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Civic Participation & Citizenship Collection

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Teaching Active Citizenship in an ESOL Class
Tom Smith, Community College of Vermont

• gain an understanding of the highlights of U.S. history
• look at the U.S. Constitution as a living document that changes with the times
• explore how the mechanisms of government are used to address different kinds   of issues
• increase self-understanding in the process of discussing public policy issues
• improve reading, writing, and discussion skills

The program has transformed over its seven-year history. Originally geared to single mothers on public assistance, it evolved into an intermediate ESOL course using U.S. culture, government, and history as the primary curriculum vehicle. Fourteen students participated in this class and represented a mix of national origins - Bosnia, Vietnam, Congo, Kosovo, Croatia, Japan, and Costa Rica. Nearly half were Bosnian and students' ages ranged from nineteen to fifty-six and were evenly split between men and women.

While the core curriculum is a constant (history, constitution, current events, culture), the specifics of the content change with events and student interest. The course attempts to involve students more directly in the matters of government and in that manner demonstrate the meaning of active citizenship. This engagement can mean policy debate, role playing, visits by public officials, and actual self-advocacy.

In the fall, 2001, the country was still trying to process the events of September 11. For my students there was shock, similar to long-term residents, but there were also issues of civil liberties - fears related to the rampant anti-Muslim prejudice and local examples of government harassment. Separate from the 9/11 crisis, there was the ongoing and ever-present struggle with money - wages and taxes. As a teacher, I tried to incorporate these student concerns, and others, into the semester's curriculum.

In this course, my immediate goal is to prepare students for the U.S. citizenship test, but within that goal I hope to use different topics to deepen practical understanding of our governmental and non-governmental institutions and how those bodies relate to everyday life. Also, in readings and discussions I try to provoke a self-examination that pushes students to grapple with issues of identity and assimilation as they integrate into their new country. It is in the intense discussions about values, past and present, in their native cultures and here, that some of the best language learning takes place. Students are deeply invested in their interpretations of reality and eager to understand how others are adapting to the U.S.

The Constitution
The semester was launched two weeks after the 9/11 attacks. Initially, there was guessing as to who was behind the attacks, and then later the discussion focused on the sources of the attackers' anger. While all the students were horrified by the events, they held the universal belief that Americans don't understand what the U.S. does in other countries and that Americans are self-centered and too interested in spending money. There was widespread resentment about how little Americans know or care about the conditions in the students' native countries, and there was also the concern expressed about stereotyping, particularly of Muslims.

As the class discussed the attacks, we launched into a discussion of the First Amendment to the Constitution and the right of free speech as it related to desecrating the national flag. Flags were sprouting up everywhere…on houses, cars, and people. And at the same time the issue of flag desecration was before the courts, and there was a proposed amendment to the Constitution about flag desecration.

In talking about the flag, students discussed its importance as a symbol of the country, what constitutes free expression, and the need to maintain national pride. As if it were Congress following the requisite number of state endorsements, the class voted whether or not to support a constitutional amendment that would make desecration of the flag illegal. The class split in its voting, but the youngest student, a 19 year old Vietnamese man, abstained. The class and I insisted he take a stand, and he then voted in favor of the amendment. The vote was in no way enforceable, of course, but pretending to amend the Constitution was a fun way to practice democracy, debating an issue and then voting it up or down.

As the government continued to deal with the 9/11 attacks, the whole subject of tracking down terrorists and using surveillance to prevent terrorism entered public debate. I used this as an opportunity to explore the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. As a discussion introduction, the class read:

"The Fourth Amendment is supposed to protect your privacy. Without a warrant, no government agent is allowed to search your home or office and you can refuse to let agents into your house. Know, however, that it is easy for the government to monitor your telephone calls, conversations in your office, home, car, or meeting place, as well as mail. E-mail is particularly insecure. The government has already begun stepping up its monitoring of emails." (from "Know Your Rights: What To Do If You're Stopped By The FBI, The INS, Or The Customs Service," a pamphlet published by the American Civil Liberties Union, www.aclu.org).

The students broke into groups of three with instructions to discuss their own opinions of the government searching their houses or listening to their phone calls:
• Under what conditions would you support the government spying on its   citizens?
• What are the dangers of giving the government these kinds of powers?
• Did your government spy on its own people? Did it use its powers wisely or   did it abuse them?

