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Qualities of a Good Citizen: Characteristics and Examples

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Introduction, responsibility: a pillar of good citizenship, respect: fostering harmony and unity, active participation: the engine of change, examples of good citizenship.

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Essay on Good Citizen

Students are often asked to write an essay on Good Citizen in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Good Citizen

Defining a good citizen.

A good citizen is someone who respects others and their property. They are involved in their community and work to make it a better place.

Characteristics of a Good Citizen

Good citizens are responsible and respectful. They obey laws, pay taxes, and help their neighbors. They also participate in community activities.

The Importance of Being a Good Citizen

Being a good citizen is important for a healthy society. It encourages respect, kindness, and cooperation. It also helps to create a positive environment for everyone.

250 Words Essay on Good Citizen

The essence of a good citizen.

Being a good citizen, an often understated role, is a crucial aspect of any functioning society. It transcends the mere act of abiding by the law and delves into the realm of moral and social responsibilities.

Understanding the Role

A good citizen understands the intricate balance of rights and duties. They are aware of their fundamental rights but do not overlook their duties. They contribute to the community, respect diversity, and promote social harmony. They are the pillars of democracy, ensuring the government’s accountability by actively participating in the electoral process.

Embracing Social Responsibility

A good citizen is a socially responsible individual. They contribute to society by volunteering, helping others, and working towards the betterment of the community. They are environmentally conscious and strive to protect and preserve natural resources. They understand that the actions of today will shape the world of tomorrow.

Upholding Moral Responsibility

In addition to social responsibilities, a good citizen upholds moral responsibilities. They are honest, trustworthy, and respect the rights and beliefs of others. They stand against injustice, not just for themselves, but for others as well. They foster a sense of unity and mutual respect in the society.

In conclusion, a good citizen is an amalgamation of many qualities – law-abiding, socially and morally responsible, and an active participant in the democratic process. They are the backbone of a flourishing society and play a pivotal role in shaping a prosperous nation.

500 Words Essay on Good Citizen

Introduction: the concept of a good citizen.

A good citizen is a cornerstone of any thriving society, embodying the values, norms, and principles that bind a community together. The concept of a good citizen has evolved over time, reflecting the changing social, cultural, and political contexts. However, core elements such as participation, respect for laws, and social responsibility remain constant.

Active Participation in Society

One of the hallmarks of a good citizen is active participation in societal affairs. This includes voting, volunteering, engaging in civic discourse, and staying informed about local and global issues. Active participation ensures that citizens have a say in decisions affecting their lives, fostering a sense of ownership and commitment to societal wellbeing. It also promotes democratic values, as citizens who participate actively are more likely to uphold the principles of democracy such as fairness, equality, and justice.

Adherence to Laws and Respect for Authority

Adherence to laws and respect for authority are also integral to being a good citizen. Laws are designed to maintain order, protect citizens, and uphold societal values. A good citizen understands the importance of these laws and respects them, not out of fear of punishment, but out of respect for the collective good. This respect extends to authority figures who enforce these laws, recognizing their role in maintaining societal order.

Social Responsibility and Empathy

A good citizen is socially responsible, understanding that their actions have implications for others. This responsibility manifests in various ways, from environmental stewardship to advocating for social justice. Good citizens also demonstrate empathy, recognizing and respecting the diverse experiences, perspectives, and needs of others in their community. This empathy fuels a commitment to inclusivity, ensuring that all members of society feel valued and heard.

Continuous Learning and Self-Improvement

Finally, a good citizen is committed to continuous learning and self-improvement. They recognize that to contribute effectively to society, they must continually expand their knowledge, skills, and understanding. This commitment extends to understanding different cultures, histories, and political systems, fostering a more inclusive and tolerant society.

Conclusion: The Role of Good Citizens in Society

In conclusion, a good citizen is an active participant in society, respects laws and authority, is socially responsible, empathetic, and committed to continuous learning. These qualities contribute to a more cohesive, inclusive, and progressive society. Being a good citizen is not a passive role but requires ongoing effort and commitment. It is a role that each of us, as members of our respective societies, should strive to fulfill. By doing so, we can contribute to the betterment of our communities and, ultimately, the world.

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What Does it Mean to Be a Good Citizen?

In this section.

"We don't agree on everything—but we do agree on enough that we can work together to start to heal our civic culture and our country." CPL's James Piltch asked people all over the US what it means to be a good citizen .

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Essay on Responsibilities of a Good Citizen for Students [500+ Words]

December 10, 2020 by Sandeep

Essay on Responsibilities of a Good Citizen: Responsibility of a good citizen is to sacrifice everything for the motherland. Respecting the culture & heritage of their own country is one of the duties of a citizen. He or She must always keep in mind to raise the future of his country. Unity & prosperity must be the priorities of a good citizen.

Essay on Good Citizen 500 Words in English

Below we have provided the responsibilities of a good citizen essay, written in easy and simple words for class 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 school students.

We are born and raised in a single country, sometimes different countries., regardless of location, we incorporate the values of our respective cultures in the way we act and treat other people. Being a citizen of a country, however, is much more than some words and a stamp on endless paperwork. Along with it, one bears an ideology that connects them to other citizens of that country, regardless of their race, religion, or gender. Being a citizen gives a person all the rights to which the constitution says they are entitled.

This is why the process of citizenship of any country is a long and complicated one since it means that the person will legally have a voice in matters of the country. It also means that they will have to abide by the laws of that country, out of respect for the nation as a whole, as well as to uphold law and order. To be a responsible citizen, the person must educate themselves about their country and culture. This begins by conversing with people and understanding their way of life. It also involves an awareness of the country’s history and heritage.

This would mean reading about important figures in the country’s history, crucial events that led the country to where it currently stands, and other aspects such as the history of art and literature. It is also crucial that people who want to be responsible citizens know the diversity of different socioeconomic groups in the country. They must learn about the situation in the country in regard to equality in terms of race, religion, gender, and several other factors. One must learn about how minority groups are treated in the country, and if they are discriminated against, then the person must be an advocate to protect their rights.

A responsible citizen must always stay updated with the news. This does not mean simply reading the headlines on the front page of a newspaper- it means reading the articles thoroughly to understand the state of the nation. In an age where fake news is rampant, one must also not limit themselves to a single news source. They should try understanding an issue by learning about it from different news channels and articles by different newspapers. They will always provide different perspectives on the same issue, and this knowledge will allow the person to gain a better understanding of what their stance ought to be.

One must also learn about their own purchases- in an age of globalization, the products we use can be made in one country with materials from another. As a responsible citizen, one must not completely boycott products from other countries but should try to use local goods and services as much as possible. By doing so, the person is helping the economy of the country as well as financing local households. Volunteering and contributing to community development efforts is an important step in helping the country progress. One does not have to have widespread connections with major NGOs to volunteer- simply helping a disabled neighbour with their groceries also counts.

One can volunteer in local homeless shelters, orphanages, animal shelters, retirement homes, as well as other educational institutions like struggling schools and nurseries. If one does not have the time in their schedule to volunteer physically, they can instead choose to donate to charity. However, one must always donate wisely, because some charities are dishonest and lack transparency in terms of what actually happens with the funds from the donation. Therefore, always research the charity before donating to it.

