Something to declare
There’s nothing like a trip through U.S. Customs to make you stop and think about what it means to be a citizen. I wish every U.S. middle school student could experience it. If you pay attention, you cannot help but think very seriously about what your citizenship means.
First, you notice all the people in the “non-citizen” line, clutching passports of different colors and packets of paperwork. No one acts like this is fun. All want to be sure to give the “right” answers to cross the magic line and pass through the security zone.
Then you look at the others in the “U.S. Citizens and Green Card Holders” line. We don’t look as if we’re having fun, either, but we bring certain assumptions to the line with us. We know we have a right to be there. We know we can (respectfully) ask questions about the process. We know that there is a process. We may feel ignorant that we aren’t really sure what that process is. But there is probably a web site where we could have read about it if we had taken the time.
We have the right to know, and we may or may not choose to exercise that right. We also have the responsibility to know.
As often happens, a related experience within 24 hours made me stop and think. I came across this post about a recent report on the need for civics education in the U.S. The recommendations include, of course, a suggestion that the schools be responsible for delivering standards-aligned civics curriculum with assessments. Specifically, they recommend that we “hold schools and districts accountable for student civic learning achievement.” Hmm. Who is ultimately accountable? The school or the citizen?
A quote from the report’s accompanying message by Justice O’Connor and former U.S. Representative Lee Hamilton of Indiana really made me question the who and the what of citizenship:
“Each generation of Americans must be taught these basics [of our rights and responsibilities as citizens]. Families and parents have a key role to play, yet our schools remain the one universal experience we all have to gain civic knowledge and skills.”
I agree that schools are our one universal (though wildly diverse) experience. I agree that civics, or citizenship as I prefer to call it, has been abandoned from curriculum during the NCLB era. We do need to bring it back into our schools. We do need to model it, talk about it, and show that it matters.
But isn’t the whole point that the individual has responsibility to continue to educate him/herself on issues long after leaving school, to question, to look at the other line at Customs, to ask our own children questions and watch the news together as we think aloud so children learn to think themselves? If we simply say.”Let the schools do it,” we will not have any better citizens. We should be saying, “Let every adult model citizenship, at school, at home, and in the line at Customs.” We should be demanding citizenship from our fellow adults, our coworkers, and the people in line with us at Customs or the grocery store. Declare that.
Amen! Great post, Candace. I do teach grade twelve American Government and Democracy. I just gave my seniors the opportunity to register to vote. In the past week, over fifty of them are now registered. Some of us are doing our part in schools, but you are so right. The education has to continue beyond school and it needs to be modeled. The current state of our country is due to the lack of civic participation of our citizenry in general. Likewise, I’ve crossed US customs, with high school students, re-entering the US from India. I know exactly what you mean and no doubt, it was an eye-opening experience for the students.
Here’s the catch about the accountability piece, we can teach, preach, and model all we want. Families, whatever the reason may be, still have the right to refuse to be active, participatory citizens, according to the law. We can not force a parent to allow his/her son to register to vote (even if they are 18yo, they are still with their parents). Therefore, the accountability and yes, as you acknowledge, responsibility, needs to be on the citizen, not the school. Declare that is right!
Comment by Suzie Nestico — September 26, 2011 @ 8:58 am
I certainly agree with you that there is a definite need to educate our students about citizenship.
But what exactly is citizenship?
Usually, when we in America talk about being a good citizen, we think in terms of our relationships with our fellow Americans and our rights and responsibilities to our country. However, world events are now showing us that we are all part of a global world—we must change our old ideas about citizenship.
We live in an interconnected and fast changing world; governments are experiencing major social upheavals. We need to reach a new level of global citizenship—a revolution in our way of thinking and relating to one another if we are to continue to exist as a species. It is imperative to adopt a different mindset that reflects our connectedness to each other and with nature.
“Let every adult model citizenship, at school, at home, and in the line at Customs.” Well said! Our children learn through example—let us all become good citizens of the world!
Comment by Margie Collier — November 3, 2011 @ 4:45 pm