Gallery • 2 Photos

Quade Bennett being "executed".

History teacher Rebecca Doerksen finished a French revolution simulation with her world history classes last Friday. The simulation lasted a week long and consisted of a set of strict rules that the students had to follow that mimicked the laws put in place during the reign of terror in France during the 1700s.

“You couldn’t eat white bread,” Doerksen said. “White bread was for royalty. You couldn’t talk to juniors or seniors because they are part of the upper class and you can’t associate with them. You can’t talk bad bad about the government, teachers, or anyone else who has authority over you. You can’t wear extravagant clothing because that would draw attention to yourself. You couldn’t be disrespectful whatsoever during any class.”

Some students tried to follow the rules, and others tried hard to not get caught breaking them. If students were found to be breaking the rules, they would be subject to a mock execution.

Students Lexie Ridder and Quade Bennett broke the most rules out of their class and therefore received the worst execution, being pied in the face.

“My first rule that I broke was that I kept talking to upperclassmen and I ate white bread,” Ridder said. “I wore neon and I talked bad about a teacher.” 

Doerksen got more people involved in the simulation besides her world history classes. Upperclassmen acted as spies and could expose underclassmen for extra credit if they broke a rule. 

“They [her students] might not remember every single detail of this, but they’re going to remember when Lexie and Quade got pied in the face because they didn’t follow the rules,” Doerksen said “And that’s more important than being able to write that on a test.”