However, supporting the community isn’t limited merely to volunteering with organizations or donating- it also involves supporting art, music, and cultural activities. One should support local artists by promoting their work and also stay on the lookout for shows, exhibitions, and other cultural events. By attending and promoting them, the person will not only develop a healthy sense of what truly constitutes entertainment but also allow the culture of the country to flourish in all areas truly. Being a good citizen involves being cooperative, friendly, considerate, and dedicated to fostering a positive environment in the community.

What Is a “Good Citizen”? a Systematic Literature Review

Open Access
First Online: 01 September 2021

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Cristóbal Villalobos 23 ,
María Jesús Morel 23 &
Ernesto Treviño 24

Part of the book series: IEA Research for Education ((IEAR,volume 12))

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4 Citations

The concept of “good citizenship” has long been part of discussions in various academic fields. Good citizenship involves multiple components, including values, norms, ethical ideals, behaviors, and expectations of participation. This chapter seeks to discuss the idea of good citizenship by surveying the academic literature on the subject. To map the scientific discussion on the notion of good citizenship, a systematic review of 120 academic articles published between 1950 and 2019 is carried out. The review of the literature shows that good citizenship is broadly defined, incorporating notions from multiple fields, although these are mainly produced in Western countries with comparatively higher income levels. Additionally, although there is no single definition of good citizenship, the academic literature focuses on three components: the normative, active, and personal dimensions. This systematic review informs the estimation of citizenship profiles of Chap. 3 using the IEA International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS) 2016.

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Citizenship norms
Good citizenship
Systematic review
International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS)

1 Introduction

The concept of “good citizenship” is part of a long-standing discussion in various academic fields, such as political science, education, sociology, anthropology, evolution, and history, among others. In addition, good citizenship involves various components, including values, norms, ethical ideals, behaviors, and expectations of participation. Finally, the idea of good citizenship is related to diverse contemporary issues, such as patterns of political participation, the meaning of democracy and human rights, the notion of civic culture, equal rights, and the role of technology in the digital era (Bolzendahl and Coffé 2009 ; Dalton 2008 ; Hung 2012 ; Noula 2019 ).

In this regard, the notion of good citizenship can be considered as a concept with three basic characteristics: multidisciplinary, multidimensional, and polysemic. Therefore, the definition of good citizenship is a topic of constant debate and academic discussion. This chapter seeks to discuss the idea of good citizenship, with the aim of contributing to the understanding of this phenomenon and its social, political, and educational implications. In this way, this chapter aims to map the academic discussion and literature regarding the notion of good citizenship, presenting the key debates about the limits and possibilities of this concept in the framework of the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS) 2016.

In order to organize this complex debate, we start from the premise that any notion of good citizenship is composed of the interaction of two definitions. On the one hand, it involves a certain notion of membership, that is, of belonging to a community. As Stokke ( 2017 ) shows, the definition of who is (and who is not) a citizen is, in itself, a subject of debate, since the definition of citizenship implies political, social, cultural, and legal components. On the other hand, the definition of good citizenship always implies a conceptual position regarding how citizens are expected to act and what they are expected to believe (the “public good” component). In this sense, the debate focuses on the types of behaviors that should be promoted and their ethical-political basis, which is highly dynamic depending on the cultural and historical context (Park and Shin 2006 ). Finally, in order to answer the question about the meaning of good citizenship, it is necessary to first decide who qualifies as a citizen, and how they are expected to behave.

Considering these objectives, the chapter is structured into five sections, including this introduction. The second section describes the systematic review methodology used to select the literature and analyze the discussion regarding the concept of good citizenship. The third and fourth sections describe the results of the analysis, mapping the main trends and characteristics of the academic discussion on good citizenship and exploring its different meanings. Finally, the fifth section presents the conclusions, focusing on the conceptual challenges and methodological limitations to be considered in future research.

2 Methodology

2.1 the systematic review.

We conducted a systematic review to map the academic discussion on good citizenship. This review seeks to identify, evaluate, and analyze the publications in relevant fields of study, in order to determine what has already been written on this topic, what works and what does not, and where new studies are needed (Petticrew and Roberts 2006 ). Through the definition of eligibility criteria, the systematic review is an explicit and reproducible methodology that allows for both an evaluation of the validity of the results of the selected studies (Higgins and Green 2011 ) and the objective valuation of evidence by summarizing and systematically describing the characteristics and results of scientific research (Egger 1997 ). In this regard, the systematic review, unlike other forms of literature review, allows for recognizing “gray” spaces in the literature, describing trends in academic research, and analyzing conceptual and methodological aspects of studies.

2.2 Procedure

The systematic review was conducted using five academic databases, including the main journals in the fields of education, social science, and the humanities. These databases are: (i) Journal Storage, JSTOR ( https://www.jstor.org ); (ii) Educational Resource Information Center, ERIC ( https://eric.ed.gov ); (iii) Springerlink ( https://link.springer.com ); (iv) WorldWideScience ( https://worldwidescience.org ); and (v) Taylor & Francis Group ( https://www.tandfonline.com ). For each search engine, the keywords used were: “good citizen” and “good citizenship.” Additionally, each search engine was tested with other related concepts, such as “citizenship norms,” “citizenship identities,” or “citizen norms.” The results showed that articles containing these latter concepts represented no more than 10% of new articles. For this reason, we decided to concentrate on the two keywords described above.

Considering the importance of these key concepts, the search was limited to those articles that contain these terms in the title, abstract, and/or full text. Of the five search engines, only two had the full-text option in the advanced search and only one allowed searching by keywords, then all results were filtered manually. The search was conducted from May to July 2019, obtaining 693 academic articles.

The search was restricted to those academic articles written in English and published between 1950 and 2019, as a way to study contemporary conceptualizations of good citizenship. We discarded letters to the editor, responses to articles, and book reviews. As a result, we obtained 693 articles to which, based on a full-text review, we applied an additional criterion, excluding those articles about other subjects or from other disciplines. Included in the first search exclusively for having the word “citizenship” in the abstract, there is a wide range of articles including studies on biology, entomology, and film studies. Similarly, with this search strategy we retrieved articles on a related topic but not specifically about citizenship (e.g., leadership, public participation, social values, and immigration), articles on the concept of corporate or organizational citizenship, and articles on social studies in the school curriculum and its contribution to the education of citizens.

After applying the abovementioned selection criteria, we analyzed the abstracts of the articles to verify that they were related to the general objective of the study. As a result, all articles were selected that sought (directly or indirectly) to answer the question, “what is a good citizen?” Specifically, this involved incorporating studies that: (i) study or analyze citizen norms in conceptual, historical, political, educational, or social terms; (ii) generate models or analytic frameworks that define variables or dimensions that should make up the concept of a good citizen; (iii) explore factors on how good citizenship occurs, studying the educational, institutional, and cultural factors that would explain this phenomenon; (iv) relate the expectations (or definitions) of a good citizen with other dimensions or aspects of the political or social behavior of the subjects. The research team, which was comprised of two reviewers, held a weekly discussion (six sessions in total) during which the selection criteria were discussed and refined. This analysis resulted in the selection of a total of 120 articles (see list in Appendix A ).

2.3 Analytical Strategy

The data collected in a systematic review may allow for a wide variety of studies, but the analysis depends on the purpose and nature of the data. Given that the review included quantitative and qualitative studies, as well as both theoretical and demonstrative essays, such heterogeneous literature does not allow for statistical analysis. As a result, the recommended methodology is to carry out a narrative synthesis and an analysis that focuses on relationships between different characteristics and the identification of gaps (Grant and Booth 2009 ; Petticrew and Roberts 2006 ).

