When Sherri Darden, the Publisher of the SCOOP USA Media Newspapers, first asked me almost four years ago if I would be interested in writing a Civics Column for the SCOOP, my first thought was that she had lost her mind. Why me I thought? My ability to recall a lot of history is not nearly as sharp as it used to be. Then I questioned myself, what the heck do I know about Civics anyway? Then I came up with more excuses, in my head, as to why I couldn’t do this column. Next, just as a refresher, for myself, I decided to look up what civics means. Actually, it’s a pretty long definition because it means a lot of things. One of the things civics means is the study of the rights and duties of citizenship. Good citizenship is when one properly fulfills their role as a citizen. There are many opinions as to what constitutes a good citizen. Aristotle makes a distinction between the good citizen and the good man, writing, “There cannot be a single absolute excellence of the good citizen.”
Let me delve a little bit deeper into this while good citizen thing. Being a good citizen includes things such as: truthfulness, justice, equality, respect for oneself and others, being responsible in daily life and participation in government by educating oneself about the issues, respectfully holding public officials to their word, and voting. Part of being a good citizen means abiding by the community code and learning how to engage in debate respectfully. A good citizen gets involved and participates.
In my mind, we should all strive to be good citizens wherever we find ourselves. In any capacity, you are able to be a good citizen, a kind neighbor, someone who cares about your city, your state, and your nation.
Ultimately, I decided to take on the new challenge that Sherri Darden put in front of me four years ago, and I said yes, I’ll write the civics column for the SCOOP. From then until now, I’ve been having a ball relearning some things I had forgotten from civics classes I took as a child and as a young teen. There have been other civics columns I’ve written where I was absolutely learning on the job–so to speak. Writing the civics column has been an amazing opportunity, and I hope to be able to continue to do this for years to come.
Most school districts do not offer a civics class as a mandatory class. At best, some students get a cameo crash course in civics wrapped up in a bundle with other lessons. But a free-standing civics course that is offered for an entire semester is almost unheard of anymore.
Then we wonder why so many young people have no respect for the American flag. We wonder why so many kids don’t know American history and certainly don’t know Black history, which is a part of American history. We wonder why grown folk walk around not knowing who their state senator is, who their state representative is, or who their city council person is. To me, that’s just ridiculous. These are things people should know.
We have a long way to go in terms of sharing civics information. It’s endless. I also enjoy using real-life current news events such as elections, politicians getting caught in wrongdoing, showing how laws are thought up and some become reality, observing our three branches of government, sharing all things presidential that we can possibly cover, and more. Civics is what’s up.
Over the summer, I challenge every parent or grand- parent, foster parent aunt or uncle, and godparent too– if you have young children in your lives from ages 5-18, make them learn some civics this summer. Make them do a civics project. It can be something as simple as sweeping up on the block where you live or checking on an elderly neighbor. It could be an essay assignment for children 11-18 where they have to write about the up- coming November General Election and what seats are up for grabs. There’s an endless list of civics assignments you can give to your children over the summer. I get it that it’s summer vacation and all that, but we still need to engage our children in thought processes, writing, math, etc.
And learning a little civics never hurt anybody.
As I close out my column today, let me look back to the May 16th Primary Election. I never shared information on who the winners were for the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas and Philadelphia Municipal Court. Voters got to select 10 nominees for Common Pleas Court. The top ten vote-getters were: Natasha Taylor- Smith, Tamika Washington, Samantha Williams, Kay …
Thank you for reading Thera Matin’s article on scoopnewsusa.com. For more on “Civics 101”, please subscribe to SCOOP USA Media. Print subscriptions are $75 and online subscriptions (Print, Digital, and VIZION) are $90. (52 weeks / 1 year).
