The first role play is a school board meeting. This situation, which I use in my Principles of Sociology class, grew out of a particular problem that comes up in talking about education. Material on education often merely describes the goals of education, the statistics on educational levels in the population, and other fairly factual materials. Issues such as inequality in education or nonuse of the research on teaching are seldom covered, however. The role of conflict in educational decision making is seldom addressed, even in conflict-oriented texts. The challenge then is to help the students become aware of the likelihood of conflict and of the presence of certain vested interests that are likely to be present. When trying to develop role plays, I look to see where the conflict will emerge and how it might be resolved. Because role play is public drama, what is the best action to portray? For education, it seems to be the point at which insiders (school board members, superintendents, principals, teachers) come together with outsiders (the community or such portions as are active around these issues). Thus a school board meeting that is focused on an important issue becomes the starting point. The scene is the meeting at which the school board will hear from all interested parties before deciding whether to raise the property tax millage. The school district includes three rather different areas: a new, upper middle-class development populated mainly by people who work either for the new corporate entity in the town or for a research institute associated with a university 50 miles away; a middle-class area composed of aging small businessmen and their families; and a large lower-class area made up of people employed in the shrinking manufacturing industry of the town. To avoid heated discussions, the school board president has scheduled in advance the groups who wish to be heard. They include a parents' group, speaking in favor of the millage increase, Citizens for Lower Taxes, speaking against the increase, an educational consultants' group, Parents Concerned for Christian Education, and a teachers' group. I tell the students what a group role play entails and give them a brief description of each of the individual or group roles. Then I choose volunteers for each of the groups mentioned above and for the roles of school board members and president. My classes seldom consist of more than 40 students, so everyone can have a part, at least as a member of a small group. Larger classes would present more of a challenge. Taking turns on alternate role plays would be one possibility, although the second role play does not seem to have the impact of the first. As another possibility, part of the class could observe and write a response to the role play. This response could focus on the issues discussed or could describe how that individual would have chosen to play a particular role. When everyone has received a role, I ask each of the groups slated to address the board to meet and draw up its statement. I usually allow about 10 to 15 minutes for this procedure. Then the group is reassembled and the school board president calls the meeting to order. Each group gives its statement and is questioned by the board members and the president. The board then meets in executive session to decide whether to raise its millage, and announces its decision and its reasons. If any time is left, any group may appeal the decision and may ask to speak to the board again. The board has the authority to decide whether it will hear that group again. I prefer to conduct role plays in a 90minute class, which gives time for preparation, the role play, and a short discussion period. If I am working in a 60-minute period, it seems better to assign the roles and draw up statements in the last part of one class and to do the role play itself in the next