The narrative synthesis is a process that allows for extracting and grouping the characteristics and results of each article included in the review (Popay et al. 2006 ), and can be divided into three steps: (i) categorization of articles; (ii) analysis of the findings within each category; and (iii) synthesis of the findings in the selected studies (Petticrew and Roberts 2006 ). The first step towards the narrative synthesis consisted of reading, coding, and tabulating the selected documents in order to describe their main characteristics. A set of categories was designed to classify documents according to four dimensions: general characteristics, purpose, methodology, and results.

To analyze these categories, we transformed data into a common numeric rubric and organized it for thematic analysis, using the techniques proposed by Popay et al. ( 2006 ). The first category was used to summarize the quantity and characteristics of the published studies, while the thematic analysis focused on systematically identifying the main, recurrent, and/or most important concepts of good citizenship.

3 The Concept of Good Citizenship in Academia

Despite being a topic of interest for several decades, academic production on good citizenship tends to be concentrated in the second decade of the 21st century. Since 2009, there has been an explosive increase in the number of scientific papers published on this topic (Fig. 1 ). Although an important part of this growth may be due to the global pressures of academic capitalism to publish in academic journals (Slaughter and Rhoades 2009 ), it could also be the case that academic communities have cultivated a growing interest in studying this issue.

Academic papers by year of publication

Although few in number, the earliest articles published represent a landmark for the discussion. Thus, for example, the text of Almond and Verba ( 1963 ), which analyzes through interviews the perceptions of individuals in communities in five countries (United States, United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, and Mexico) and highlights their different participation profiles, has been repeatedly cited in the discussion with 263 references (as of August 2019), according to Google Scholar. Another classic text is Ichilov and Nave ( 1981 ), which aims at understanding the different dimensions of citizenship by surveying young Israelis. To this end, it generates the following five criteria, which have been widely used in academic discussions: (i) citizenship orientation (affective, cognitive, or evaluative); (ii) nature of citizenship (passive or active); (iii) object of citizenship (political or non-political); (iv) source of demand (mandatory or voluntary); and (v) type of guidance (support principles or behavior).

The selected articles are geographically concentrated in two aspects: by institutional affiliation and by the location of their studies. Considering the institutional affiliation of the authors, 32.77% of the articles were produced in the United States, a figure that rises to more than 60% when the countries of Western Europe and Australia are included. This bias is maintained, although to a lesser extent, when analyzing the countries where the studies were carried out. Moreover, more than 50% of the studies were carried out in the United States, England, and the democracies of Western Europe. Africa (4.24%) and Latin America (2.54%) were the regions least represented in the studies. These characteristics, which tend to be representative of global academic production in the social sciences (Connell 2007 ), may encourage certain notions of good citizenship that are anchored in Anglo-Saxon traditions, such as the liberal conception of citizenship studied by Peled ( 1992 ), or more recently, the conception of active citizenship (Ke and Starkey 2014 ), both of which have had an important influence on academic discussion about good citizenship.

Finally, the third characteristic of academic production is related to the multiple research fields and diverse purposes of the studies that deal with the concept of good citizenship. Research on good citizenship is published in multiple disciplines. Of the articles included in the review, 82.29% are concentrated in three disciplines: education, political science, and sociology. However, there are also articles associated with journals of history, philosophy, anthropology, and law. Additionally, we identified six main objectives from the articles reviewed (Table 1 ). The most common objectives are related to bottom-up research, which seeks to gather information on how diverse populations understand good citizenship, and top-down research, which seeks to conceptualize and/or define the idea of good citizens based on conceptual, historical, or political analysis. In addition, there are a wide variety of studies that seek to explain good citizenship, as well as studies that use the idea of a good citizen to explain other behaviors, skills, or knowledge. In other words, in addition to being multidisciplinary, research on good citizenship has multiple purposes.

In sum, although the academic discussion on good citizenship has been mainly developed during the last two decades in the most industrialized Western countries, the academic research is a field of ongoing and open debate.

4 Understanding the Meaning of “Good Citizenship”

As an academic field with a lively ongoing discussion, the notion of good citizenship is associated with different sets of ideas or concepts. Some keywords were repeated at least three times in the articles reviewed (Table 2 ). Only those articles that used a keyword format were included. The most frequent concepts are related to education, norms, social studies, political participation, and democracy.

This indicates that, first, studies tend to associate good citizenship with civic norms and citizen learning, highlighting the formative nature of the concept. Second, studies that associate good citizenship with other dimensions of citizenship (such as knowledge or civic attitudes) or contemporary global problems (such as migration) are comparatively scarcer.

Another way to approach the concept of good citizenship is by analyzing the definitions proposed by the authors in the articles studied. Most of the articles propose characteristics or aspects of good citizenship (in 43.8% of the cases) that, instead of creating new definitions, are often based on existing political, non-political, liberal, or philosophical concepts. In this regard, many papers define good citizenship based on specific behaviors. In contrast, other authors (18.6%) refer to citizenship rules when it comes to voting or participating in politics, thereby seeking to relate the concept of the good citizen with a specific civic attitude—participation in elections. Finally, a large group of studies define good citizenship in terms of the values, virtues, or qualities of a good citizen (22.6%). Within the group of studies that propose new definitions, it is possible to identify two main categories: studies that propose types of citizenship, such as Dalton ( 2008 ), distinguishing between “duty” and “engaged” citizenship, and works, such as Westheimer and Kahne ( 2004 ), which differentiate between “personal responsible citizenship,” “justice-oriented citizenship,” and “participatory citizenship.”

Finally, the meaning of good citizenship can be analyzed by studying the variables used in the studies. Among the quantitative studies included in the review, only 28.3% use international surveys such as ICCS, the Center for Democracy and Civil Society (CDACS), the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP), the United Citizenship, Involvement, Democracy (CID) Survey, and the European Social Survey (ESS). Each of these surveys contained a slightly different definition of good citizenship and the variables used to measure the concept (Table 3 ).

In general, the indicators used to measure citizenship in the different surveys share certain similarities. Variables associated with rules (such as obeying the law or paying taxes) are present in all surveys. Additionally, variables related to participation also have an important presence, especially (although not only) related to voting in national elections. To a lesser extent, surveys include variables related to solidarity (supporting people who are worse off than yourself) as well as attitudes related to critical thinking and civic culture (knowing the history of the country, thinking critically).

5 Discussion and Conclusions

The concept of good citizenship can be considered an umbrella term, which includes ethical, political, sociological, and educational aspects and discussions about who qualifies as a citizen and how they should act. The systematic review has shown that good citizenship is broadly defined, although these notions are mainly valued in Western countries with comparatively higher income levels.

For this reason, the definition of good citizenship used is, in large part, highly dependent on the research objective of the academic endeavor. In our case, the analysis is based on ICCS 2016, which defines good citizenship in relation to notions such as conventional citizenship, social movement citizenship, and personal responsibility citizenship (Köhler et al. 2018 ). The variables included in ICCS 2016 are related to the three main dimensions of good citizenship: normative, active, and personal. These three components of good citizenship have been essential in the academic discussion in the last seven decades, constituting the central corpus of the concept, although this definition does not incorporate current discussions on good citizenship, which focus, for example, on the notion of global citizenship (Altikulaç 2016 ) or the idea of digital citizenship (Bennett et al. 2009 ). These latter concepts are part of the ongoing debate on good citizenship, although it seems that more work is needed to better understand how these notions of citizenship are related to the ways in which individuals or groups in society relate to power and exercise it to shape the public sphere.

