Part 1: Written Proposal Assignment

#1Assignment Guidelines: Your final product must include ALL of the following components:

1. Name of your Utopian society – Choose a creative and appropriate name to represent your new society. Write a meaningful statement that tells why your group chose this name.

2. Declaration of Independence – Write an explanation describing the reason why you formed your utopian society. In this statement you must answer the following questions – 1.) What don’t you like about your current society? 2.) How has the current society broken your trust? 3.) Why do you feel the need to form a more perfect society? 4.) How will your society be different? 5.) Does your society have some of the same characteristics as your current society? Yes or No – If yes, then tell which ideas are the same.

3. Utopian Motto and Seal – Create a slogan or motto that citizens of your society will follow, and draw a utopian seal. Write a brief description that explains the meaning of the motto and seal that you chose.

4. List of Rules – Develop a list of 10 rules that all community members must follow. Provide an explanation for each rule.

5. Governing Body – How will the government of this Utopian be structured? Will you have a democracy, anarchy, a monarchy, a dictatorship, or will you have a mixed government (combines elements of all types of government)? How will your government make decisions? Please give an explanation for your choices.

6. Holidays and Celebrations – Create 5 or more unique holidays and celebrations that your society will have throughout the year. For each make sure you include a date and a reason why you chose these dates.

7. Invitation to Friends – Write a persuasive letter to a friend or relative on why your utopia is the best one in which to live. Include a counterargument statement.

8. Journal Writing – Each group member will write a journal (separate blog entries) describing a day in your utopia. Choose days when different events will be occurring – for instance, a day when a utopian community member goes to school or work, or during a public holiday that is recognized in your utopia. Your entries might include details on work, family, worship, school, entertainment, and so on.

9. Daily Itinerary – How will utopia inhabitants spend their time during the week? Develop a hypothetical schedule that community members might follow during a typical day. Your itinerary can be a listing of times and activities, but it should be broken down by the hour (or a similar time period that is appropriate for your utopia).

10. Advertisement – Develop a written advertisement or flyer for your community. This ad should be complete with pictures that are representative of life in your society. Think of the propaganda examples from Brave New World.

#2OR You may choose to follow my traditional proposal and include the following:

Executive Summary: State the rationale for putting the proposal into effect, and summarize the proposal. (This allows a decision maker to quickly get the gist of the proposal, hence the name.)

Statement of Need: Detail why the plan or project the proposal recommends is necessary.

Project Description: Explain specifics of the plan or project, and how it will go into effect and how it will be evaluated.

Budget Analysis: Provide and explain how the plan or project will be financed and categorize and annotate operating expenses.

Organization Details: If the proposal is being submitted to an outside party, provide information about the beneficiary organization, including its mission, its stakeholders and who its serves, and the scope of its programs and services.

Conclusion: Summarize the proposal’s main points.

Part 1: Written Proposal Assignment #1

Category / Possible Points / Points Earned & Comments
Utopian Name: Creative name of a new society with a meaningful explanation of choice. / 5
Declaration of Independence: your vision is expressed articulately; the values, goals, and ideals of your society are clear (5). Reasons for forming your society are clearly enumerated (5). / 10
Utopian Motto and Seal: you express your society’s values simply and creatively with you motto and seal. The motto expresses you Utopian values. / 10
List of Rules: your ten rules state the provisions your inhabitants must follow with a thoughtful rationale for each. (1 pt for each rule, and 1 pt for each rational) / 20
Governing Body: you provide a thoughtful and complete explanation of your governmental structure, economy, and leadership process. / 10
Holidays and Celebrations: Points will be given for creativity of the holidays, and their correlation to the values in your Utopia. Make sure to include dates. / 10
Invitation to Friends – Your letter follows the persuasive writing requirements and you included a counterargument. / 10
Journal Writing – Each member supplies a journal that is half a page, margin to margin, and concerns a different day. / 10
Daily Itinerary – Develop a hypothetical schedule that community members might follow during a typical day. / 10
Advertisement: Must have a picture and represent the life in your society. Should employ persuasive appeals. / 10
TOTAL PROJECT GRADE / 100

Part Two: Presentation Assignment
Your group will take the information you created in the collaborative assignment and construct a PowerPoint presentation for the class. Each PPT presentation should be at least 7-10 minutes and should include a slide for each of the following categories.