After small group discussion, students reported their groups' results as well as their individual opinions. I questioned students' own experiences, trying to emphasize how easy it is for power to be abused. In the class discussion students broke from some of the idealism - the "goodness" of government - and discussed their own personal experience with governmental abuse. The majority of students (from Bosnia, Vietnam, and Congo) had powerful examples of how their governments had taken advantage of their power. The broader class discussion led to a deeper understanding of the dangers of government spying, as two students in particular were skeptical of governmental power and were persuasive in describing their experiences.

This lesson was followed up with a further discussion of the rights of immigrants due to the illegal search of a local Saudi student's house. This led to a conversation about stereotyping in which I described the internment of Japanese citizens and non-citizens during WWII, and assigned a follow-up reading. This latter example was aided by the presence of a Japanese, now American, student who was quite familiar with the history. It also helped that different individuals were aware of FBI abuses during the civil rights movement. Whether it was their own reading of history or Hollywood movies, they were able to give a thumbnail sketch of those interventions, to which I added more historic context and detail.

The visit by an investigator for the state Human Rights Commission capped this topic. As a Japanese-American she was able to add more detail to the WWII experience by describing the detention of both her parents. However, her primary reason for coming to class was to describe people's rights under the law regarding discrimination and harassment. Given the ongoing problems facing Muslims and people of color, students found her information valuable and took her name and number as a potential resource in the future.

In discussing government and the Constitution as an abstraction, we tend to be idealistic. On the whole, the students feel indebted to this country for providing the opportunity to escape war and chaos and the chance to embark on a new life. In the course of discussion students had to break with an idealized view of government and grapple with the historic reality that governments in many countries had overstepped legitimate bounds and persecuted their people. Through this recognition, students can be watchful of their rights and responsibilities in this society.

References to the constitution, the method of creating amendments, and elements of U.S. history were all helpful for those preparing for the citizenship test.

Local Politics - The Community Good
In the fifth week of the course, the focus moved from the national to the local level. In a general discussion about "civics," we talked about the idea that communities have to make collective decisions on how to meet the general good of the society and in that process individuals sometimes had to make sacrifices that didn't satisfy their own immediate narrow interests. This was part of a discussion that expanded on a reading about the roots of constitutional government and the idea of democracy. (We the People, Center for Civic Education, Calabasas, CA, 2001)

To make the discussion real, students were asked to consider that nearly every March, Vermont voters consider whether to pay more taxes to support the schools. An example of the effects of a property tax increase on a $100,000 house was used in a hypothetical vote, and in that vote, the class narrowly defeated the tax increase. Here was a concrete example of having to define the public good and matching that with individual sacrifice - namely, paying higher taxes.
As the post-vote discussion developed, the pro-tax/pro-school students promoted the value of education for individual children, which related to education's impact on the quality of the labor force, what higher skill jobs meant for the strength of the economy and, finally, the importance of a strong economy on the nation's Social Security system. In the end the original tax supporters were able to win over those who had previously voted the increase down on the basis of a broader view of "self-interest."

Again, the opportunity to debate an issue, discussing its pros and cons proved a valuable tool in helping people understand "citizenship." Students learned that public policy is complex, and voting requires thoughtful consideration that balances individual needs with larger community needs.

Immigrant and Labor History
In the following unit, I used a number of readings chronicling the interplay of economics and the history of immigration. In addition to a variety of articles, we used chapters of American Roots: Readings on U.S. Cultural History (Blanchard and Root, Longman 2001) to compare the nature of the North and South's economies at the time of the Civil War, examine the Gilded Age of the late 1800's and the role of immigrant labor in that period, and read about the Lawrence Textile Strike of 1912 (the "Bread and Roses" strike).

Here the class discussed what constitutes "bread" in their lives and what constitutes "roses." Again, this was a dynamic discussion where students fed off of each other in trying to figure out, similar to the earlier "rights" discussion, what was truly necessary in a job and what would be nice. Besides the obvious desire to have enough money for food, housing, car, etc., students also felt that love and respect were necessities. They also developed a list of add-ons that comprised ROSES as they concurred with the song, "Hearts starve as well as bodies; give us bread, but give us roses!"

