Edustange

• Advances talents and strives for excellence,
• Shares with others,
• Becomes involved and shows responsibility,
• Values and respects people of all ages,
• Respects the environment,
• Exercises personal rights,
• Thinks of the disadvantaged,
• Is goal oriented,
• Honours the sacrifice of others,
• Demonstrates a concern for others, and
• Attends to community welfare.

The list above was generated for a Canadian Citizenship poster distributed to schools. For years I kept it posted in my classroom. I came across a copy in our school library. For years graduating students would ask me for a letter of recommendation. I would consult the list above and try to describe them in terms of their citizenship qualities. By and large I have been privileged to teach a civil group of people. There were few I could not find a majority of the exemplars for. Each year there were two or three who could demonstrate all of these qualities to one degree or another. Public education is all about citizenship. The struggles we have in the classroom are all about learning to be civil.