Effective Citizenship Education

This is part one of a six-part series that surveys topic areas of civic and consumer education. We assess the needs and opportunities for adult civic and consumer education, then present a few program ideas. Please share your thoughts on how to revitalize civic education.

An effective citizen:

This is the gap to address: continuing adult civic and consumer education delivered in a useful and enjoyable model. We define civic and consumer education broadly, including the development of citizenships skills, consumer empowerment, community engagement, the realms of policy and government, healthy practices in the workplace and schools, and in personal and family wellbeing. The larger goal is a more healthy society.

What will programs look like that address these goals we mentioned before? What can you do to become a more effective citizen? Here are a few to consider.

An effective citizen masters Media Literacy:

If the media are put out of business, then how shall we stay informed? Which sources provide the most reliable information? How shall we spend our limited time consuming and digesting current events? Might we suggest a media literacy program which takes the approach of meal planning? Just as when we plan a weekly groceries list, if we spend a little time up front planning out a menu, shop for quality ingredients, prepare our meals with care, we will be healthier, happier people. Why not spend a little time planning your media diet? Come study what makes for a good editorial policy, learn to make better choices in how you spend your time and money. Could anyone really defend the argument that the National Enquirer is a better publication then the big national papers or even any decent local newspaper? A serious and effective citizen does not eat ice cream for breakfast, drink beer for lunch (not that we don’t like beer), or waste their time on poor quality information drivel. Eat well. Consume quality information. You are what you eat.

An effective citizen knows their values and positions and applies those values to evaluate candidates and ballot propositions

We are the managers of our democracy, but how informed are we about our own positions and the propositions and candidates we are asked to vote for? How many of us are clear about our own values, not just the ones passed on by our families or the ones held by our political party? We have unprecedented access to information. We are flooded with marketing messages, news, media, pop culture, the demands of an always-on 7x24 workplace. But do we have the right information to connect our values to our voting decisions?

But when it’s “go” time: time to evaluate candidates and propositions and place our votes, how do we cast votes that align with our values? We all share common democratic values: personal freedom, the rule of law, freedoms of speech, belief, and the press. The real differences between us and our parties are in how we prioritize these values. We believe each of us owes it to ourselves and our society to step back and take a look at what we really believe and the direction we want our societies to grow. We think there is a need for a program which helps citizens identify and reflect on their values, then translate those values into policy positions, where each of us crafts our own political platform.

An effective citizen is a lifelong learner, regularly seeking personal growth:

As so many of us are regularly stressed and stretched too thin, it is tempting to retreat, to seek shelter from the storms of our lives. The longer this continues, many of us make it our life’s goal to simplify, declutter, retreat to the older simpler time, to retire as quickly as we can. We bounce from coffee in the morning to wine and beer at night; the downside of pervasive competition unchecked by collective demand for wellbeing. In this environment of always on and always behind, it is difficult to make time for personal development and wellbeing. But if we don’t, we’ll only have ourselves to blame.

Medical science and Gerontology research teach us to keep active as long as we can. Doctors push patients to become ambulatory as quickly as possible following surgery, and seniors are guided to take up new challenges such as a new language. Why? This is what keeps us vibrant and engaged. We know from our own experience that when we exercise, eat right, and get good sleep, we feel and perform better. This is also true for our intellectual, emotional, and civic lives. If we don’t attend to personal growth, if we don’t clear out resentments and ‘stories,’ we become intellectually and emotionally marginalized.

Life is a use-it-or-lose-it proposition

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