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Project Citizen TeachesYouth the Power of Democracy

by Judah Ken Freed

Youth engaged in politics present their case at annual meeting for National Conference of State Legislators.
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"Project Citizen is teaching young people to monitor and participate in the legislative process as a way of socializing a lifelong commitment to active citizenship," said Michael Fischer from the Center for Civic Education in Calabassas, Calif.

In a partnership between CCE and the National Conference of State Legislature (NCSL), Project Citizen as a nationwide program giving middle school students hands-on experience formulating and advocating new laws on the local, state and federal levels.

"We invite students to take on real-world problems," Fischer said, "so there's lots of cooperative learning in teams that gives them a chance to practice higher-order thinking along with developing their social interaction skills."

"The goal is for students to know they can make a real difference in the world," said Barbara Miller, Colorado state coordinator for Project Citizen. "We want them to see the importance of participating as a citizen in our representative democracy."

In a crowded session at the annual NCSL conference, the process was explained and demonstrated by 8th Grade students from Grant Ranch Middle School in Lakewood. With support from Denver Public Schools educator Joanne Eickman, the youthful team presented to NCSL attendees their case for a new juvenile car seat law in Colorado.

Repeating what happens in statewide competition among schools, the Grant Ranch students walked the audience through a four-panel display that detailed the problem, examined alternative solution, developed a plan of action consistent with constitutional principles, and then proposed an action plan.

"We learned the hard way to stress that the plans must be constitutional," said Miller, who recalled a student proposal to send all street gang members to jail without trial.

"The great thing about the program is that the students are not satisfied until they've actually taken concrete steps to implement their action plan after the contest is over," said Fischer.

The Grant Ranch students, for example, contacted Susan Liddle at Legislative Counsel and their state senator Norma Anderson, SD22-R. Their plan called for front-facing booster seats to be required for all children ages four through eight and up to 80 pounds. They were concerned that the Colorado law (up to age 6 and 60 pounds) was not enough of a protection.

After the presentation, the audience critiqued the students' performance for both style and substance. Suggestions ranged from public speaking tips to the kinds of authorities they could cite that would be more convincing for legislators.

Asked if they would participate in Project Citizen again if they could, all the students raised their hands. "We find nationwide that 98 percent of the students would do the program again" said Fischer.

One of the students said she was so excited by the experience that she plans on running for President someday, "that is, if I don't become a movie star first." In politics today, one job does not preclude the other.

 


Revised from first publication in The Colorado Statesman
August 2002
(c) 2002-03 by Judah Ken Freed


Media Visions Journal will always be free to read, but the site is not free to produce. Please help sustain my independent publishing.
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Last update: 30 JANUARY 2009

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