How I Talk About Citizenship in the Classroom

By Austen Givens

I can think of few contemporary topics less fashionable to discuss in the classroom than good citizenship.

But I am also hard pressed to identify any period of American history since World War II in which discussions of good citizenship were as important, or more vital, than now.

I teach courses on homeland security and cybersecurity at Utica College. Most of my students aspire to positions of public trust. Alumni from our suite of academic programs—consisting of criminal intelligence analysis, criminal justice, cybersecurity, and financial crime investigation—enter law enforcement agencies, the military, intelligence agencies, banks, and insurance firms, for the most part. Virtually all of these positions demand that our alumni exhibit the qualities of good citizens.

So, what are these qualities? And how do I teach them?

Five traits—or virtues—spring to mind: honesty, integrity, justice, love of public service, and respect for the U.S. Constitution.

I use assignments, activities, and lead by example to promote these qualities of good citizenship.

Honesty

The free exchange of ideas is vital to healthy democracies. So, I encourage a free exchange of ideas in my classes. That free exchange extends to views that some could find offensive or vile. Reasonable adults may disagree forcefully. Yet they can do so in a civil, professional manner. If a student wants to air a controversial viewpoint, I let her do it. And if other students wish to attack that controversial idea, I gently—but firmly—encourage them to remain focused on the idea itself, not the person who aired it, and to demolish the idea with evidence and facts.

Integrity

I try to model integrity for my students. Over the years I have made my share of mistakes in the classroom. I’ve written unclear quiz questions, for instance. And it is almost always a student, not me, who identifies these poorly written quiz questions. I try to convert these mistakes into a learning opportunity. I publically thank the student for pointing out the issue with these questions, even if the student has been gracious enough to bring it to my attention privately. And I bias corrective action in favor of students’ interests. Those ambiguous quiz questions? I usually give the entire class credit for them, regardless of their actual responses. If I expect my students to act with integrity, then I am convinced that I must show them what integrity looks like in action.

  

Justice

To me, justice means doing what is fair and proportionate consistently. In a graduate course that I teach, CYB-667 – Critical Incident Command, Response, and All-Hazards, I have students participate in a peer exchange activity to reinforce this. Students produce a written report, then swap these reports with their classmates and score them using a rubric that I provide. This is designed to do at least two things: first, it helps students to understand the value of peer editing; and second, this activity permits students to assess work in an objective way. Evaluating a situation, a person, or a report with reference to objective standards is an exercise in justice, besides also being a highly competent way to work. Cultivating justice in this way reinforces a good habit that can be used over a lifetime.

Love of Public Service

I am persuaded that public servants must love public service to be truly effective. In practice, this means that public servants must learn to act in ways that are ultimately consistent with the public interest. That requires critical thinking skills.

I’ve taught multiple classes at Utica College about terrorism, such as CRJ-305 – Terrorism and CRJ-307 – Homeland Security and Counterterrorism. In written assignments in these classes I try to re-direct students’ attention to what may be unspoken or downplayed—the constitutional rights of terrorism suspects, for example, or the costs associated with prosecutors seeking the death penalty in terrorism cases rather than long prison sentences.

I do this because in the world of counterterrorism acting in the public interest often means restraining government action. This notion runs contrary to the let’s-blow-em’-to-smithereens political rhetoric about terrorism that we often hear in popular media.

But more importantly, it is about learning to act first with the public interest in mind.

Respect for the U.S. Constitution

I try to emphasize to students that basic principles like the freedom of speech (1^st Amendment), the right to bear arms (2^nd Amendment), and protections against unreasonable searches and seizures (4^th Amendment) are woven into the fabric of American life.

For example, much has been made of hate speech and “fake news” on the Internet, and these topics are often fodder for written discussions in my online classes.

Calls to strengthen or relax Constitutional provisions to deal with these problems inevitably return to questions about the Constitution itself. The Constitution may set forth impossible-to-achieve ideals. If we are to move forward as a society, however, we must at least respect the Constitution. For whatever flaws it contains, it also provides well-designed guardrails for life in a republic.

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These are some of the tools and techniques that I use to teach good citizenship at Utica College. Do you do anything along these lines? Do you have any new activities or ideas that you could recommend to make good citizenship come alive in the classroom? Let me know!