Sometimes it’s a great idea to exercise your brain by doing some extra thinking. Thunks are a good way of doing this. A thunk is a thought or an idea that you can discuss with friends. Those of you who have tried philosophy either in school time or in the after-school club will be familiar with this type of thinking. Thunks are also great for sharing on a blog – just like this one. Here’s a seasonal one for you. Read the thunk and then write down your first thoughts.
Would you rather live in a democracy or a dictatorship run by Father Christmas?
P.S. The UK is a democracy – adults have the right to vote for MPs to represent them in Parliament. Power is shared. Recently, the EU referendum and the vote for the American president were also examples of democracy. In a dictatorship, one person has absolute power. They are not elected by the people of the country. The dictator can make decisions without asking for permission.
In a democracy, people’s opinions across the nation are shared to gather ideas for new laws . Also in a democracy people can vote for who they want to lead them .This may mean that people lose but they can still be happy for the person that wins .
In a dictatorship , the leader has a complete say over everything ,meaning that only the leader’s ideas are shared with the country. This means that other people’s ideas would never have been shared with the country. I would rather live in a democracy because then everyone can have their say.
Democracy is a vote where either you win or you lose for instance Donald Trump got elected as U.S President in a democratic vote for the President role and now he has the power over America.
A dictatorship is where only one person is in charge and no one gets a say.
I would rather live in a democratic world like we live in today because more than one person gets a say of who they want as a president.If we were to live in a dictatorship run by Father Christmas it would just be what Father Christmas thought and not what anybody else thought so that’s why I would rather live in a democracy world than a dictatorship run by Father Christmas.
Meanings:
Democracy means government of a country by representatives elected by the people of the world.
Dictatorship means that you don’t get a say in what the country does; it’s all up to the leader.
I think that a dictatorship would be good because :
Father Christmas is nice so no-body will have to be taken as slave or no-body will have to do horrible things like clean the reindeer stables.
I think it could be because :
You may have to be Santa’ helper and deliver the presents with and I am horrified of heights as some other of you people could be.
In the end, I would choose democracy.
In class this morning, we all discussed what democracy meant and what dictatorship means as well. Democracy means that people can vote for who they think will lead the country well enough.
Then we all discussed what dictatorship means. Dictatorship means that NO PEOPLE have the right to vote, agree with the rules or do what they would like.
If the world was a dictatorship and Father Christmas was the president of the country, then there would be positives and negatives. Some of the positives are that Christmas would be every day and we would get presents 24/7. But on the negatives he would eat all of our cookies and drink all of our milk!
In the end, who really cares about cookies and milk so Christmas every day would be great!
One of the things that makes Christmas special is that it only happens once a year, giving us something exciting to look forward to. I felt a bit disappointed before we came back to school as I had to take our tree and decorations down, but if we had decorations up all year round they would become part of the furniture and we wouldn’t notice them any more.
I think that having Christmas every day would be great for a while, then it would become normal, literally become “everyday”and stop being exciting. Also, if shops continued to be closed on Christmas Day, when would we buy our presents?
Democracy is where adults vote for a new president/prime minister to rule the country they are in. They also can make the country a better place by making them controlled so nothing bad will happen.
In dictatorship the disadvantage is that the leader makes the rules and you never get a say. the leader is picked by the strongest.
I would rather live in democracy. My opinion on this is so the world can be run properly and so it is made sure that the world can not legally do what it wants.
What is democracy?
Democracy is where multiple groups share opinions about a subject. Although this sounds like a good thing, there are disadvantages of democracy .For example: people share opinions about subjects meaning only one of the groups will end up happy because the other groups will lose. Only people over 18 can vote in democracy. Some people think this is a disadvantage for democracy, but on the other hand, some people think this is an advantage.
What is dictatorship?
Dictatorship is where only the dictator and the most powerful group of people in the country can make decisions. Some people think that this sounds bad, and it can be. One disadvantage of dictatorship is the dictator has unlimited power; the dictator decides everything that happens.
In our opinion, we would rather be in democracy than a dictatorship with Father Christmas. One reason for this is that some people don’t believe Father Christmas is real. Another reason for this is that in democracy we actually get a choice to do certain things.
What do you think democracy is?
Well, democracy is where the public vote or elect a prime minister.
We think democracy is a good idea because you have a say in anything.
But we think it is a bad idea because under 18s votes does not count .
Have you ever heard of what the disadvantages of the democracy are ?
The disadvantages are there would be arguments or wars or even the country splitting up!
Do you know what dictatorship is ?
It is a person that rules a group of countries that doesn’t let any one else see the rules ( so they keep the rules to them self ) .
We would rather live in a dictatorship with Father Christmas !
We think it is a good idea because he could give you a reward for doing what he says. Santa will always give us presents. But we think it is a bad idea because you wold have a miserable life by making so many presents for Christmas! Also it will always be Christmas. Most people want it to be Christmas every day but we wouldn’t like it because we would have no sun and especially it will not be warm!
Democracy is when people vote for things like the president of U.S.A. like Donald Trump. But you can lose the debate like the people who voted for Hillary Clinton .
A dictatorship is when some one makes all the decision of the whole country and know one gets a say and they don’t even get to vote for the leader. If Santa was the dictator his elves would have to have new homes or even take ours.
I would chose to have a dictatorship ran by Santa because he is known to always be jolly and happy.
What is democracy?
Democracy is when you are allowed to vote for the statement, person or subject in an election.
Why is it a good idea?
