NCLB and Citizenship

After doing a little reading and thinking about the different persepectives on citizenship, I tried to connect them to NCLB to see which model of citizenship fits best.

The three types of citizens are:
(taken from here)

The Personally Responsible Citizen:
This citizen is an active member of their community, works and pays taxes, recycles, gives blood, and volunteers to lend a hand in times of crisis.

The Participatory Citizen:
This citizen is an active member of community organizations and/or improvement efforts, organizes community efforts to care for those in need, promotes economic development, or cleans up the envoirnment, knows how government agencies work, and knows strategies for accomplishing collective tasks.

The Justice-oriented Citizen:
This citizen critically assesses social, political, and economic structures to see beyond surface causes, seeks out and addresses areas of injustice, and knows about social movements and how to effect systemic change.

Basically, these three citizens models start off from what benefits you and your community, to what benefits you can have in society. In the article, "Character Education Abstract," it states that "character education is an inclusive concept regarding all aspects of how families, schools, and related social instituions support the positive character development of children and adults." My question is who decides what "positive character development" is, and what makes it the right method for everyone? What kind of citizen is the right kind? Where should children learn these values and positive character development?

These questions are going to be left unanswered, sinceI do not know the correct answer, and it seems that the education department doesn't make it clear either. As I continue to read over the U.S. Department of Education's website, I can't help but find more unclear statements on charcter development and becoming a good citizen. For example, the website states that, "Character is a set of qualities, or values, that shape our thoughts, actions, reactions and feelings. People with strong character show compassion, are honest and fair, display self-discipline in setting and meeting goals, make good judgments, show respect to others, show courage in standing up for beliefs, have a strong sense of responsibility, are good citizens who are concerned for their community, and maintain self-respect." It even goes on to explain what their meaning of these traits are. According to this statement, I would assume that NCLB would like children to become a personally responsible citizen since it states that they should be concerned with their community. Making good judgements and being honest and fair can be associated with obeying laws, recycling, and paying taxes -- all part of being a personally responsible citizen.

However, the Dept. Of Ed. also states that, " Citizenship requires doing our share for our community and our country. Being a good citizen means caring about the good of society and participating actively to make things better.Citizenship requires doing our share for our community and our country. Being a good citizen means caring about the good of society and participating actively to make things better." This can easily be characteristics of a Participatory Citizen. It clearly states that being a good citizen is making a difference in the community and in society. It states that you need to take the extra effort and participate in community efforts to make a difference.

Lastly, the Dept. of Ed. states that, "Patriotism is an important part of good citizenship. Patriotism is love of and loyalty to our country. It involves honoring the democratic ideals on which the country is based and expecting elected officials to do the same, respecting and obeying its laws and honoring its flag and other symbols. It also involves accepting the responsibilities of good citizenship, such as keeping informed about national issues, voting, volunteering and serving the country in times of war." This can be translated into being a Justice-Oriented citizen. Clearly, you need to know about the political system and know how to be an active member in it. It states that you need to know about social movements by keeping informed about national issues, etc.

Clearly, NCLB can include all models of citizenships and there is no right or wrong answer here. All the citizenship models represent good ideas towards building a strong citizen. I would stop focusing so much on which individual model of citizenship NCLB should follow and combine them all to make a super citizen. I think it's important for children and adults to be active in their community, know how government agencies work, and how to effect systemic change. All of these characteristics are important and should all be looked at together. There is no reason why NCLB can't incorporate all of these models to make something better, something that might just make a difference. Before this happens, there needs to be a better understanding of what exactly makes a good character an who is going to decide that.

Children need to be taught that being a citizen and having good character are intertwined. They work with each other and teach us how to be the best addition to society. We not only help ourselves this way, but communities and society will see a difference as well. People should always be willing to add a good input and idea and show the world that anyone can make a difference. There needs to be an idea of working together, and that will make the best model of a citizen and an even better society.