The Responsibilities of Citizenship: A Bundle of Literacies

There are many issues confronting American democracy that can make us uneasy about its health in future years. These include the undue influence of campaign contributions on legislation, the drawing of legislative districts to produce safe districts for representatives, questionable practices in State voting processes, lack of serious media coverage of elections below the presidency, and with the exception of this extraordinary presidential election, voter apathy.

There will need to be electoral and democratic reforms in the years ahead in virtually every one of the areas above. But the key to promoting the health of American democracy will ultimately fall to one bottom-up factor: an informed and engaged citizenry.

Media magnate, diplomat and philanthropist Walter Annenberg once said, "Citizenship is every person's highest calling." It is our highest calling because only through the active exercise of our rights and responsibilities of citizenship will Americans, as citizen-sovereigns, collectively solve the crises facing us.

Americans are very good at claiming rights; we are not always so ready to recognize our responsibilities. Our rights of citizenship include the right to vote, to be protected by the rights of the American Constitution, and to be treated equally in the law. But what are our responsibilities as citizens?

Democracy means citizen sovereignty. To be sovereign each citizen should have a responsibility, among other things, to be informed, at least minimally, of the issues on which he or she is asked to make a decision - whether for candidates, ballot propositions, or local civic questions. We should have a right to be informed, but also a responsibility to become informed.

In the law of intellectual property, a copyright is actually a bundle of rights, for example, the rights to publish, display, reproduce, and create sequels to an original work of authorship. I would analogize this to the concept of citizenship: a significant responsibility of citizenship is that of literacy, by which I mean a bundle of literacies.

This begins with the skill to read or understand the basic information on which to base a vote. Of course, we have long ago rid ourselves of literacy requirements to vote. They were a pretext to deny votes to freed slaves and their descendants. One can learn orally and visually, certainly a favorite of politicians who can afford to buy broadcast advertisements. But citizens should aim to go beyond such media messages by reading about the issues online or in print.

Literacy today is not simply learning to read. There are additional literacies -- abilities to understand and operate -- in 21st century America. First there is media literacy or digital literacy, the ability to comprehend and communicate in the electronic media. Certainly we want our young to understand the process by which they receive messages on television or online. The more we are able to comprehend, analyze, and communicate upstream, the less there will be pressure to censor. More importantly, however, is the utility of these skills to the exercise of the basic functions of citizenship: informed voting and civic engagement.

Beyond the technical literacies are two crucial literacies in a democracy: civic and news literacies. By this I mean understanding the basic tenets and concepts of our democratic system (civic literacy) and the ability to integrate news of the day into those constructs (news literacy). As our media trend toward more partisan outlets and more editorial voices, all of which are fine, we need to differentiate fact from opinion on our own, to be critical receptors of those messages.

Today, we see why two more, financial and environmental literacies, have moved from the purview of the wealthy, educated and curious to the responsibility of every citizen. The blame for our financial crisis can extend very broadly, and I would point first to the Wall Streeters who created credit default swaps and derivative securities based on faulty credit ratings. But the common mortgagees who secured loans beyond their means, and those of us who have run up avoidable credit card debt cannot escape blame. Frankly, many lack the financial literacy to understand the consequences of their actions in this sphere. Today, micro-lenders in Third World countries attach financial literacy to their micro-loans. The repayment rate for GrameenBank in Bangladesh is over 95%. We in the US should be a lot more attentive to financial literacy ourselves.

Finally, our contributions to global climate change and energy dependence on fossil fuels are clear. Each of us, as citizens of the planet, now has a responsibility to learn what we can about our inter-relationship with the environment. We need to become more environmentally literate.

The list can and probably should go on. Cultural literacy is next on my list, but others will have other priorities. The point is that we need to look at these as part of a bundle of literacies that are our responsibilities as citizens. If we want to preserve a healthy democracy and society for future generations, we need to instill these literacies in our young as they assume the mantle of their highest calling, citizenship.

Comments

[Akacia]

OH! and the public still has the right to fumble for its bible iin complete darkness???

[MagisterLudi]

1GIg RAM; 120 Gig hard drive without a modem or iworks for astonishing ( or NOT) price of of $999.99.... Stop the presses, let the world rejoice.....or not.

[WgS]

If the media truly cared that the public finds it difficult to separate it from it's advertisers, sponsors and regime, it would resist and denounce the fact that it is forced to be "embedded" with it. Instead, it becomes blatant propaganda.

[MagisterLudi]

That's right. Media is profit driven using agitprop tools in order to maximize its profits. This website is a very good example of that business model. So whats new?
Yet basic access to information is cheap and plentiful. It is YOUR responsibility to acquire basic cognitive skills in order to process information. Start with basic Bloom's taxonomy pyramid.
Don't worry about the public. Especially the public that does not agree with you. EVERYONE of us has plenty of delusions to get rid of us.

"All living souls welcome whatever they are ready to cope with; all else they ignore, or pronounce to be monstrous and wrong, or deny to be possible. "
George Santayana

[COPerez]

No need to wonder why Republicans are so hot to dismantle public education in any way that they can.

The worst enemy of the would-be tyrant is an educated citizenry.

[bearcck]

It is more than that...the incentive to read, listen and evaluate opinions and facts is honed around the supper table, family room, living room, dorm room etc. These arenas allow you to form opinions without fear of reprisal.

I have always had the livliest of discussions amongst my parents and sisters long before I sought out the books and facts. It was challenging discussion that led to seeking truth in any form.

When people say "I'm not into politics" they act as if it is a hobby. When Bush said "go shopping" after 9/11...what he was really saying was "don't worry...I'll take care of this" so we would look the other way.

Wake-up people! Go ahead take care of your families, your community, your environment, your money and your property, but at the end of the day read a paper, go on the internet, watch the news to see if any one else cares about the same things you value.

Washington, Wall Street and Al Queda have one thing in common....they are empowered by people who don't seek truth, who operate on fear and complicity. Whistle blowers in all three of these arenas end up un-elected, without a career and in the case of Al Queda their family is tortured.

Everybody get your whistles out! If we all blow at the same time...no one will know who to punish!

[MagisterLudi]

In high school AP level courses McLuhan's "The Medium is the Massage" and "Understanding Media" should be required reading. Also Tao Te Ching, Machiavelli's "The Prince," Emma Goldman's "Anarchism and Other Essays" and Communist Manifesto. To top it off: Citizen Kane lesson unit.

[carrieanna]

Right on! I wish Media Theory was a required semester in high school. I luckily happened across that course at university and it has helped me be a better judge of what I hear and read. I think understanding media is as important as any History or Government class.