C. Civic Engagement, Service, and Action · Civic Engagement, Service, and ActionActions for the Common Good: Local, National and Global
C1.2 A2.3 A1.4About 65 minutes
Learning goals- I can explain how different kinds of actions contribute to the common good.
- I can compare personally responsible, participatory and justice-oriented actions.
- I can tell the difference between meeting an immediate need and addressing a root cause.
- I can use the concept of objectives and results to judge whether an action worked.
Words to know
direct service
Action that meets an immediate need, such as serving a meal or donating a coat.
root cause
The deeper reason a problem exists.
objectives and results
A concept of political thinking: comparing what an action set out to do with what actually happened, including effects nobody intended.
unintended consequence
A result of an action that nobody planned, which can be good or bad.
collective action
People working together toward a shared goal.
sustainable
Able to keep going over time without running out of people, money or resources.
Same problem, different actions
Imagine a school learns that some students come to class hungry. Three students react:
- Maya brings extra granola bars for a friend.
- Jordan gets the student council to start a breakfast program run by volunteers.
- Sam researches why some families struggle to afford food, then presents findings and possible solutions to the school board.
Who contributed to the common good? All three. But their actions are different in scope, and they help in different ways. In this lesson you will learn to describe and compare actions like these, and to check whether they actually work.
Three kinds of citizen action
Researchers who study citizenship education (Joel Westheimer, a professor at the University of Ottawa, and Joseph Kahne) describe three kinds of "good citizen":
- Personally responsible: acts responsibly in the community: obeys laws, recycles, donates, helps a neighbour.
- Participatory: takes an active part in community life: joins and organizes groups, runs a food drive, attends public meetings.
- Justice-oriented: looks at the root causes of problems and works to change systems: asks why the problem exists and what rules, programs or attitudes keep it going.
People can be all three at different times. A healthy community needs each kind.
Meeting needs and addressing causes
Direct service meets an immediate need: a meal tonight, a coat this winter. It is essential, because people cannot wait for long-term solutions.
Addressing root causes asks why the need exists and tries to reduce it over time. On hunger, people point to different root causes, such as the cost of housing and food, wages, illness or disability, and distance from grocery stores. They also disagree about the best solutions: some favour government programs, some favour charities or businesses, some favour a mix. In civics you do not have to pick a side to analyse an action: you can describe what each approach is trying to do and what evidence says about its results.
Local, national and global
Actions work at different levels:
- Local: a park clean-up, a library reading buddy program, a community fridge.
- National: a Canada-wide charity campaign, a petition to Parliament, a national day of service.
- Global: international disaster relief, campaigns on clean water or education in other countries, international agreements.
The slogan "think globally, act locally" means that local actions can connect to a global issue. A school that cuts its plastic waste is acting locally on a global problem.
Did it work? Objectives and results
Objectives and results is a concept of political thinking. You compare what an action set out to do (its objective) with what actually happened (its results). Results include unintended consequences, which can be positive or negative.
Examples of unintended consequences:
- A food drive collects lots of cans, but the food bank needed fresh food and baby formula. Many food banks say money donations let them buy exactly what they need.
- A one-day clean-up makes a park look great, but there are still no garbage bins, so litter returns within weeks.
- A positive surprise: a student-run garden meant to grow vegetables also brings lonely seniors and newcomers together.
To be sustainable, an action needs enough people, money and planning to keep going.
Worked exampleLet's evaluate an action using objectives and results
A Grade 10 class runs a winter coat drive. Objective: collect 200 warm coats for families in their town. Results: they collect 260 coats, but 70 are summer jackets or in poor condition; the shelter has no space to store extras; next year, nobody organizes it. Evaluate the action.
- State the objective: 200 warm coats for local families.
- Compare the results: 260 − 70 = 190 usable coats, just short of the goal of 200, but still a large contribution.
- Look for unintended consequences: storage problems at the shelter (negative); sorting took volunteer time (negative); many students learned about the need (positive).
- Check sustainability: it did not continue the next year, so its lasting impact is limited.
- Suggest improvements: ask the shelter first what sizes are needed, give clear donation rules, and hand the drive to next year's class with a checklist.
The coat drive mostly met its objective (190 usable coats out of a goal of 200) and helped many families, but planning gaps created extra work, and it was not sustainable. Better communication with the shelter and a hand-off plan would improve it.
Civics thinking about current events
When you see a news story about people taking action (a fundraising campaign, a volunteer effort after a flood, a new government program), ask the same questions: What is the objective? What are the results so far? Who benefits? Any unintended consequences? Is it local, national or global? Is it meeting a need, addressing a cause, or both?
Just for funA food bank volunteer opened the donation bin and found 47 cans of beans and one can opener. "Well," she said, "at least one person read the most-needed list."
Hands-on activityThree actions, one issue
You need: paper, a pencil, and a short conversation with a grown-up.
