Social contracts
Welcome! I'm really looking forward to diving into social contract theory with you.
Before we build our roadmap and start exploring how we trade some of our freedom for safety, I'd love to know: what brings you to this topic today, and do you already have any background with philosophers like Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, or Jean-Jacques Rousseau?
Creating a social contract for a class
I'm thrilled to help you design a collaborative activity for your students! Building a classroom social contract together is one of the most powerful ways to foster community ownership, mutual respect, and authentic accountability right from day one.
To make this worksheet and activity resource absolutely perfect for your classroom, I just need a little bit more context.
They are middle schoolers (grades 6-8)
I absolutely love that we are designing this for middle schoolers! Grades 6-8 is the perfect age to explore this concept because students are actively navigating their own balances between personal independence, peer dynamics, and school authority. They are ready to think critically about why rules exist and how to make them fair.
To ensure this worksheet perfectly aligns with your teaching style and classroom structure, I have one key question for you regarding its format.
Let's pivot back to learning the core concepts of social contracts ourselves first.
Let's pause the classroom planning for a moment and step into the shoes of the great thinkers who first mapped out these ideas.