Design Your Own Utopia PowerPoint

  1. Name & Scope
  2. What is the name?
  3. What type of community is it (city, agricultural, rural, technological, a combination)?
  4. Goals & Values
  5. What will be the goals and values of your utopia?
  6. Will individuals choose their own goals and values, or will their goals and values be those of your utopian ideology?
  7. Power & Politics
  8. What form of social and political organization will your utopia have?
  9. Will it be based on political authority, with some giving orders and others obeying them in a vertical, hierarchical structure, as at present, or will it be based on voluntary cooperation in a horizontal, non-coercive structure?
  10. What will your decision-making process(es) be?
  11. Will you have a constitution, other written agreement(s), or verbal agreements?
  12. How will officials or coordinators be selected?
  13. Members/Citizens
  14. What will be the characteristics of its population?
  15. Will it be open to all, or will you select its members?
  16. What will be the rights and duties of the members of your utopia?
  17. Will there be social stratification (e.g., owners and renters, different roles for males and females) in your utopia?
  18. If there will be social stratification, what roles would different classes of individuals play?
  19. Children & Education
  20. What rights will children have?
  21. Will restrictions be placed on children’s activities?
  22. How will children be educated?
  23. Economics, Work, & Leisure
  24. How will production and distribution be organized in your utopia?
  25. How will work be compensated?
  26. How will people determine what jobs they do?
  27. Who will do economic planning?
  28. Will your utopia be based on private property? Common ownership? Or a combination of the two?
  29. How many hours per day will your utopians work?
  30. Will the standard of living in your utopia be poverty level (voluntary simplicity), middle class, or high on the hog?
  31. Will you set aside time for play and creative pursuits?
  32. Gender Roles & Differences
  33. Will the roles of women and men vary in your utopia?
  34. Will the nuclear family be retained?
  35. Will alternative relationships be prohibited, discouraged, tolerated, or encouraged?
  36. Science & Technology
  37. Will your utopia encourage scientific-medical research?
  38. Will technological development be encouraged?
  39. Will your utopia abandon any technologies?
  40. What will be the energy sources to drive your utopia?
  41. Religion
  42. Will there be a division between religion and other social and political institutions in your utopia?
  43. Will your utopia have a single religion? No religion? Many religions?
  44. Will your utopia have rituals and celebrations?
  45. The Arts
  46. What will be the role of the arts in your utopia?
  47. Will your utopia encourage participation in the arts?
  48. Will professional artists (musicians, dancers, et al.) pursue their creative efforts full time, with the rest of the community supporting them?
  49. Will there be any censorship of art in your utopia?
  50. The Media
  51. What types of media will exist in your utopia?
  52. Who will control the media?
  53. Will there be any censorship of the media?
  54. Will intellectual property be recognized in your utopia?
  1. The Physical
  2. What will be the architecture of your utopia? What materials and techniques will be used in building construction?
  3. What will be the underlying philosophical or ecological reasons for the use of these materials and techniques?
  4. Will your utopia have high population density or low population density?
  5. What kind(s) of transportation will it use? Will any kinds of transportation be encouraged or discouraged?
  6. How will your utopia deal with sewage and other waste products?
  7. Will your utopia have private, self-contained dwellings (as at present—detached houses and self-contained apartments)? OR Will it have private, but non-self-contained individual living spaces (without kitchens and laundry facilities, and perhaps without private bathrooms or living rooms)?
  8. Will your utopia have private or communal dining facilities, or a combination of the two?
  1. Food
  2. Will your utopia be vegetarian, omnivorous, or will food choice be an individual matter?
  3. Will agriculture be the province of factory farms, as at present, or will agricultural production be carried on by smaller units?
  4. Animals
  5. Will animals be raised and slaughtered for food?
  6. Will animals be kept as pets?
  7. Health & Medicine
  8. Will your utopia use Western medicine?
  9. Will it utilize alternative (holistic, herbal, natural, etc.) approaches?
  10. Will everyone have equal access to medical treatment?
  11. How will your utopia deal with mental illness?
  12. Antisocial Behavior & Conflict Resolution
  13. How will your utopia deal with those who harm to themselves and/or others?
  14. How will it deal with conflicts between individuals?
  15. Military/War
  16. Will your utopia have some kind of defense or police force?
  17. If so, will it be a conventional one?
  18. If not a conventional army, how will your defense force be organized?