Effective Citizenship

An understanding of the possibilities and challenges inherent in effective citizenship can be acquired through coursework or through engaging in co-curricular and extracurricular activities. Courses and activities that promote effective citizenship should enable students to do some or all of the following:

– Learn how to frame and articulate political and social questions affecting their local, regional, national, or global community
– Learn how to gather information on such questions
– Learn how to assess the validity of sources of information and arguments
– Acquire an understanding of the differing definitions and models of citizenship that exist in a variety of settings
– Develop an understanding of the roles the individual can play acting as a citizen separately or in groups
– Learn how to engage individuals and groups with different views
– Learn to assess the costs and benefits of different forms of citizen action
– Come to recognize the assumptions underlying seemingly absolute categories such as “good” and “evil” when applied to choices with which citizens are confronted, and to recognize the extent to which these judgments are adequately grounded.