framing their power control over the lego pieces as something insignificant, especially when it comes to telling other students that they get to use lego pieces at the leisure of the ones in control.

In another except, some of the students were asked about what power meant to them and they responded with the following:

Marlowe: "If your parents say you have to eat pasta, then that's power."

Lukas: "You can say no."

Carl: "Power is ownership of something."

Drew: "Sometimes I like power and sometimes I don't. I like to be in power because I feel free. Most people like to do it, you can tell people what to do and it feels good."

Drew's comment startled us with its raw truth. He was a member of the Legotown inner circle, and had been quite resistant to acknowledging the power he held in that role. During this discussion, though, he laid his cards on the table. Would Drew's insight break open new understandings among the other members of the inner circle?

I found this part of the analysis very interesting, as it is something that few are willing to admit when it comes to power.

Finally I'll include one more excerpt:

Issues of fairness and equity also bubbled to the surface during the animated discussion about the removal of the Legos:

Lukas: "I think every house should be average, and not over-average like Drew's, which is huge."

Aidan: "But Drew is special."

Drew: "I'm the fire station, so I have to have room for four people."

Lukas: "I think that houses should only be as big as 16 bumps one way, and 16 bumps the other way. That would be fair." ["Bumps" are the small circles on top of Lego bricks.]

This brief exchange raised issues that we would revisit often in the weeks ahead. What is a fair distribution of resources? Does fairness mean that everyone has the same number of pieces? What about special rights: Who might deserve extra resources, and how are those extra resources allotted?

Needless to say, I find what these educators found while watching a bunch of 8 year olds play with a lego set is something quite similar to the political power scheme we see today. The next question get begged to be asked is whether if we have grown up from our elementary days.