This systematic review has mapped the academic discussion to date on good citizenship. However, despite its usefulness, this review has a number of limitations. Firstly, it summarizes and analyzes the academic discussion, ignoring the gap between the scientific debate on good citizenship and the social discussion related to this subject. Secondly, it focuses on English-language literature, which may result in a bias towards publications produced in Western countries. In spite of these limitations, the review allows us to study the process of defining the concept of good citizenship, and to identify the main debates related to this notion, which is the central focus of this book.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank their research sponsors, the Center for Educational Justice ANID PIA CIE160007, as well as the Chilean National Agency of Research and Development through the grants ANID/FONDECYT N° 1180667, and ANID/FONDECYT N° 11190198.

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Centre for Political Research, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

Ellen Claes

University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa

Kerry J. Kennedy

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Villalobos, C., Morel, M.J., Treviño, E. (2021). What Is a “Good Citizen”? a Systematic Literature Review. In: Treviño, E., Carrasco, D., Claes, E., Kennedy, K.J. (eds) Good Citizenship for the Next Generation . IEA Research for Education, vol 12. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-75746-5_2

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US government and civics

Course: us government and civics > unit 4.

What is citizenship?
Civil society
Civic life, private life, politics, and government

What does it mean to be a good citizen: level 1

What does it mean to be a good citizen: level 2

(Choice A) Comparison A A Comparison A
(Choice B) Comparison B B Comparison B
(Choice C) Comparison C C Comparison C
(Choice D) Comparison D D Comparison D

Good Citizenship and Global Citizenship Essay

Introduction, good citizen needed to make a global citizen, global citizenship needed to make a good citizen, works cited.

The 21st Century has witnessed integration and increased cultural interaction among people on a previously unprecedented scale. This frequent interaction between people from varied countries and cultures has risen mostly as a result of the advances that have been made in transport and communication technologies.

As a result of this interaction, there has been the major integration of economies and cultures in a process known as globalization. As a result of globalization, governments are increasingly being required to link together different levels of their activities: national and global. This has resulted in the building of a global citizenry which sees the world as their “country”.

However, the global citizen continues to be heavily influenced by the traditional notion of citizen, a term that is “wrapped up in rights and obligations and in owing allegiance to a sovereign state” (Lagos 1). This paper shall argue that it is hugely necessary for one to be a good citizen so as to become a global citizen. To reinforce this claim, this paper shall analyze the extent to which it is necessary to be a “good citizen” in order to be a “global citizen”, and vice versa.

The world is full of social injustices mostly perpetrated by the stronger members of the society against the weaker ones. A defining characteristic of a good national citizen in such an environment is his/her concern about the injustices that occur within their boundaries.

This concern normally manifests itself in protests and public demonstrations calling for action by the government in place to counter the perceived injustices. A report by the World Bank demonstrates that the global citizen shows the same concern for the welfare of the globe and is moved to free their fellow men from dehumanizing conditions (1). As such, it takes a good citizen to make the global citizen who will be keen to decry social injustices against other human beings.

Core to the agendas of the good citizen is the preservation of peace in his country. A good citizen will strive to preserve peace especially within the boundaries of his/her country. This is mostly because the citizen recognizes the destruction and loss that war culminates in. For this reason, the good citizen seeks to mobilize against all wars through peaceful demonstrations and advocacy against wars.

The United Nations declares that peace is a precondition of global citizenship. The global citizen views war and strife as being contrary to his/her agenda. A good citizen who is committed to preserving peace is therefore needed to make a global citizen.

One of the attribute that a good citizen in any democratic society should possess is an understanding of public policies in his/her country. An understanding of this policies will result in enlightenment on one’s country position on issues such as energy, free trade, agriculture and the environment to name but a few.

It is only by understanding the public policies adopted by one’s country that a person can act so as to shape certain conditions such as protection of natural habitat. A global citizen is also concerned with the protection of the environment and establishment of free trade. It would therefore take a good citizen who is well versed with public policies to make a global citizen.

A good citizen is concerned about the impact that his individual actions and daily personal choices have on the country. This is an ideal that is also desirable in the global citizen since as a global citizen should make his/her decisions bases on an awareness of the impact that the decisions will have on the planet. A good citizen who is aware and conscious of the impact that his actions have on a larger scale is therefore needed to make a global citizen.

The international community is characterized by a rich diversity of cultures among its people. The global citizen is therefore prepared to operate amicably in this intercultural environment. The global citizen realizes that there should be unity in diversity and nobody has the right to impose their ideology on anybody or any group of persons.

An ideal citizen should also demonstrate this values and pay respect to people from different cultures and strives to live harmoniously with them. The good citizen should recognize that differences may exist within members of the country and this should not be a cause of strive. By acting as a global citizen who operates in a multicultural sphere, a person can be a good citizen and exist harmoniously with other citizens of varied backgrounds.

Lagos documents that while globalization is acclaimed for having opened up the world and led to the emergence of a “global village”, the same force has paradoxically resulted in localization and local communities have taken greater and greater importance (9). In such an environment, it is the global citizen who holds the separate entities together and seeks to iron out the differences that the various local communities seek to advance.

For a citizen to pass for a good citizen in such an environment (the environment where local communities have taken great importance), he must have the global perspective of the global citizen. It is only by taking the global perspective that a citizen can give fair consideration to ideas with which they disagree.

Global citizenship is increasingly working towards making the planet sustainable for all people. The efforts directed to this end are mostly in the form of advocacy for conservation of the environment, reduction of pollution and the reliance on renewable sources of power. A good citizen is supposed to work towards the preservation of the country’s resources for future resources. As such, the good citizen has to be a global citizen who is concerned with making the planet sustainable.

As a global citizen, one is expected to be non judgmental and overlook the religious differences that divide humanity. The UN states that the global citizen should have values such as “rights to freedom of thought, conscience and religion”. A good citizen should also have these values enshrined in them. A good citizen should avoid engaging in religious discrimination since this threatens unity among the citizens of the nation.

This paper has demonstrated that being a global citizen is intrinsically connected to being a good citizen. As such, being a global citizenship implies a responsibility to be a good citizen. However, there are instances where being a global citizen may cause one to be a “bad citizen”.

For example, a global citizen is not expected to advocate for war or side with any party during war. Good citizenship calls for one to back their country when it is involved in a war. Acting as a global citizen in such instances can therefore prevent one from being an ideal citizen.

Lagos indicates that a citizen obtains a certain amount of protection from his/her country in return for abiding to some restrictions that the government may impose on him/her (3). A good citizen is therefore required to abide by some laws and allow some bureaucratic control from his/her nation.

A global citizen on the other hand does not have any kind of protection and has some amount of degree from bureaucratic control. Lagos states that the hallmark of global citizen is the lack of allegiance to any body of laws to control the individual. In this light, being a global citizen goes contrary to what being a good citizen entails.

This paper set out to argue that to a large extent, it is necessary to be a “good citizen” in order to be a “global citizen” and vice versa. The paper performed a detailed analysis of how a person may be obligated to be a good citizen so as to qualify as a global citizen and vise versa.

