CIVIC & COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

No responsibility sits more firmly on the shoulders of any citizen than the obligation to be an active member of civil society. From the smallest functions of local government to the most profoundly significant questions of national policy, it behooves all people to engage positively and productively with the society in which they live. The rewards of civic engagement are many and palpable, and active citizens and community members gain a sense that their voices and values matter; as stakeholders in society, we should all understand at first hand the value of protecting and expanding that stake for the benefit of all.

The suggestions for CIVIC AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT are aimed at helping the young citizen find those areas in which their own interest can be converted into satisfying activism and advocacy. Along the way, they may have a chance to define and articulate certain social and political values that may serve them in good stead and carry them forward toward a life of principle and purpose. While not all are suitable for every age group, most can be adapted to fit the inclinations of anyone with a serious interest in making a difference in their community.

CIV 1. Write a letter to the editor of a newspaper or magazine—even your school newspaper—on an issue you care about. Pat yourself on the back if your letter is published.
Newspapers and many magazines came into being as organs of opinion as much as information; many newspapers actually consider their opinion-editorial (known as “op-ed”) pages to be their centerpieces. Along with the work contributed by their own staffs and whichever columnists they choose to publish, most happily publish numbers of “letters to the editor” in each issue.

The key here is to find an article that interests that child and about which they have an opinion—preferably a strong opinion based on real understanding of and engagement with the topic or issue. Help the child develop this opinion by asking questions, suggesting alternative perspectives, and looking for the strongest and most persuasive arguments and evidence to support it. Then it’s time to sit down and write the letter, which can be submitted by email or even old-fashioned snail mail.

The letter to the editor is a small art form in itself. Brevity and clarity matter greatly, and most newspapers print a disclaimer that letters chosen for publication may be edited for these qualities. But along with being intelligible and pithy, the letter must also make super-clear its relationship to some specific matter on which the publication has published either news or commentary. In other words, the letter must be about something that has already come up, and the letter to the editor is thus written to comment on or express agreement or disagreement with something the newspaper or magazine has already published or at least about an issue that has appeared in its pages.

The letter to the editor should begin with a specific reference to the publication’s content related to the issue, and the letter should then immediately make clear the writer’s point of view relative to the publication’s; it is acceptable, we should point out, to agree as well as to disagree. In a second paragraph the writer should specify with evidence just why they hold a specific opinion or why they recommend a specific course of action. If the opinion or recommendation agrees with the publication’s position, it would be best if the writer were to bring forward some novel reason—otherwise, why should the newspaper be much interested?

A final, short paragraph should recapitulate the writer’s main point and sign off, followed by a signature over a legible printed name, an address, and a contact telephone number or e-mail address.

Many newspapers and magazines will contact the writer of a letter that they select for publication, but there is a good chance that, once sent, the writer will hear nothing at all. Most publications receive far more letters than they could possibly publish, and so there is a selective and competitive aspect to the writing of a letter to the editor that must be acknowledged.

If the writer chooses to write to the editor of a school publication, the same suggestions hold as to format and content, and the chances become significantly greater that a letter may be published.

A note on format: Letters to the editor, even if transmitted via e-mail, should follow proper business letter style with regard to punctuation, salutation, closing, and overall structure. Since writing a business letter is something of a lost art, the young writer might be guided to examples from a parent or guardian’s correspondence or to “textbook” examples that can be found in student writing handbooks or library or online reference books.

(ALSO: Language, Literature, and History; Service and Helping Others)

CIV 2. Write a letter to a public official suggesting a solution to a problem you see in your community, state, or country. Make sure that your letter is detailed and persuasive and that the official you are writing to actually has some authority in the matter you are writing about. Pat yourself on the back if you receive an answer; give yourself a reward if your answer is not a form letter; persuade someone to take you to dinner if your letter actually makes a difference.
Like the letter to the editor, the letter to a public official is a fundamental building block of a democratic society; the letter is even part of that “right to petition” that is guaranteed by the First Amendment to the Constitution. Even in an age when politicians tend to look to polls and to visits from lobbyists for guidance on important issue, letters from constituents still receive a surprising amount of attention at all levels of government.

A letter to a public official should, like an editorial letter, be clear in intent and as concise as possible. It should also, of course, express a point of view or make clear a course of action that is being recommended. If possible, it would also be a nice touch to make some specific reference to the official’s position or track record on the general issue.

Before writing a letter the youngster should give some thought to and possibly do some research on the matter of a proper recipient. If the matter is local, who are the local or regional officials who deal with the particular issue? If the matter is statewide, should the letter be to the executive branch—the governor and or someone in a particular department—or to a member of the legislative branch? On a national level the question is the same. Along the way, the letter-writer will learn a good deal about the three branches of government as well as about the structure of state and local administrative systems—levels of government that are often unknown territory for students.

