A citizen is someone who belongs to a country and pays taxes. This is important to ensure that the government can continue to provide for its people, such as building roads, schools, and the military.
A good citizen is someone who works hard to contribute to their community and make a positive difference. They are productive and well-rounded, which means they have a wide range of skills. They also care about their community and want to help those in need.
In a recent Pew Research Center survey, voting in elections, paying taxes and always following the law were viewed as the most important traits of good citizenship by the American public. However, there were significant differences between younger adults and older adults, as well as between Democrats and Republicans on these traits.
Another way to be a good citizen is to volunteer your time and energy to improve the lives of others. You can do this by volunteering to clean up a local park, helping out at your school or church, or even giving a little bit of money to a worthy cause.
You can also teach your kids the importance of being a good citizen. Talk to them about civics, teach them to vote, and get them involved in a youth group or a tutoring program that is designed to help kids who need it.
When teaching kids about citizenship, you can also use a lesson called To Act It Out to help them remember what is required of a good citizen. After reading short excerpts from books or stories about citizens, students take turns acting out a characteristic of a good citizen.
This lesson helps them practice their social skills as they work with a friend to discuss how a citizen helped their community. In addition, it allows them to see how their actions affect others and build a stronger sense of community.
The lesson can be used on its own or as part of a larger civics unit. After students have completed the lesson, scribe their answers and display them in the classroom as a reference.
Regardless of which approach you use to teach your students about citizenship, it is important to focus on the three core dimensions that define the concept: legal, political and identity. This will allow them to understand how these elements are instantiated in different ways within the two dominant models: republican and liberal.
Aristotle’s Politics, for instance, argues that one of the necessary conditions for citizenship is rational agency. The exclusion of women and slaves is based on an account of their souls as lacking the capacity for this kind of agency. The long history of the extension of citizenship to groups previously excluded did not change this basic understanding, despite the fact that some of those who were included (e.g., workers and descendants of former slaves) had been considered illegitimate because they lacked this capacity.
It is therefore not surprising that many scholars are questioning the idea of a universal conception of citizenship. This is particularly true in relation to citizenship’s purported role in social integration. The question is whether, rather than transcending difference, the concept should recognize it and if so, what the implications are for its potential to contribute to social cohesion.