This paper has shown that global citizens borrow most of their rights and obligations from the traditional “citizen” who is defined by a civic engagement to a nation existing in a particular geography. In particular, the paper demonstrates that values such as tolerance, civic education are innate in both the good citizen and the global citizen. However, the paper has also shown that global citizen differs significantly from the citizen and in some instances, being a global citizen may cause one not to fulfill his role as a good citizen.

Lagos, Taso. Global Citizenship- Towards a Definition . 2002. Web.

The World Bank. “Global Citizenship- Ethical Challenges Ahead”. Conference on Leadership and Core Values . 2002. Web.

UN. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. 2010. Web.

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IvyPanda. (2019, February 20). Good Citizenship and Global Citizenship. https://ivypanda.com/essays/good-citizenship-and-global-citizenship/

"Good Citizenship and Global Citizenship." IvyPanda , 20 Feb. 2019, ivypanda.com/essays/good-citizenship-and-global-citizenship/.

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IvyPanda . 2019. "Good Citizenship and Global Citizenship." February 20, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/good-citizenship-and-global-citizenship/.

1. IvyPanda . "Good Citizenship and Global Citizenship." February 20, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/good-citizenship-and-global-citizenship/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Good Citizenship and Global Citizenship." February 20, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/good-citizenship-and-global-citizenship/.

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English Essay on “A Good Citizen” English Essay-Paragraph-Speech for Class 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 CBSE Students and competitive Examination.

A Good Citizen

A good citizen is a person of many qualities. He has certain rights and privileges. Side by side, he has many duties and responsibilities. His foremost duties are towards his country. He must always stand by it and respect the laws of the State. He should respect the cultural heritage of his country and should respect the heroes and prophets who had sacrificed their lives for the cause of the nation. He should be honest not only towards his own country but also in his dealings with other citizens. A good citizen should maintain cordial relations with his neighbors. He should be ready to extend his help to them and other citizens in times of need. He should be vigilant against his enemies. He must respect all faiths. These and many more qualities should make him a good citizen.

A good citizen needs to imbibe many qualities. That he has some duties and responsibilities to bear is true, but at the same time, he enjoys some rights and privileges as a citizen of a free state. While he has every right to participate in the judicial, legal, political, religious and social affairs of the nation, he also has some responsibilities i.e., not to injure the sentiments of others and to protect the weak against the strong. To stand by the state, under all conditions, is his first and foremost duty.

A good citizen must be ready to sacrifice everything for the sake of his motherland. He is also required to be a patriot and nationalist. He should have firm and deep faith in the welfare of his motherland. He has to obey law and order. But he also has to keep in his heart the betterment of the country, the good of society, and the interest of the nation.

A good citizen must respect the cultural heritage of his country, i.e., he will have to respect the heroes, the prophet, the sages, and saints of his country. He must respect the race which has given birth to him. He must always keep in mind the future of his country. He must attempt to raise the standard of living of his country by working honestly.

In an event of aggression or foreign attack, he must be ready to shed his blood for the sake of his motherland. Thus, defence of the country is the supreme duty of a good citizen. Unity of the nations should be his topmost priority. He should work for the unity of the country. Goodwill for other races, protection for the weak, help to the victims, sympathetic and kind consideration to his fellow citizens are things that are needed in a good citizen.

A good citizen should have a spirit of cooperation, friendliness, humanity, dedication, devotion to his fellow citizens. He must respect other faiths. He must not do anything which brings disgrace to his society or to his country. The greatest good of the greatest number should be his principle. All these good and great qualities, if possessed, make one a good citizen.

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Good Citizen Paragraph & Composition

Table of Contents

Duties of a Citizen Essay 300 Words

By: Haque , Words: 300, For class 9-10/SSC

Write an essay/composition about the duties of a citizen. Use the following hints: “meaning of citizen”, “rules and laws”, “lacking in a civic sense”, “your expectation”.

Citizen primary means one who lives in a city. But the term is usually used to mean belonging to a state in a broad sense.

There are certain rules of conduct for the members of every society so that there is peace and harmony among them. Some of these rules are written laws, and anyone who breaks them is punished by the court. But there are many unwritten rules which are no less binding on every member of society. The peace and happiness of the society depend a good deal upon the proper observance of these rules too. A good citizen follows these unwritten rules of conduct in the way he obeys written laws.

It is a pity that many in our country are indifferent to these unwritten rules of humane and social behavior. We often throw banana peels on the road, which can cause serious injuries to anyone who slips. We spit and throw garbage whenever we want. This makes the roads and the environment dirty. We waste filtered water by leaving the taps open. We have also a bitter experience of the use made of loudspeakers without any thought of the sufferings of people nearby.

All these common experiences show that we are lacking in a civic sense. A good citizen not only avoids breaking the rules himself but also tries to make sure that the rules are not broken by others. We wish to see our society peaceful. But we do not fulfill our responsibility to build a peaceful society. Society cannot do much unless we allow it. So, it is our duty to try to correct people whenever we see them doing something wrong. We will encourage everyone to be polite, courteous and to follow social and state norms.

Qualities of a Good Citizen Essay

Words: 330 | for Class 9-10/SSC

A good citizen is someone who actively participates in the community and works to make it a better place. They are responsible, respectful, and engaged members of society who take an active role in the civic life of their community.

One of the most important qualities of a good citizen is responsibility. This means taking ownership of one’s actions and being accountable for their impact on the community. A responsible citizen pays their taxes, follows the laws, and participates in the democratic process by voting in elections. They also take care of the environment and actively work to improve it.

Respect is another crucial quality of a good citizen. This means treating others with kindness and courtesy, and valuing their opinions and perspectives. A respectful citizen listens to and considers the views of others, and actively works to promote understanding and unity in the community.

Engagement is also an important quality of a good citizen. This means actively participating in the community and working to make it a better place. Engaged citizens volunteer in their community, participate in local government, and work to address issues that affect their community. They also stay informed about local and national issues and use their voices to advocate for positive change.

To be a good citizen, one must also possess a sense of civic duty. This means recognizing the importance of contributing to the well-being of the community and working to make it a better place. A good citizen actively participates in the civic life of their community and takes an active role in making it a better place for all.

In conclusion, a good citizen is someone who is responsible, respectful, engaged, and possesses a sense of civic duty. These qualities are essential for promoting the well-being of the community and working towards a better future for all. By actively participating in the community, being responsible and respectful to others, and staying informed and engaged, anyone can strive to be a good citizen.

A Paragraph about a Good Citizen

In 200 words, for class 8 to 12

A good citizen is a person who abides by the rules of his society and country, and fulfills his responsibilities as a citizen. A good citizen is first and foremost a good person. He wants peace for all and never harms others. He doesn’t quarrel with others, but always tries to resolve the conflicts of others. A good citizen wishes good for his country and loves it. If he is eligible to pay taxes, he pays it regularly, and works as hard as he can for the development of the country. He himself doesn’t waste state resources and doesn’t allow others to do so. A good citizen never thinks of earning in a dishonest way. He makes his living honestly . He tries his best to remove bribery and corruption from the society. To build a better society, he tries to help law enforcement agencies prevent drug addiction. After all, a good citizen is a patriot, he never does anything that degrades the dignity of his country. Thus a good citizen is the main asset of a country. Good citizens are very important in building a developed and peaceful society. Therefore, we should all strive to be good citizens.

