Fernando M. Reimers et a1.

Activity 5.1.2

The Veil of Ignorancez

The teacher separates the class into two teams. The teacher tells the students
that each team will create two rules that are specific to their team. Note that
these rules should be completely unfair and clearly advantage one team over
the other. Write this example on the board: “All members of team A get
credit for turning in their homework whether they turn it in or not.” Allow
the teams to come up with two rules like this one.

The teacher has a bag with yellow and green slips of paper in it (there should
be an equal number of each and one for each student). The teacher goes
around the classroom, and the students close their eyes and pull out one slip
of paper. Once everyone has their paper, the teachers says, “If you have a
green slip of paper, you are a member of team A. If you have a yellow slip of
paper, you are a member of team B.”

Some students become members of the other team (that is, they switch
teams), which will place them at a disadvantage because of the rules that they
themselves created. Ask them for their response to this change. Those who
haven’t switched teams will still be advantaged; ask them for their response.

The teacher explains the “veil of ignorance” and the idea that the rules
should be fair to all regardless of which team they’re on. One can determine
if a rule is fair by imagining one’s self making that rule from behind the veil
of ignorancemthat is, without knowing to which groups others belong (e.g.,
others’ gender, age, race, creed, or religion). The rule maker should then
consider whether the rule would still be fair if he or she were a member of
a different group.

The students should free write about this experience in the journals they
keep in class. For those students who have trouble getting started, the fol—
lowing prompt can be used: How did you feel when the rules that were

2 This is based on the philosophy ofJohn Rawls in A 777607}! ofjurtz'ce.

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