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How to be an active citizen Essay
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Active Citizenship
The word citizen is defined as “a native or naturalized member of a state or nation who owes allegiance to its government and is entitled to its protection” (Webster’s College Dictionary). Fulfilling the basic duties of a citizen is a fairly simple task for the average person. Going above and beyond these duties by becoming engaged in a community and giving to others separates the average citizen from an active citizen. According to the FACE IT Project, active citizens are “those who develop the skills, knowledge and understanding to be able to make informed decisions about their communities and workplaces with the aim of improving the quality of life in these” (http://www.faceitproject.org/active_citizenship.htm). An active citizen is a positive role model who is involved in public life at the local, state and/or national level and challenges the rules to make the world a better place.
A citizen can become active at many levels. The level closest to a person’s everyday life is the local level. Becoming active at the local level means being active in your community or town you live or work in. Volunteering is an easy thing to do that can include everyone. Like the United States, New Zealand is a nation known for volunteerism. Statistics show that each year 1.2 million people volunteer, giving more than 270 million hours of unpaid time back to the society (http://www.familyservices.govt.nz/my-family/community-life/becoming-an-active-citizen.html).
There are many ways to volunteer at the local level. Citizens can coach youth sports teams, ring the Salvation Army bell, join the fire department or a first responder group, set up a neighborhood watch to protect children, or deliver meals to the elderly, just to ...
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... generally have a strong desire to improve the world through activism. Instilling a desire to care about government and to keep it accountable are the keys to making sure our democracy continues to thrive (http://www.activecitizenship.org). Citizens can also support national candidates by attending rallies, handing out promotional materials and making phone calls to encourage support from others.
Most people can be a regular citizen with little effort. Becoming an active citizen is taking citizenship a step further. It means getting involved, giving to others by volunteering and promoting change to make things better. People can become active at all levels, local, state and national. As citizens of a country, a state or a local community, we have a responsibility to help make the world a better place and be positive role models for the next generation.
Citizenship, a virtue that many humans have, however not every person has the qualities that further them as a citizen within today’s society. I display citizenship by participating in a number of
volunteering is a person who freely offers to take part in an enterprise or undertake a task. In this report i will talk about the different types of volunteering in the:
The ideal citizen would be one that is interested, motivated and discusses issues at hand. However, a great majority of citizens don't make an effort to participate in political affairs or civic duties. Nor do they have the motivation to participate in a political life. Most of the time, an average citizen will adopt the mind set of “it doesn't really matter” or “don't care” (Berlson). For a successful democracy the citizens should also be well informed, follow principals and be rational.
Good Citizenship is something that is valued by a country. Although not normally noticed or recognized, good citizenship can come in many forms and can be very beneficial to a specified area. Good Citizenship could mean many different things but ultimately good citizenship promotes prosperity, and increases the well-being of said region. In this country we do have government officials, but they only can do so much, and reach so far, in this country you need to focus on "...Not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country" (Kennedy). This means pulling your own weight and not relying solely on these officials and their policies, to get out and try to make this country the best it can be. Which is why through the use of the educatory school system in the United States and through obeying laws of their city/state or nation, and also through the practice of Volunteer work/charity the average American citizen can become above-average and awesome (in every sense of the word) and can also develop into a righteous, upstanding, convivial citizen.
Civil and political importance is necessary so that we don’t lose that right, like other countries. It also helps so that our voices are heard and our decisions are based on what people want, not what top officials want. Without civic and political participation, there may be groups of people in the U.S. that don’t get a voice and may be discriminated against. We as citizens should always strive to make the country better for the future generations, without civic and political participation that may not happen as out voices won’t be heard and the top people will get what they want.
Volunteering is a large part many nonprofit organizations. A volunteer is choosing to donate their personal time and resources to the cause they support. By volunteering, an individual has an outlet to express their values or embrace a particular culture within pout society.
In the United States, political participation is embraced as integral for ensuring an egalitarian and democratic government; the contemporary meaning of participation, as discussed by Cindy Patton, places an emphasis on the actions individuals have with a larger, more interconnected society (Patton 253). More often than not, participation demands an individual to contribute and donate for the "greater good" of society. In the essay "Civil Disobedience," Henry David Thoreau discusses an effective model of participation which fosters the opportunity for an individual, regardless of citizenship status, to contribute for the "greater good" of society. Although some may say that Thoreau's model of participation draws on bias accounts of participation, his model allows for the "common man" to participate, regardless of citizenship status.