We think it is a good idea because democracy allows people to have the right to vote for what they want.
Why is it a bad idea?
It is a bad idea because some people may not find it fair that they have lost. This could cause upset, anger or, in extreme cases-riots in the streets.
What is dictatorship?
A dictatorship is when a leader chooses the rules without a vote. He makes the rules up without the people’s thoughts about the new rule.
Why is it a good idea?
It is a good idea because it stops people going on two different sides(sometimes even more).
Why is it a bad idea?
It is a bad idea because you don’t have the right to express your thoughts to the leader. Also, something might happen that will affect your way of living and you might not agree with what just happened.
In class, we have been asked if we would prefer to live in a democracy or a dictatorship run by Father Christmas. We would prefer to live in a democracy because if we were in a dictatorship run by Father Christmas, then the disadvantages would be that: We wouldn’t get any free time since Father Christmas would force us to make toys all the time; we wouldn’t be able to use our own imagination.
Whereas, if we were in a democracy we would have been able to choose and do what we want to do.
Democracy is where groups come together and discuss their thoughts of the world. One of the advantages of a democracy is that we get to vote and speak out. However, there are disadvantages. For example, some of the Americans didn’t want Donald Trump to win.
A dictatorship is where the dictator is the most powerful in the group; they also make important decisions. Dictators also run businesses.
I would choose a dictatorship run by Father Christmas because one of the advantages is that he would be jolly.
The meaning of democracy :
Government of a country by representatives chosen by the adults. Most of the time democracy is used by voting for new laws and new presidents and prime ministers. If you want to be part of democracy you have to be 18 or over. Over 48% of the country voted to stay in the E.U. Although 52% of the country decided to leave the E.U.
The meaning of dictatorship:
You don’t get a say in anything the government decides on; it’s all down to the leader.
I think that what will happen if Father Christmas was the leader every-one would have to be nice.
I don’t think that this will happen because we could do everything and we would have to make all the toys for him.
I will chose yes to Father Christmas because I like it when everyone is nice.
Do you know what democracy is?
Democracy is where the public can choose what happens in this country and how to make it a better place.
Why is it a good idea?
It is a good idea because you can have your voice heard and people will listen to everyone’s idea.
Why is it a bad idea?
It is a bad idea because some people vote for something that you don’t want to happen.This can cause fights and people leaving this country.
Do you know what a dictatorship is?
It is where a dictator rules a country and doesn’t let you have a say in what happens. We imagined that Father Christmas was the Dictator.
Why is it a good idea?
It is a good idea because you will get rewarded and you can see all of the happy faces when they open the presents.
Why is it a bad idea?
It is a bad idea because you will have no free time because you will be wrapping presents all the time and you will be moody because you do the same thing everyday.
What we did.
Maple 2 had to decide if you would stay in the democracy we have now or be in a dictatorship with Father Christmas. I decided that I would stay in democracy because you can do what you please but you need to stay safe.
If we were in a democracy like we are now I would be really happy and feel secure.
Democracy means: Government of a country representatives elected by the people in that country.
Dictatorship means: Where people DON’T get a say but the leader does and there might be some things you don’t want to happen but it does because you don’t get a choice.
Yes because Father Christmas is a joyful, kind man so he won’t ask for wars or any thing bad. No because Father Christmas is a busy man at Christmas so he can’t be the leader.
Democracy is a vote or election. It is also where a prime minister or president counts up the votes and they become or not become prime minister or president to rule the country they are in . People have a democracy because they vote for who they want to be their head of their country . I think democracy is a good thing because if people didn’t vote for someone to lead their country then there would be no one to make laws so people would be able to do what ever they wanted and not get arrested .
A dictator ship is where the leader says that no one gets to share their opinions and have to do any thing the leader says without an excuse. I think this is a bad idea because if no one gets to share their opinions there will be no good ideas in the world and no one will be able to share good news and bad news to each
other .
Our opinion is that we would rather live in a democracy because if we were not allowed to speak or share our opinions it would mean we could not speak to our friends. We would rather not have any friends to talk to .
In a democracy, people’s opinions are shared across the nation to gather ideas for new laws. They also have a election to see who they want to lead them. I think that this is a bad idea because there could be more arguments across the world because of people’s opinions being turned around. I also think this is a bad idea because more people could lose their friends and family because of the fights and it might break families apart.
In a dictatorship, the leader has all the say about everything and everyone in the world. People don’t get to share their opinions. This also means that there are no elections or votes in the world . I think that this is a good idea because there might be less arguments and less families being broken apart.I also think this is a good idea because no body’s opinions will be turned around and they won’t be facing the other direction.
I would rather live in a dictatorship run by Father Christmas then a democracy because even though your opinions aren’t being shared you will still have a family and you will still have friends to share them with. I also think that this is a good idea because Santa will be telling you what to do and all he does is to eat, drink and sleep. Also Santa is a kind man so he may only make you wrap presents and it will be like Christmas every day.
Thank you for sharing your your thought-provoking Thunk with us. It was very interesting to hear your ideas on Democracy and Dictatorship, and I wonder if your views will still be the same when you are able to vote to choose governments yourselves?
I will share the links to your blog on the school newsletter so that parenst can make comments too.
Thank you, Mrs Coleman
My favourite activity from last week was PE with coach James, when we did bench dodge ball because it was different to dodge ball .When you get hit by the ball you have to go to their bench and wait till your team throws the ball to you, but you have to catch the ball to get back to your team. It was really good because we played with the Chinese children.I am really sad to see them go.