Responsibilities of citizenship are obligations to contribute to the common good by performing duties to benefit the community, such as becoming informed about public policies, voting in public elections, serving on a juries, and obeying the laws.
Surveys of civic knowledge, attitudes, and actions reveal serious deficiencies in the citizenship education of young Americans. Reports on civic learning by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) indicate that the majority of 12th-graders have a rudimentary knowledge of government and citizenship in the United States. However, half the students in grade 12 fail to demonstrate knowledge needed for responsible participation in the political system. A disturbing finding was that high school students did "significantly less well" in civics in the most recent assessment (1988) than their 1982 counterparts.
What Do Young Americans Need To Learn About Responsible Citizenship?
Our forebearers fought for the rights that Americans enjoy today. To preserve our civil rights, young Americans need to realize the part they must play: the preservation of civil rights and liberties is directly linked to performed responsibilities. For example, the right of political participation means little when most citizens fail to exercise it. Furthermore, the right to free expression of political ideas is diminished when individuals do not gain knowledge about government. Fulfilling responsibilities, such as voluntary service to the community, participating in the political system, acquiring knowledge about civic life, and demonstrating a public commitment to the values of constitutional democracy (for example, liberty, justice, and the rule of law) are essential to the health of a free society.
Most students acknowledge the importance of voting and campaigning in public elections, but they also tend to express low levels of political interest and fail to see that their political actions make a difference. The percentage of 18- to 24-year-olds voting in public elections lags far behind the rate for those over age 25, which also tends to be much lower than desired by advocates of responsible citizenship.
Young Americans clearly need to become more attuned to their responsibilities as citizens of a democratic society. Parents and teachers must act in concert to strengthen the desire and capacity of children to fulfill civic obligations.
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What Can Parents Do?
Parents are children's first and most influential teachers of civic values and attitudes. Lessons learned at home about political participation or community service are likely to set the tone for later learning about citizenship responsibilities.
Parents can help their children learn more about citizenship by:
* Setting a good example. Participate in the political system and volunteer for community service projects. Invite your child to join you.
* Showing interest in civic affairs and government by initiating conversations at dinner time or in response to television programs or newspaper articles about current events.
* Requiring children to perform duties regularly at home to demonstrate the value of contributing to the common good of the family.
* Encouraging children to take part in community service projects such as cleaning up the neighborhood, recycling materials to conserve natural resources, and tutoring younger children with learning problems. Participate with them if you can.
* Providing civic learning resources in the home--books, magazines, newspapers--and using them with children. For example, read articles about political issues or varying ethical or moral views.
* Transmitting and reinforcing the civic values of our constitutional democracy through discussions, exemplary behavior, and use of fair rules for orderly family life.
* Monitoring and reinforcing at home the lessons learned in school about the responsibilities of citizenship.
