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Theme

Democracy

It's UK Parliament week and, as part of our Theme lesson, we ‘travelled’ to Ancient Greece to compare Ancient Greek democracy with our democratic process today.

First, we took part in direct democracy where we all voted for a motion as if we were in the Diktasteria (assembly) in Athens. We then elected representatives to vote on our behalf as if we were in the UK Parliament today.

We discussed which style of voting was fairer and which we preferred. Although direct democracy can be fair, it can also be time-consuming, whereas indirect democracy is quicker, but you may not always agree with your representative’s choice. We were also concerned that only 18-year-old male and free Athenian citizens could vote in Ancient Greece compared with our rights to vote today irrespective of gender.