«Our citizens – naturalized or native-born – must also seek to refresh and improve their knowledge of how our government operates under the Constitution and how they can participate. Only in this way can they take full responsibility for citizenship and make our government more honest by, by and for the people. The teacher emphasizes that legal obedience in itself is not necessarily a sign of a «good citizen.» Many wrongdoings have been committed by people who have truly obeyed the law and declared that they were only «doing their duty». On the other hand, history shows that from time to time, even good people have to consider breaking a certain law for a morally good reason. The teacher points out to the class that people have a number of reasons for obeying the law. Some relate to self-interest, others concern others, and others concern themselves with the well-being of society as a whole (see note below). To help students understand the delicate balance between legal duties and moral responsibility, the teacher asks them to write their own short stories in which people (for good reason) consider breaking the law. For example, breaking the speed limit in an emergency or defying a law because it is wrong or unfair. Citizenship is the state in which it is endowed with the rights, privileges and duties of a citizen, but it can also be defined as the character of an individual considered a member of society. While U.S. citizenship offers many rights, it also comes with many responsibilities. « The first condition for a good citizen in our republic is that he is able and willing to pull his weight. » Rule of law: In democratic societies, governments and rulers are subject to the law of the land.
Power changes democratically according to the rules of the country`s constitution, not as a result of violence or war. People have a general duty to obey the law because it is democratically decided. Moral responsibility: The personal obligations that people feel because of their beliefs about what is right and what is wrong. «He should steal the money because his daughter`s life is more important than the law against theft»; The teacher asks students to choose an opinion they agree with and add their own reason in writing: «It should not steal because it is wrong to break the law. «He shouldn`t steal the money because he could get caught»; or To illustrate these concepts, the teacher could draw a series of three concentric rings on the board in which «Self,» «Other,» and «Company» are written in each ring, beginning with the inner ring. The various reasons should be written in the appropriate section. «It`s usually wrong to break the law because… The teacher introduces the story «Schmitt`s Dilemma» and asks students to think in pairs about whether Schmitt should break the law and steal the money or not. The teacher writes different opinions on the board as to whether Schmitt should steal the money.
Other civic responsibilities, while not mandatory, are essential to democracy. U.S. citizens are encouraged to exercise certain responsibilities and privileges, including: Certain civic responsibilities considered essential to the country`s democratic philosophy are required by law. U.S. citizens must fulfill certain mandatory obligations, including: Some students read their examples during the plenary discussion. The teacher then emphasizes the distinction between moral responsibility (which people assume themselves within the framework of their own values and beliefs) and legal duties imposed by governments. Tensions between these two types of responsibility can lead citizens to criticize laws with which they disagree and work to change them. Sometimes you may even decide to break certain laws for morally positive reasons.
History offers many examples of situations where people broke laws to protest against them or rebelled against tyrannical governments. The teacher should illustrate this with some local examples. The teacher should stress that such measures should not be taken lightly, as they risk undermining the rule of law on which stable democracies depend. The moral dilemma proposed in this lesson is reminiscent of the famous «Heinz dilemma» developed by Lawrence Kohlberg, the American psychologist, in the 1950s. This was one of many dilemmas Kohlberg and his colleagues posed to young people aged about 10 to 25 every three years. It was found that, on average, young people switched from self-centered thinking at a young age to more person-centered thinking in early adolescence over time. Then, in their mid-teens, most of them showed progress toward society-centered thinking, although the context and nature of the dilemma can affect the type of reasoning people use at any given time. It has been shown that young children view rules and laws as rigid and are not based on social goals, but solely on the authority of the legislator.