The mountain · Humanities ridge · camp 4 of 4
Society
Society: how communities, governments and economies work, rights and responsibilities, and the questions a citizen is asked to weigh.
Walk to this camp
Three questions light the next lantern. Nothing to install, no sign-up.
Eight rungs, one trail
Every camp on the mountain has the same eight rungs: the eight altitudes Alpenrise measures, read back in the words of your own school system. Rung 1 is the bottom of secondary school; rung 8 is beyond the final exam.
| Rung | New Zealand | United Kingdom | Cambridge | IB |
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| R1Explorer | Year 7 | Year 7 | Stage 7 | MYP 1 |
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| R2Pathfinder | Year 8 | Year 8 | Stage 8 | MYP 2 |
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| R3Voyager | Year 9 | Year 9 | Stage 9 | MYP 3 |
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| R4Navigator | Year 10 | Year 10 · GCSE yr 1 | IGCSE Yr 1 | MYP 4 |
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| R5Pioneer | Year 11 | Year 11 · GCSE | IGCSE Yr 2 | MYP 5 |
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| R6Summit | Year 12 | Year 12 · AS | AS Level | DP 1 |
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| R7Apex | Year 13 | Year 13 · A Level | A Level | DP 2 |
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| R8Beyond | NZ Scholarship | beyond A Level | STEP prep | DP HL+ |
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One question from each rung
The mountain draws three questions per rung from the same slice as the free placement. Here is one from each rung of Society, shown without its answer.
- Rung 1 · Explorer · Year 7A playground has a ramp as well as steps, so that a student using a wheelchair can also reach the equipment. What is this ramp an example of?Making a space more accessible and inclusive for everyone · A rule that stops most students from using the playground · A decoration with no real purpose at all · A way of keeping some students away from the equipment
- Rung 2 · Pathfinder · Year 8A resident notices a broken swing at the local playground and reports it to the city council. What is this an example of?A citizen taking action to help fix a problem in their community · A citizen actually breaking the law by reporting a problem to the council · A citizen ignoring a problem they have noticed · A citizen creating a new problem for the council
- Rung 3 · Voyager · Year 9A student has a Samoan mother and a Pākehā father, and feels connected to both cultures. What does this show about cultural identity?A person can genuinely belong to and value more than one culture at the same time · The student must choose one culture and set the other aside · Having two cultural backgrounds means the two cancel each other out · Only people whose parents come from one and the same culture end up with a cultural identity of their own
- Rung 4 · Navigator · Year 10If two people disagree about whether a law has actually been broken, who normally makes the final decision?A court, after hearing evidence from both sides · Whichever person shouts their case the loudest · The local council, based on the paperwork each side sends in · The person who reported the disagreement in the first place
- Rung 5 · Pioneer · Year 11A website publishes a clearly absurd, joking story as satire, but a reader shares it believing it is real news. What happened here?The reader did not recognise the site's content as satire · The website broke the law by publishing something untrue · Satire and real news always look identical to every reader · The story must have been an accident rather than intentional
- Rung 6 · Summit · Year 12Petrol prices often rise sharply straight after news of a supply disruption overseas, even before any actual shortage appears at the local pump. What does this show about how supply and demand affects price?Expectations about future supply can move prices before supply changes · Petrol prices are set by international law and stay exactly where they are · Prices change once the last of the existing petrol has been sold · News reports leave prices untouched until months afterwards
- Rung 7 · Apex · Year 13One broadcaster is funded mainly by a licence fee or public funding; another is funded mainly by advertising revenue. What is one difference this can make to their incentives?An advertising-funded broadcaster has an incentive to hold attention · A publicly funded broadcaster is legally required to air adverts · The source of funding makes little difference to what a broadcaster airs · An advertising-funded broadcaster cannot legally report news
- Rung 8 · Beyond · NZ ScholarshipA country has committed to both a trade agreement that limits tariffs and a domestic policy that would require raising tariffs on a specific industry to protect local jobs. What kind of problem does this situation illustrate?International commitments can constrain available domestic options · Trade agreements and domestic policy stay clear of each other · The trade agreement overrides each domestic law that is made later · Domestic policy overrides an international agreement once made
The other camps