An opening paragraph might introduce the writer vis-à-vis the official (constituent, neighbor, interested observer) and then make clear how and why the issue under discussion is important in the writer’s life.

Body paragraphs, which could number one or more, ought to set forth the writer’s recommendations with as much supporting detail as possible. In the latter sections and appeal to the official’s self-interest is permissible (“I’m sure that with 28% of voters in this district being retired, many people would find the policy helpful”), as is any kind of distinctly personal touch might underscore the writer’s point (“Since my sister uses a wheelchair, accessibility in all of our playgrounds is very important to me”).

A closing paragraph should thank the official for his or her attention to the matter and perhaps include an offer to meet face-to-face with the official to discuss the matter. As with the letter to the editor, proper business-letter form is very important here, although it would not be necessary to type or word-process.

Many officials with large constituencies and large offices—the President, many senators and governors—will have form letter answers—some, it must be acknowledged, maddeningly bland and noncommittal—that are sent almost automatically to letter writers; the same holds true for many members of the United States House of Representatives. Well-crafted, provocative letters to officials at any level can, however, elicit thoughtful, personal responses, and, on rare occasions, a letter-writer can be rewarded by action—even the very thing the writer has recommended.

But any answer is at least an answer, and the young writer will grasp the idea that the government does actually listen to the people, even when it does not always act in swift accordance with each individual’s wish.

(ALSO: Service and Helping Others; Language, Literature, and History)

CIV 3. Listen to an entire episode of On Point or any other call-in public affairs program on public radio. Call in with something thoughtful to say, and pat yourself on the back if you get on the air.
On Point is one of a number of syndicated interview and call-in shows on public radio; there are also numbers of regional and local programs of the same sort. Most feature an interview with one or more experts on a particular topic; sometimes the interview is with a single author, public figure, or artist. At some point listeners are invited to call in with questions and commentary; most show like On Point screen callers to ensure a very high quality of discussion.

Like This American Life, programs like On Point assume and require a level of awareness of and interest in the “deep background” of events and issues, and the experts on tap do not condescend to listeners in the level of conversation or vocabulary. In a nutshell, such programs provide, along with certain magazines and newspapers, the raw material by which many knowledgeable, thoughtful people inform themselves and form opinions about the major issues of the day. They require a certain degree of intellectual discipline, and the beginning listener may even want to have at hand an atlas or a dictionary to chase down stray facts that arise—a program segment on world affairs may focus on Vanuatu or South Sudan or Nunavut, and the active listener will need to know where these places are.

Call-in portions of such programs do not represent a significant change in the level of discourse. Calls are screened for relevance and, it can be imagined, for tone and overall quality; seldom does one hear callers who simply spout unsupported opinion. But many callers are in fact asking questions of the participants, and there is no lower age limit on the ability to ask good questions—for clarification, for further information, or in response to speculation (what if?). Producers seem to favor younger callers who demonstrate a serious interest in a topic, and so the young listener should not hesitate to try, at least, to connect. A successful effort is a feather in one’s cap, indeed.

And if the idea of calling is daunting, if the young person’s schedule doesn’t quite fit the broadcast time, or if On Point is not available in your area, On Point and most programs like it are available as podcasts from their related websites.

(ALSO: Language, Literature, and History; The World and Its Cultures)

CIV 4. Imagine something that you would like to be different at your school and write a thoughtful, respectful letter to the superintendent, principal, or head explaining your idea and why you think that it should be considered. Pat yourself on the back if you receive an answer, and be ready to follow up on your suggestion if you are invited to discuss it in person.
How appropriate to consider using the First Amendment right to “petition for redress of grievances” on the public official closest to the student: a school administrator. If the school is private, the right should be considered the same.

Students always have ideas about how schools should be run and how their programs should be organized, and here is a respectful, even formal, way to carry a suggestion forward from the conversational stage to the serious one. The first order of business is to come up with a positive suggestion that would make a difference in the quality of school life and that could also be accomplished without some sort of miracle occurring—a doubling of the budget, for example, or the abduction of an unpopular teacher by aliens.

Once an idea has been decided on and at least a suggested plan of action put together, the idea should be put into the form of a formal business letter presenting the proposal and some of the arguments in its favor. Organization should follow the form of a letter to an editor or public official: main point, supporting evidence, likely benefits, and respectful conclusion. This letter should above all things be carefully edited and proofread; it is, after all, about school.

If the idea is seen as sound by the recipients, there may be opportunities to further advance the argument and perhaps even to become involved in some sort of implementation process. A little-considered aspect of being a suggestion-maker is that the role often entails becoming a leader as well. The ability to enlist others in one’s own ideas is a practical skill that underlies many versions of active leadership, and of course there are rewards of accomplishment and pride for a successful endeavor.

(ALSO: Service and Helping Others; Language, Literature, and History)