The fifth and final video we have sponsored in support of the American Bar Association’s Mediation Week considers how the skills of citizenship are learned in each generation. The video, “Talking About My Generation,” features an interview with two sophomores at the University of Missouri, one majoring in Philosophy and Economics and considering a future legal career, and one majoring in Strategic Communication. Both have been actively engaged in promoting civil discourse since high school, where as seniors they helped to run a student led forum known as the “Speak Your Mind” forum. We invite you to show this video to others in your own community and invite further discussion. Here are some questions you might ask the group to consider: What are the skills citizens need now, and will need in the future to preserve our democracy? What are we doing to help our youth learn citizenship skills? What in the video reassured you or raised concerns about youth in the electorate? How do we as very different generations, with different experiences, needs, and ways of accessing information, work to support each other and learn from each other? We invite you to share your comments and experiences by using the comment feature on this blog.
Interested in helping the next generation learn? Look at the educational resources in the ABA’s “Words Work” Curriculum, or those at FactCheckEd, iCivics, or American Values Are. These can be used by schools, families and community groups. Also, the generational research referenced in the video can be found at IOmeChallenge.
All videos were recorded using VTC Stream. Find out more about this technology at vtcstream.com. You can use the “embed and share” link to the right of the video to post this to your website or other location.