What does it mean to be a citizen? What does it mean to be a part of a country? I believe that being a citizen is much more than just living in the same country for a set number of years. There are several ways that the word "citizen" can be defined. For example, individuals may say that when you do good deeds and make your country a better place you are considered a citizen. When you work hard to donate to your country you are showing that you believe in While there are other individuals believe that being a good citizen means portraying kindness, generosity, a helping hand; what some people may refer to as a servants heart. Of course, different countries will have different interpretations of what citizen is and
So, all that basically means is that a good global citizen is someone who takes action within the global community. They are someone who knows their actions can have an impact on a neighbor but also someone across the globe. How many times have you seen those ads on T.V. to sponsor a kid in Africa? Many people ignore those ads but some people take action. The people who take those actions are considered to be global citizens. So with that said one of the best ways to become involved as a global citizen its to become involved with the Red Cross.
Theater 180 addressed the quest question of how do people understand and engage in community life? Through this class I’ve gained a better understanding of what civic engagement is. At the start of this semester I had very minimal knowledge about civic engagement. As far as I knew civic engagement was just volunteering but nothing much beyond that. With this class I have learned that civic engagement is much more than just volunteer work.
Specifically, volunteering brings in revenue from nonprofits and “free” work. In fact, in 2009 an estimated value of $169 billion dollars was contributed to America in volunteer participation (Corporation for National and Community Service). Volunteers bring an unexpected abundance of revenue that appears in unpaid work. In addition, it enhances communication within a society. Significantly, volunteering provides insight from first hand experiences for the community’s wants and needs and if these wants and needs are being met by volunteers communicating their volunteer experiences (Young). When there is better communication within a community it is easier to understand what the wants and needs are for a society to better function. Finally, it provides services in many different forms. For instance, in a local sense volunteers can benefit many sectors such as public works and transportation; public safety, health, and human services; parks and recreation; and support functions (Young). Like stated above, it is evident that there are many different types of volunteer jobs that can be done and anyone can help by using their personal strengths to better the community. Overall, there are many economic benefits that are brought to a community that essentially leads to a safer
Volunteering enables an individual to make a positive impact on his or her community, while empowering the individual to better his or her life. This summer, I had the opportunity to volunteer at many diverse locations. From the hospital to the local library, I truly value my experience and treasure everything it has thought me. Volunteering lets us experience and learn things that we otherwise would not have learned; volunteering opens doors for us that we may not have been able to open before. Volunteering provides us with guidance and tolerance which we may use in the future to aid us in our decisions. At first glance, volunteering may seem to only benefit those who are helped, but on a deeper level, one can realize that volunteering benefits the volunteer as much as, if not more than, those who are helped. Not only does volunteering make a difference in one’s community, but it also helps the volunteer become a smarter, happier, friendlier and more caring individual.
Volunteering in your local community is great way to give back and set a positive example at the same time. Let’s take a look at some of the problems in our community that affect many people.
In the first place, citizenship is defined by the particular attitude towards the political process. Since ancient times, it was generally accepted that political involvement was a valuable part of one’s life; to exemplify, in 335 B. C. Aristotle wrote that ‘man by nature is a political animal’. Some modern thinkers hold the same opinion: “…political participation is the highest form of human living-together [Adrian Oldfields, 1990]”. What are the implications? Personally, I think that being a good citizen starts with the knowledge of the laws, the assent and the complete submission to them....
Citizenship education has become a keystone of democratic governments such as those found in Australia, Canada, Great Britain, and the United States. Other forms of state government (autocracies, oligarchies, monarchies, theocracies, et al.) impose limitations on the rights of its citizens, so therefore the majority of their population will never need to learn what it takes to actually participate in government, and they just learn to follow the mandated laws or else face the consequences. The ability to actively function in a democratic society is not instinctual; it is in fact a learned skill. In her research, L. Alison Molina-Giron (2016) describes how the study of citizenship has become fundamental to democracies because “citizenship education must prepare youngsters to [actively participate]… in their nation’s civic and political life. Indeed, democracy not only