Reinventing Citizenship
Harry Boyte
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Posted 05.22.2013
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Politics
It will take civic change in many settings -- not simply in government -- to reinvent citizenship.
It will take civic change in many settings -- not simply in government -- to reinvent citizenship.
Obedience to the law is not enough. Americans demand legal and ethical behavior from themselves and their fellow citizens.
The problem at meetings such as Reclaiming the Conversation on Education conference is that they tend to be "anti" meetings that do not present a clear alternative agenda defining what participants believe is the role public education should play in a democratic society.
We squander valuable human and cultural capital when in another time and place the unauthorized would have been citizens simply because they live and contribute to our common life, and have ties to American citizens. That's what's wrong with our system.
The immigrant community must step up even more and prove that through hard work and sacrifice, they earned the right to not just be here lawfully, but citizenship itself. This shouldn't be that hard.
All of our friends knew we were legally married because they had attended the ceremony and partied with us at the wedding reception. But as we would learn in going through the green card and naturalization applications, there is nothing routine about the process.
As much of the higher education industry continues to focus on the possibilities of MOOCs, we must be careful not to forget that learning by doing in real life situations brings a value that the online experience can not fully replace.
By ERICA WERNER, The Associated Press WASHINGTON -- Big business and major labor unions appeared ready Friday to end a fight over a new low-skilled...
Lincoln, self-educated, a versatile and critical thinker, questioned prevailing assumptions of his day, and, in his search for truth, drew upon mathematical axioms as a storehouse of principles he might apply to his political philosophy.
If we ever hope to sponsor a productive debate in this country, we will have to spend as much time listening as we do talking. Grandstanding, posturing, and trash-talking the country is not helping.
The practice of hospitality, especially to strangers (the Bible's term for outsiders or people not of your tribe, clan or national group), is one of the most central teachings of the Jewish and Christian scriptures.
Besides being unfair, denying millions of people the right to citizenship is socially and politically disruptive. It is important for each of us to have skin in the game -- to know that our investment in this country brings real rewards.
Who is responsible for this "values cliff" and how do we get back on track to a shared expectation of decency, responsibility and citizenship that we all can say is the real America of our traditions, aspirations, hopes and dreams?
WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court on Monday weighed whether the state of Arizona should be allowed to create additional hurdles to voting that go beyond...
WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court will struggle this week with the validity of an Arizona law that tries to keep illegal immigrants from voting by deman...
In an era where we face a daily deluge of online petitions, emails from candidates, and provocative political tweets, what does it mean to be a citizen?
This question of citizenship vs. residency is no mere technical policy dispute. This idea of denying citizenship to 11 million people -- a population the size of Ohio -- goes to the heart of who we are as a nation.
WASHINGTON -- In a new book, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) makes a notable reversal on immigration reform, arguing that creating a pathway to citiz...
With the sequester threatening economic stability and gun advocates and opponents squaring off for a battle, it seems increasingly likely that the only policy area where Democrats and Republicans may agree this year is immigration reform -- and now even that seems chancy.
We are indeed at a pivot point for the "success or failure of our great experiment" in government." Schools and families must play an essential role in building citizenship and the character of the nation. So too should national service.
"We the People" create the institutions that serve us. It's easy to forget that we -- individual citizens -- are the ones responsible for our children's education.
It should now be clear that immigration reform cannot demand that the applicant go home and stand in line; there is no line for them to stand in, unless Congress creates a new visa category for them.
BY PHILIP ELLIOT, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON — The White House is downplaying its draft immigration proposal as merely a backup plan if lawm...
Now that we are moving ahead with immigration reform, we should embrace citizenship as a positive value that strengthens the nation rather than putting unnecessary obstacles and long delays in the way of immigrants becoming citizens.
Obama's vision is broad, challenging the good versus evil, hyper-moralized political scripts which dominate today on both right and left. In contrast, today higher education leaders often contribute to the latter.