- Pick one issue in your community: litter, loneliness among seniors, a dangerous intersection, kids without sports equipment, or your own idea.
- Write one personally responsible, one participatory and one justice-oriented action for it.
- For each action, write its objective and one possible unintended consequence.
- Ask your grown-up which action they think would make the biggest difference and why. Write down their reason and yours.
What to look for: three actions that clearly fit the three types (giving or behaving responsibly; organizing others; looking at causes or rules), and realistic objectives and consequences.
Your turn
1Name the three kinds of citizen action from this lesson.
Personally responsible, participatory and justice-oriented.
2Classify: a student organizes a monthly shoreline clean-up with 20 volunteers.
Participatory: the student organizes others.
3Classify: a student researches why a busy road has so many crashes and presents ideas to city council.
Justice-oriented: it looks at the cause and asks for a change in the system (the road design or rules).
4What is the difference between direct service and addressing a root cause?
Direct service meets an immediate need (a meal); addressing a root cause tries to reduce the reason the need exists (why people cannot afford food).
5What does the concept objectives and results ask you to compare?
What an action set out to do (objective) with what actually happened (results), including unintended consequences.
6Give one example of a positive unintended consequence.
Sample: a community garden planned for growing food also builds friendships between neighbours.
7Explain "think globally, act locally" with an example.
Local actions can help with global issues; for example, a school reducing plastic waste helps with the worldwide problem of plastic pollution.
More practice: warm-up
1True or false: only justice-oriented actions help the common good.
False. All three kinds help.
2Is donating a coat direct service or addressing a root cause?
3What is an unintended consequence?
A result nobody planned; it can be good or bad.
4Give one local action that helps the environment.
Sample: a park clean-up, planting trees, a school composting program.
5What does sustainable mean for a volunteer program?
It can keep going over time because it has enough people, money and planning.
More practice: on your own
1Why might a food bank prefer a cash donation to a bag of random cans?
Cash lets the food bank buy exactly what it needs (fresh food, baby formula) and often at lower prices, and it saves sorting time.
2A town plants 500 trees, but 200 die in the first summer because nobody waters them. Evaluate using objectives and results.
Objective: 500 healthy new trees. Result: 500 − 200 = 300 survived, 60% of the goal. Unintended consequence: wasted money and effort. Improvement: a watering plan or volunteer adopt-a-tree program.
3Explain why direct service is still important even if it does not solve root causes.
People need help now: a hungry child cannot wait years for a long-term solution. Direct service prevents harm while longer-term work continues.
4Describe how one issue (for example, clean water) could be acted on at local, national and global levels.
Local: protecting a nearby river, testing well water. National: funding and rules for water systems across Canada, including in First Nations communities. Global: international projects and agreements on clean water.
5Why do people disagree about the best way to address a root cause like hunger?
They have different values and beliefs about the roles of government, charities, businesses and individuals, and they may read the evidence differently.
Challenge
1Some critics say charity can make people feel good without changing anything long-term; others say advocacy can take years and help no one today. Write a balanced response that uses both kinds of action.
Sample: Both criticisms have some truth. Direct service meets urgent needs and builds connection; justice-oriented work can reduce needs over time. A strong response combines them: run a breakfast program now and also gather evidence on why students are hungry and share it with decision makers.
2Choose a current event involving collective action (for example, a fundraising campaign after a natural disaster). Analyse it using objectives and results and level (local, national or global).
Answers vary. Look for: a clearly stated objective, specific results with evidence, at least one unintended consequence, the correct level(s), and a judgement about whether it worked.
3A group sets an objective to "end loneliness in our town." Explain why this objective is hard to evaluate and rewrite it to be measurable.
It is too broad: there is no way to measure "ending" loneliness or a time frame. Rewritten: "By June, match 30 isolated seniors with student visitors who visit at least twice a month, and survey participants on whether they feel more connected."
Quiz
1. A student who organizes a school-wide food drive is mainly showing which kind of citizen action?
2. Which action addresses a root cause rather than an immediate need?
3. The concept objectives and results asks you to:
4. A clean-up removes litter, but litter returns because there are no garbage bins. This shows:
5. Which is a global action?
6. Which statement about the three kinds of citizen action is correct?
Big idea: Expectation C1.2 asks students to explain how various actions contribute to the common good locally, nationally and globally. This lesson gives them vocabulary (personally responsible, participatory, justice-oriented; direct service versus root causes) and the political-thinking concept objectives and results to judge whether actions work.
How to help: Talk about an action your family has taken (donating, volunteering, signing something, attending a meeting) and ask your teen to classify it and suggest one improvement. When discussing root causes, model respect for different views: people genuinely disagree about solutions, and the course asks students to analyse, not to adopt a particular political position.
Common difficulties: Teens may rank the three types as "good, better, best." Remind them that each is needed. Watch the math in objectives-and-results questions (usable items, percentages).