Handout C: Civic Values and You
- You are in the cafeteria at school one day and notice that a new student in your class is not eating lunch. You ask him why he is not eating. He explains that his religion requires him to fast during this time of year. You were raised with a different religion. You respond by:
- telling him that real Americans believe that you should always eat three square meals a day.
- giving him your famous “you must be crazy” look.
- explaining to him that you were raised in a different religion and therefore do not understand his custom. But you’d like to learn more about it.
- Your older brother, who has a car, volunteers on a Neighborhood Watch once a week. The neighbor who usually goes with him on the weekly drive is sick. Your brother asks you to help him by coming with him and writing out the report sheet as he drives. You respond by:
- coming along and helping as he asks.
- telling him you’ll do it, but then feeling “sick” at the last minute and backing out.
- telling him he should just wait until his usual partner is well again, after all, it’s his responsibility.
- After a great evening at your school’s football game, a friend offer to give you a ride home. You are surprised because your friend does not have a driver’s license. He tells you that his parents are out of town and he took the car without telling them. You respond by:
- telling him you can’t go with him.
- giving him a high-five and jumping happily in the car.
- telling him you can’t go with him. You explain that what he’s doing is dangerous as well as illegal, and that if he goes ahead with it you’ll have to tell a responsible adult for his own and others’ safety.
- You are walking through your neighborhood and notice trash on the ground. This isn’t the first time you’ve seen litter on your streets. You respond by:
- continuing on your way. You’re not going to pick up someone else’s trash.
- picking up the trash and throwing it away.
- picking up the trash and throwing it away. When you get home, you ask your parents about coming to the next Home owner’s Association meeting so you can suggest organizing clean-ups, and rewards for people who keep their property clean.
- Your best friend calls and invites you over to watch a movie. You decline because you are studying for a test you have to make up. Your friend has already taken the test and says you can get the questions from her. You respond by:
- saying you have lots of other stuff to do, and apologize for not coming over.
- telling her you want to learn the material on your own; getting the questions ahead of time is cheating.
- taking her up on her offer.
- You walk to school, and every day you notice that traffic is getting worse and worse on one corner. You respond by:
- learning the names of county officials so you can write to them and suggest a new traffic signal, or at least a crossing guard.
- telling your parents you need them to drive you to school.
- complaining about your dangerous walk to all your friends.
- The environment is important to you, and there is a candidate for mayor whom you believe has the best ideas about the issue. You decide to put a sign supporting this candidate in your bedroom window, which faces the street. One day your father tells you that the neighbors are complaining that your sign doesn’t look nice, and they want you to take it down. Your father is okay with you leaving the sign up. You respond by:
- taking the sign down. You don’t want to cause problems with the neighbors.
- throwing rotten eggs on your neighbors’ cars.
- leaving the sign up, and the next time you see your neighbors, explaining why you support the candidate.
- You have a research assignment due in one week that requires five sources. You have only been able to find two. You respond by:
- turning in the paper with just the two sources.
- staying after school and using the library database software to find more sources.
- asking for more time to complete the assignment.
- You notice that the student who sits next to you in algebra really seems to be struggling. You, on the other hand, find algebra to be a breeze. You respond by:
- asking him he would like you to tutor him.
- making fun of him for being dumb.
- saying nothing; you are too busy to help.
- Soccer tryouts are in three weeks. You have been cut the last two years and are wondering if you should try out again. You respond by:
- deciding to try out again. You will go running each day and practice your skills after school to get in shape.
- deciding not to try out—you love soccer but you’re just not any good at it.
- deciding you are going to try out and see what happens this time.
- At lunch, some of your friends tell you that they plan to go to the mall after school and try to steal some new CDs. They want you to join them. You respond by:
- going with them and taking part in the theft.
- refusing to join them and telling them stealing is wrong. When you get home, you tell your parents about your friends’ plan so they can try to intervene and prevent the crime from taking place.
- telling them you just got a text message from your mom and you will have to go straight home after school.
- You are sitting in the cafeteria with your friends. An overweight teacher walks by and your friends begin to laugh and make fun of him. You respond by:
- joining in and coming up with a few insults of your own.
- sitting in silence and hoping nobody asks you why you’re not laughing.
- defending the teacher and telling the group that a person’s weight has nothing to do with the type of person he or she is.
- You are a public school student, and you have a new principal this year. The principal is concerned about violence in schools, though your school has had no incidents of violence in years. The principal makes a new rule that every morning, teachers will search all students’ belongings and do pat down searches on all students to check for weapons or drugs. You respond by:
- protesting the search policy, as you believe it violates your rights. You and some fellow students ask for a meeting with the principal to explain your views.
- going along silently with the search policy, even though you feel it invades students’ privacy. Better safe than sorry, after all.
- telling everyone you agree with the search policy even though you don’t, because you don’t want your teacher to think you are hiding something.
- Carlos and Alan have been giving each other a hard time recently. One day, things get out of hand. Alan, your enemy, insults Carlos, your friend. Carlos throws a punch and a fight breaks out. Since you saw the whole thing, you are taken to the principal’s office to share what happened. You respond by:
- pointing the finger at your enemy, Alan.
- explaining that they were both responsible for what happened.
- telling the principal that it all happened so fast, you don’t know what happened.
- You have noticed that a student in your public school class refuses to salute the flag in the mornings. You have family members who fought and died for the United States and you feel offended that he will not take part in the Pledge of Allegiance. You ask him why he does not salute the flag, and he tells you that as a Jehovah’s Witness, to do so would be against his religion. You respond by:
- complaining to your parents and telling them they should call the principal and demand the student be expelled.
- telling the student what the flag means to you, but that you understand he must follow his religious beliefs.
- throwing a punch at him.
- Your parents are going to a local government meeting to express their views on the development of a shopping center in the last wooded area of the community. They ask if you would like to come along. You respond by:
- going along, because you want to be a part of the exchange of views on the development too.
- going along because you think they want you to go, but you spend the evening with your earbuds in.
- turning them down, you’d rather watch TV tonight.