A Paragraph on a Good Citizen

In 150 words, for class 5 to 10

Write a paragraph about your idea of A Good Citizen. Think of a particular citizen you have known. Describe some of rights and duties to the state.

A citizen is a member of state in which he lives and enjoys some rights. I have known a citizen who is my neighbor . His name is Mr. N. Islam. He lives in the country. He is loyal to the country. He never does anything as against the interest of the country. He obeys the law of the country. He exercises his vote in election honestly. Above all, he is patriotic. He loves his country and his countrymen from the core of his heart. His love is not narrow-minded and selfish. He pays his taxes regularly. He also does some other duties. During the natural calamities, he stands by the people. He has set up a night school to teach the illiterate people. He lives in peace and good understanding with others in the society. He is physically healthy. In fact, he is an asset of our country.

A Good Citizen Paragraph

In 130 words, for class 5 to 8

The prerequisite for building a peaceful country is to create good citizens. The identity of a good citizen is that he is a good man. He is honest and kind. He abides by the rules of religion and the laws of the state. He is an educator because he knows that through education people become aware of their responsibilities and rights. A good citizen wants peace and order in the society. That is why when he sees injustice or irregularity somewhere, he tries to resist and protest. He did his best to promote education, health and justice in his area and protect the environment . As a good citizen, he is always vigilant against corruption and waste of government resources. Indeed, a good citizen is the most valuable asset of a society and country.

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The Many Ways to Be a Good Citizen

From the revolutionary era to today, "doing your part” has meant different things for different americans.

An unidentified woman from Cuba, one of the 196 people from 24 countries, reacts during naturalization ceremonies in Miami, July 1, 2009. Photo by J. Pat Carter/Associated Press.

Christine Woyshner

In clubs and associations, american “joiners” shaped a nation.

Stephen Kantrowitz

African americans asserted their citizenship long before the law backed them up.

Gary Scott Smith

Without a church, could a fledgling u.s. have survived how the country’s citizens made it possible.

Backers of Women’s Suffrage Compromised Perfection for the Sake of Progress

Kevin Boyle

From a bridge in selma, alabama, outrage fed action.

William A. Link

A “new and strange thing” for black students, after the civil war.

Beth Bailey

What is citizens’ service, in the era of the volunteer military.

The Kids Are All Right

May 1, 2017

The news these days is filled with images of citizens marching, protesting, and organizing on behalf of one cause or another. Americans, indeed, have organized since the founding of this nation; the visiting Frenchman Alexis d’Toqueville noted their propensity to do so in the 1830s. But in the past, unlike today, Americans relied on associations that spanned the nation to make social, political, and economic change across the nation and in local communities.

The period from the end of the Civil War to the mid-20th century was a particularly robust time of organized civic activism. There wasn’t a town, city, or hamlet that remained untouched by civic organizations. Voluntary associations were founded by people who were black, white, native-born, immigrant, men, and women—from the middle and the lower classes—in a variety of types: fraternals, veteran’s groups, women’s clubs, civic associations, study clubs, ethnic groups, and even secret societies, such as the Masons. In this “nation of joiners,” to borrow a phrase from eminent historian Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., the average person was able to unite with others in local face-to-face meetings as well as state and national conventions.

The work volunteers carried out affected local communities as well as national legislation. Both the National PTA and the Black Panthers, for example, worked to institute school lunches over the course of the 20th century. From America’s founding into the 1960s, clubs, organizations, and associations allowed the average citizen to meet others, make change, and learn important skills such as leadership and organizing.

Times have changed, and now most Americans no longer meet in these broadly-focused face-to-face groups, preferring to gather online, and focusing on single, though important, issues. Perhaps current resistance efforts in the public square can draw on the models of the national voluntary organizations of the past—with local, state, and national offices, modeled on the federal government—to achieve their goals.

Christine Woyshner is a professor of education at Temple University. She researches the history of American education, with a focus on civic voluntary organizations. She has authored or edited six books, including The National PTA, Race, and Civic Engagement, 1897-1970 (The Ohio State University Press, 2009).

During the Civil War African Americans didn’t just demand citizenship. Against rejection, denial, and insult, they redefined it.

When the Civil War began, free black people had good reason to wonder whether the United States of America was even a good idea: It was the land of the Fugitive Slave Law, which left them vulnerable to enslavement; of the Dred Scott decision, which denied them national citizenship; and of state laws and constitutions, North and South, that excluded them or even threatened them with enslavement. Yet when South Carolina fired on Fort Sumter and Lincoln called for volunteers, black men in cities across the free states assembled to volunteer their service.

They were refused, curtly and sometimes violently. The United States was a white man’s republic, and this was to be a white man’s war.

When the Union finally did come calling at the end of 1862, free black communities debated whether to participate. Some seized the opportunity to prove their worthiness and their patriotism, hoping to claim the citizenship they had long sought. Others urged a more defiant stand. Resist enlistment, they said, until the government promised equal pay, equal treatment, and black officers. But even those who chose to serve soon became dissidents as well, for the government soon broke its promise of equal pay. For more than a year, soldiers and their families protested, refusing to accept unequal wages. Many endured hardship. Some faced courts martial. A few were executed by their own army for their resistance.

These soldiers and protesters established African Americans’ claim to two kinds of citizenship—the citizenship of patriotic service, and the citizenship of principled dissent. With the first, they made it impossible to deny that African Americans participated in the destruction of slavery. With the second, they hitched that commitment to the principle of equality before the law. Constitutional amendments would soon write these ideas into the nation’s organic law. But African Americans were there first.

Stephen Kantrowitz teaches history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is the author of More Than Freedom: Fighting for Black Citizenship in a White Republic, 1829-1889 and Ben Tillman and the Reconstruction of White Supremacy .

“In the six thousand years since the creation of the world,” founding father James Wilson declared, nothing like the American republic had ever been created. What made this fledging republic so special? According to Thomas Jefferson, the United States was “new under the sun” because it rejected the outdated ideology, allegiances, and patterns of the Old World. Prominent among these arrangements was the long-standing practice of establishing a church and supporting it with government revenues. By not having a national established church, the United States broke with 1450 years of Western tradition, stretching back to the Roman Emperor Constantine.

One reason Western nations had established churches was to ensure that their citizens obeyed the laws and followed traditional moral norms. The critical question then was: Could a republic that had no official, tax-supported church survive? Jefferson called this arrangement the “fair experiment,” and he and other founders insisted that the United States could flourish only if its citizens lived by high moral standards. As George Washington argued in his Farewell Address, religion and morality were “indispensable supports” of “political prosperity.”

Ordinary Americans, therefore, had a vital role to play in their new nation’s success. Although they fell short in many ways, most notably their treatment of Indians and the practice of slavery, their moral practices and commitment to the common good enabled their country to survive British, French, and Spanish challenges to undermine their autonomy. Through their participation in congregations, voluntary organizations, and government at the local level—and by caring for their neighbors—many Americans in the early national period put the needs of others before their own, and worked to help the poor, vulnerable, and sick. Their virtuous conduct, self-sacrifice, and compassion helped the United States become a great nation and serve as model of democracy and civic responsibility for other countries.

