PASTOR DAVE’S MUSINGS FROM THE HEARTLAND

February 15, 2023

RESPONSIBLE CITIZENS

Recently there was an article in the Pilot News about Mitch Daniels, President of Purdue University, suggesting that in order to graduate a student would need to prove their civics literacy.  President Daniels issued the call to meet a national crisis in basic civics literacy.  The requirement would be similar to the naturalization test a person takes to become an American citizen.  A person must answer at least 6 out 10 questions taken from a list of 100 possible questions.  The first 57 of the questions have to do with American government and the last 43 with American history.

When I read about President Daniels’ suggestion I was reminded of a social studies teacher I had when I was in junior high.  One of her requirements for the class was that we knew the name of the president, the vice-president, the cabinet members, the members of the Supreme Court, the two senators from Ohio, and our representative to Congress.  Similar questions are to be found on the naturalization test list.  In addition to the teacher’s requirements there were many other ways that the school I attended for nine years in Cortland, Ohio, was preparing its students to be responsible citizens.

A possible way to read the Book of Proverbs in its present form is as a primmer for what it means to be a responsible member of the Jewish community.  The book would have served well for a young Jewish person preparing for their bar-mitzvah or bat-mitzvah.  There are suggestions on how to deal with authority, how to temper one’s conduct, how to handle resources, and much more.   Proverbs still serves well today as a useful resource as to what it means to be a responsible citizen.

There is an old proverb that “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.”  Just because a person passes a test about basic civic literacy does not mean that they will automatically become a responsible citizen.  In the first place there is no guarantee that the person will retain what they have learned over the long haul.  Somewhere in our personal history we have probably known the answer to all of the 100 questions on the naturalization tested.  If we were test on them today, I wonder how well most of us would do.  It is easy enough to make a person pass a test, but much more difficult to make them retain what they have learned over the long haul.

In the second place just because one knows the possible ways to participate in the American democracy are voting, joining a political party, helping with a campaign, joining a civic group, joining a community group, giving an elected official one’s opinion on an issue, calling Senators and Representative, publicly supporting or opposing an issue or policy, running for office, or writing to a newspaper (Question #55, 100 Naturalization Civics Question) does not mean that one will do any of them.  Before being too critical we should be thankful for the many American citizens who are not only able to identify two of the possible way to participate- for question #55 one needs to identify two on the list – but does them.  I could make a long list of the people I know who are daily being responsible citizens.  Perhaps those who are being good citizens are an encouragement to others to be a more responsible American.

I wish President Daniels well as he addresses the national crisis in basic civics literacy.  He might want to consider the requirement for Boy Scout’s “Citizenship in the Community” merit badge.  Requirement 3.a. suggests that they attend a meeting of the scout’s city, town, or county council or school board; OR attend a municipal, county, or state court session.  Requirement 7.a. has a scout choose a charitable organization outside of Scouting that interests the scout and bring people in the community together to work for the good of the scout’s community.  Boy Scouts have a long track record of scouts who receive the “Citizenship In the Community” merit badge series on their road to becoming Eagle Scouts becoming outstanding members of their community and our country.

This article was originally published February 23, 2020.