What’s patriotic, educational, and might win students big money for both themselves and their teachers?
The “Being an American” essay contest is open, for the first time, to every high school student in the nation. My seniors participated in the first two trial years and three of them won cash awards, including one first place prize. Sponsored by the non-profit organization The Bill of Rights Institute, the contest is designed to heighten awareness among students and teachers of the relevance of our country’s founding documents.
Last year the pilot contest solicited entries from 17 states plus the District of Columbia. This year all 50 states are eligible. Contest awards for each of the nine regions will be $5000 (1st place), $2500 (2nd place), $1250 (3rd place), and $250 (for each of seven honorable mentions.) The first three prize-winners and their teachers and guardians will be feted at an all-expense-weekend in Washington D.C. Yet money and exciting weekend festivities are a small part of what makes this contest special. It is also a way to train students to write concretely and concisely.
Students are asked to answer the question “What civic value do you believe is most essential to being an American?” in no more than 750 words, citing a Founding document and a figure from American history as supports. Additionally, students must discuss how they can personally put the value into practice. (www.beinganamerican.org has details on contest requirements.)
As a judge of the contest the first year, I know that many students were unable to incorporate all these tasks in the space allotted. “Winging it” is not an option. Students must do some original thinking. (Civic values such as “honesty”, “patriotism”, and “independence” are so ubiquitous that most students’ arguments become cliché-ridden.)
They must also do research in exploring what constitutes a “founding document” and who qualifies as an “historical figure.”
Lastly, they must include an engaging personal account of how they can embody this value in their own lives.
The challenge here, as with the choice of civic value, is to avoid the generic and cliché-ridden choices of espousing “truth, justice, and the American Way.” (My apologies to Superman.) Andy Rys, the student in my class who won first place last year, accomplished that feat with little help from me or my teaching partner, Eliot Waxman. We spent class time giving students the assignment, but Andy did not follow my recommendation to begin the essay with a personal anecdote.
Embodying the American value of “doing it his way,” Andy wrote an impassioned plea for the return of compromise as a civic value in foreign policy. It was a point of view I feared the Bill of Rights Institute would find too controversial. “But it was so well-written—and we welcome controversy!” was the response of one of the contest coordinators at the awards weekend when I asked about Andy’s maverick essay. Andy, by displaying independent thinking, supporting evidence, and fine writing, honored the Constitution and our founding fathers in his own way. And that is an activity we should encourage in all our high schools.
What Kids Are Reading
This weekly column will look at lists of books kids are reading in various categories, including grade level, book genre, data from libraries, and data from booksellers. Information for the list below is from the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI). They recommend ten works of political thought for college students wishing to increase their civic literacy. Their recommendations are especially appropriate on Constitution Day.
Recommended Reading for Civic Literacy
1. Speech on Conciliation with America by Edmund Burke 2. The Federalist/ The Anti-Federalist by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay/ George Clinton, Robert Yates, Samuel Bryan, et al. 3. Political Writings of John Adams by John Adams 4. Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville 5. The Lincoln-Douglas Debates: The First Complete, Unexpurgated Text by Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas 6. The Civil War: A Narrative (3 vols.) by Shelby Foote 7. Frederick Douglass: Autobiographies by Frederick Douglass 8. Roots of American Order by Russell Kirk 9. Witness by Whittaker Chambers 10. Unsettling of America by Wendell Berry