Gary Scott Smith chairs the History Department and coordinates the Humanities Core at Grove City College, where he has taught since 1978. He earned his M.Div. at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and his Ph.D. in History at Johns Hopkins University. In 2001 he was named Pennsylvania Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education. He is the author or editor of eleven books including, most recently, Religion in the Oval Office: The Religious Lives of American Presidents (Oxford University Press, 2015) and Suffer the Children: What We Can Do to Improve the Lives of the World’s Impoverished Children (Cascade Books, 2017). Smith is also an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA).

After the Civil War, the issue of women’s suffrage became completely entangled with the campaign for the 15th Amendment. In effect, radical Republicans sold out women’s rights activists in the name of passing a constitutional amendment guaranteeing black male suffrage. As a result, the women’s rights movement suffered a dramatic split between activists such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony and Sojourner Truth, who refused to support an amendment that did not include suffrage for women; and other activists, such as Lucy Brown, Henry Blackwell, and Frederick Douglass, who were willing to defer the vote for women for the sake of enfranchising black men. Ultimately, both sides in this debate were thwarted: The Republicans did not honor their commitment to women’s suffrage and the 15th Amendment did not protect the franchise for black men.

Teaching this material this semester, I was struck by the story of an 1867 Kansas referendum that would have enfranchised both black men and women, had it passed. Brown, Blackwell, Cady Stanton, and Anthony all campaigned for the Kansas referendum. That took a good deal of courage. They were treated horribly by misogynistic Republicans. In an attempt to taint the suffrage campaign with immorality and illegitimacy, for example, Republican spokesmen charged that Lucy Stone and Henry Ward were practitioners of “free love”; the “grounds” for this false accusation being that Stone had refused to take Blackwell’s name when the couple married. It took even more courage for the suffrage activists to decide how to make the best of an impossible situation—with Brown and Blackwell agreeing to sideline women’s suffrage for the sake of the 15th Amendment, and Cady Stanton and Anthony forming an ill-advised alliance with the likes of southern Democrat and racist, George Train, who viewed white women’s suffrage as a way of outvoting black men.

This episode to me epitomizes the complexity of racial and gender politics, and the way that competition for rights can obstruct the larger goal of equality under the law. It also illustrates the willingness of committed citizens to compromise perfection for the sake of progress, even at the cost of personal friendships and movement solidarity.

Susan E. Gray is Associate Professor of History and Co-Director of the Public History Program at Arizona State University. Recent publications include a co-edited volume, Contingent Maps: Re-thinking the North American West and Western Women’s History (2014), and a 2015 essay in The Public Historian , “Indigenous Space and the Landscape of Settlement: A Historian as Expert Witness.” Gray is now completing Lines of Descent: Family Stories from the North Country , a multi-generational biography of a mixed-race family, for the University of North Carolina Press. She has held major fellowships from the NEH, the Fulbright Foundation, and the Charles Warren Center at Harvard University. From 2003-2012, Gray served as co-editor of Frontiers: A Journal of Women Stories .

It started with ferocious footage on TV: film of Alabama state troopers wading into a long line of marchers on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, knocking people down and pummeling them as they scrambled to their feet, tear gas wafting over a panicked retreat.

People had seen worse during the Freedom Rides in 1961, in Birmingham in 1963, in the Mississippi delta in the blood-soaked summer of 1964. But there was something particularly appalling about this assault on the civil rights movement, in the spring of 1965. Maybe it was just one brutalization too many. Maybe it was the purity of the marchers’ purpose. Why were people being beaten when all they wanted was to secure their right to vote?

Outrage fed action. The next morning, Monday, March 8, there were pickets outside the Justice Department, demanding that the federal government intervene on the protesters’ behalf. In Detroit, supporters announced a sympathy march that would draw 10,000 people. From Atlanta, Martin Luther King called on the nation’s clergy to join him in Selma. By Tuesday, 450 had arrived. That night one of the newcomers, a Unitarian minister from Boston, was beaten to death by white thugs.

News of his murder pushed protests to a fever pitch. Over the next few days 1,500 people rallied in New Haven, 2,500 in Poughkeepsie, 3,500 in Louisville, 15,000 in Harlem, another 15,000 in Washington’s Lafayette Park, and 25,000 on the Boston Common. Down in Selma the clerics kept coming. “There is a time,” a rabbi told a reporter, “when man must choose between man’s law and God’s law.”

Or fuse them together. Lyndon Johnson hadn’t wanted to make voting rights a priority. But the pressure was too intense to resist. On Monday evening, March 15, the president went before a joint session of Congress to introduce legislation guaranteeing African Americans’ access to the ballot.

He did something else too. “It is not just Negroes, but really it’s all of us who must overcome the crippling legacy of bigotry and injustice,” he said, in his speech’s final stretch. “And we shall overcome.” They were just song lyrics. But when LBJ repeated them he made himself one with the movement, just as thousands of ordinary people had done in the eight days since 600 Americans had crested the Edmund Pettus Bridge, to demand that the nation protect its most fundamental right and the democracy upon which it rested.

Kevin Boyle teaches modern American history at Northwestern University. His book, Change Is Gonna Come: America in the 1960s , is to be published by W.W. Norton next year.

Until 1865, the United States had an enslaved population of about four million people, and the world’s wealthiest and most powerful slaveholder class. The Civil War brought this economic and social order—and system of racial control—tumbling down. The 14th and 15th amendments made freed people enfranchised citizens, in theory. But what did citizenship for former enslaved people really mean?

The northern white abolitionists of the American Missionary Association, or AMA, attempted to answer this question—and put promises into practice—by founding universities for black people, and by working to make them beacons of racial egalitarianism. Unlike many black schools, AMA colleges taught a classical curriculum that was intended to foster leadership and citizenship for former slaves. Some of the most prominent future leaders from the black community came from AMA institutions like Atlanta University and Fisk University in Nashville.

Atlanta University, founded in 1869, provided a refuge from the prevalent racism and white supremacy that enveloped the South. To some extent, the AMA educators there were creatures of their time. Although white women played a leading role, white men controlled the school. Black people did not begin teaching at Atlanta University until the 1890s, and white women ran the school until the 1920s. Nonetheless, AMA schoolmen also practiced, for the day, an unusual concept of racial equality. They encouraged students to shed the heritage of slavery, teaching racial equality. Classes were integrated—something strictly prohibited in Southern schools—with the children of white teachers present in classes and the dining room.

The educators’ quiet efforts made an impression on their students—a new generation of American citizens. Edmund Ware, a Yale graduate and abolitionist, served as the black college’s president for much of its early history. Soon after he arrived on campus in the late 1860s, one student took note of the courtesy with which Ware treated him. “It was a new and strange thing to us to see a white man carrying wood and making fires for us, who had been taught, by precept and example, that it was our business to do the like for his kind.” “However you may be mistreated in the city or elsewhere,” Ware was said to have informed students, “I want you to know that the moment you set foot on these grounds you are free men in a free country.”

The AMA’s impact on the struggle for African American citizenship is often underestimated, yet it was lasting. “This was the gift of New England to the freed Negro,” W. E. B. Du Bois, who attended Fisk University and taught at Atlanta University, wrote in The Souls of Black Folk (1903). “Not alms, but a friend; not cash, but character.” The AMA’s educational efforts were the “finest thing in American history, and one of the few things untainted by sordid greed and cheap vainglory.”