Thus, by the time we reached the issue of taxes, there had already been numerous conversations related to money and the economy. In their direct experience, a few of the students had been laid-off, all of them knew somebody who had been laid off, and there was a pervasive insecurity regarding the economy. In some cases students had come from economic stability and predictability (at least before the wars), and all of them had had rosy expectations about their job futures in the U.S. Until this year, all that they had experienced was economic expansion, so the on-coming recession and job cuts were a surprise.

Taxes and Who Pays Them
In introducing the income tax, we talked about wealth and poverty, what level of income constituted each, and where we fit into that scheme. We talked about average vs. median income and made guesses as to what those numbers would look like nationally. We also figured out what percentage of income most of us were paying in taxes.

Student interest in this general area had been identified during the first two weeks of classes when they identified the things they liked and didn't like about life in the U.S. and the kinds of things they wanted to know more about. Further, this interest in taxes was linked to concerns about the larger economy, immigrants' place in the economy, and their general sense of injustice.
Students repeatedly expressed their concerns over the quality of their lives in the U.S. While many had consumer goods they couldn't have imagined having in their native countries, there was a widespread feeling that they were working harder than ever, making more money than ever, but that they weren't enjoying these gains.

Part of their dissatisfaction was related to being uprooted, their loss of family, community, jobs, and perhaps former social status. But part of it was also due to the high cost of living compared to their wages. Foremost among their concerns were the high rents and the very expensive health care system. In looking at their hours of work and the cost of living, all of them resented having to pay so much in taxes.

Following these preliminary discussions, I presented an overview on taxes and income: how much different income groups paid in taxes; what corporations paid in taxes; what the tax trends had been over the previous half century; and how wages had been changing compared to the cost of living over the past decades.

The next day I provided a pie chart with major areas of federal expenditures: Social Security, Defense, Welfare, Education, Foreign Aid, etc. After drawing a circle on the board I drew wedges proportionate to the percentage of each heading's budget. Students then had two exercises: 1. To guess which budget item went with which wedge, and 2. To create their own wedges reflecting their budget priorities. When I provided the actual federal budget figures, they were absolutely shocked to see how little went to housing and education, and though they weren't surprised, they were disappointed to see how little went to foreign aid and how much to defense.

We then went through a variety of graphs supplied by the U.S. Census, our congressman's office, and other sources. Through these graphs and tables, we compared our initial ideas of "rich" and "poor" with the actual statistics and got a sense of what percentage of Americans are making what incomes. This was also matched by the tax burdens of each group and how that burden had changed historically. These tables all confirmed that working people were shouldering more and more of the nation's taxes while the wealthy and the corporations had seen steady declines in their shares of taxes they paid.

Finally, we analyzed a graph that showed how the value of the minimum wage had dropped over the preceding thirty years, contrasting with its inflation-adjusted value, and its relationship to a livable wage. Students' difficulties in making ends meet proved historically justified. Again, to draw the link to citizenship and voting, this exercise pointed out that the minimum wage was set by both federal and state governments. Labor and tax policies, as well as budget priorities, are set by elected representatives and therefore can be affected by voters.

Conclusion
In addition to other learning, by the end of the course students had:
• experienced the Constitution as a living document through their debate and vote   to amend it as members of Congress would,
• developed personal opinions on what constitutes government intrusion and how   the Constitution is used to measure ultimate legality,
• interviewed the representative of a non-governmental organization (Human   Rights Commission) and saw how individuals can be protected from prejudice   and harassment,
• gained an understanding of issues addressed by federal, state, and local   government through their discussion and vote on a local school tax,
• participated in creating a mock federal budget by analyzing actual federal   budget priorities and counterposing their own,
• studied the evolution of tax and minimum wage history and compared that to   their own current economic situations, and
• looked and applied lessons from U.S. history, integrating some of the   economic, cultural, and psychological themes to their own life situations.

Students learned that the matter of citizenship is not passive. Vital decisions are made affecting every aspect of our lives and, in our democracy, adults have to educate themselves on the issues and vote. Further, they learned that in U.S. history it has often taken the power of individuals acting as part of large movements to change social and economic policy. Citizenship requires an active participation in many different forms.

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New England Literacy Resource Center
World Education
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