William A. Link is Richard J. Milbauer Professor of History at the University of Florida. He is a historian of the South whose work includes The Paradox of Southern Progressivism, 1880-1930 (1992), Roots of Secession: Slavery and Politics in Antebellum Virginia (2003), Atlanta, Cradle of the New South: Race and Remembering in the Civil War’s Aftermath (2013), and Southern Crucible: The Making of an American Region (2015). He is currently writing a study of the life and times of Frank Porter Graham.

At the dawn of the 1950s, as the United States tried to come to terms with its new role of superpower in a Cold War world, American adults worried about the younger generation. Were those who had not borne the weight of the Great Depression, and of war, sufficiently strong and resolute? Were they capable of acting as democratic citizens in a dangerous world?

Their worries inspired a lot of pessimistic debate. The new Department of Defense—with a sense that much was at stake—joined forces with a maker of instructional films, and in 1951 the movie Citizenship and Service joined What to Do on a Date in the darkened high school classrooms of postwar America. Citizenship and Service offered the following definition of citizenship: it is “the earning of rights by fulfilling responsibilities,” with military service the “heaviest” obligation of all. In war after war, young American men had taken on that obligation. Whether voluntarily or through the force of conscription, they had fought, killed, and died as citizen soldiers.

World War II was, in many ways, the fullest expression of that logic of citizenship. Millions of ordinary citizens—including those who served in the “citizen’s” military—endured hardships that ranged from disruption and upheaval to some of the most horrible combat in human history. The conflict—a total war—became the model of citizenship fulfilled, a time widely accepted as THE moment “when all Americans did their part.” But there are problems, of course, with that model of citizens’ service. What of women, who bore no military obligation? Were they lesser citizens? And war: was it the ultimate expression of the nation? In a nation whose wars are now fought by a professional all-volunteer force, does citizenship still entail rights earned through obligations?

Beth Bailey is Foundation Distinguished Professor of History and Director of the Center for Military, War, and Society Studies at the University of Kansas. Her publications include America’s Army: Making the All-Volunteer Force .

American citizens have done their part when they let youth lead the way—even when the public dismisses their demands as “unrealistic.”

On February 3, 1964, approximately 464,000 Black and Latinx (mainly Puerto Rican) students boycotted school and protested racial segregation and poor, overcrowded conditions in their schools. This was not in the Jim Crow South. It was in New York City. Led by Bayard Rustin and Milton Galamison, roughly half of all NYC students that day participated in the boycott. They marched out of roughly 300 of the city’s 860 public schools, and rallied at the Board of Education building in Brooklyn.

They demanded not just racial integration, but also textbooks that reflected African American and immigrant experiences, resources for a meaningful education, greater diversity among teachers, and reforms in pedagogical training. The school boycott focused on de facto segregation. The government ignored historical housing patterns to guarantee continued racial segregation. It didn’t need overtly racist laws or police chiefs, like “Bull” Connor in Birmingham, the boycotters said. Although the Central Board of Education failed to address the protestors’ demands for integration, the boycott helped to lay the foundation for a new movement—demanding community control for the schools they attended.

The struggles continue to this day; in 2009, New York reported the country’s highest concentration of Black and Latinx students in intensely-segregated public schools (with less than 10 percent white enrollment). Today, youth here continue to lead education organizing efforts, fighting the over-policing of schools and demanding a meaningful college preparatory education. Student groups now frequently mention the 2006 “Penguin Revolution” in Chile—when thousands of high schoolers pushed for education reform—and the plights of students in South Africa, and even Palestine. Like their predecessors in the 1960s, these young Americans want to shift the debate from being about themselves—whether they are good students, whether they are low-income, whether they “work hard enough”—to being about their schooling, and their place as citizens of the United States.

Celina Su is Marilyn J. Gittell Chair in Urban Studies and an Associate Professor of Political Science at the City University of New York. Her publications include Streetwise for Book Smarts: Grassroots Organizing and Education Reform in the Bronx (Cornell University Press) and Our Schools Suck: Young People Talk Back to a Segregated Nation on the Failures of Urban Education (co-authored, NYU Press). She has served on New York City’s participatory budgeting Steering Committee since its inception in 2011, and she currently leads the URBAN Research Network, a coalition of more than 1,800 scholars, activists, and artists committed to community-engaged research, social change, and democratizing knowledge production. Her honors include the Berlin Prize and the Whiting Award for Excellence in Teaching.

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Handout A – Background Essay: What Does it Mean to Be a Citizen?

Directions: Read the essay and respond to the Review Questions at the end.

What is a Citizen?

The term, “citizen” is related to the Latin term, civitas, meaning “city,” and referred in early times to an inhabitant of a city. In modern times it denotes a legally recognized member of a state who is entitled to certain rights and bears certain responsibilities. In the United States, our understanding of what it means to be a citizen comes from a number of influences that predate the U.S. Constitution, which did not initially define citizenship, but left it to each of the states to determine the qualifications for participation in government. To the ancient Greeks, a citizen was a member of the community who participates in public affairs through informed, reasoned debate and discussion, respectfully considering the views of others. Aristotle taught that a citizen is capable of both ruling and being ruled through active participation in deliberation and decision-making. In the Roman Republic, civitas consisted of those city residents who were educated and had the right to vote and hold office. Ideally, they exercised moderation and good judgment by voting for the good of the people, sharing in the rights and responsibilities of self-government.

Why did the Founders think virtue is necessary?

Building on this underpinning, the Founders of the United States took the position that citizens must exercise certain knowledge, skills, dispositions, and virtues in self-government. Among the many observations of Founders regarding the important role of a citizen are the following:

John Adams wrote, “Public virtue cannot exist in a nation without private [virtue], and public virtue is the only foundation of republics.” John Adams to Mercy Otis Warren, April 16, 1776
Benjamin Franklin wrote, “Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become more corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.” Letter to Messrs, the Abbes Chalut, and Arnaud, April 17, 1787
James Madison stated: “To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people, is a chimerical [imaginary] idea.” Speech in the Virginia Ratifying Convention, June 20, 1788
Madison also wrote, “As there is a degree of depravity in mankind which requires a certain degree of circumspection and distrust, so there are other qualities in human nature which justify a certain portion of esteem and confidence. [America’s republican form of government] presupposes the existence of these qualities in a higher degree than any other form.” (Federalist No. 55, 1788).
Thomas Jefferson wrote: “Convinced that the people are the only safe depositories of their own liberty, and that they are not safe unless enlightened to a certain degree, I have looked on our present state of liberty as a short-lived possession unless the mass of the people could be informed to a certain degree.” Letter to Littleton Waller Tazewell, 1805.

Ratified in 1868, the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution provides the legal definition of U.S. citizenship, stating, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and the State wherein they reside.” For purposes of this study, we will use the following description:

A citizen in a free society is a person who functions privately and publicly according to principles of moral and ethical excellent essential to leading a worthwhile life and to effective self-government. A citizen seeks to be active in public life, demonstrating civic virtues in everyday life and solving community problems.

What virtues are necessary in a free society, and who is responsible for cultivating them among the citizens?

If citizens are to be free, how is it appropriate for government to be concerned about character formation? What does it mean to be free? The Founders believed that all humans are born with certain natural rights, and that legitimate government is based on the will of the people expressed through the laws they make for themselves through their representatives. Self-government in civil society depends on certain attributes of character, but the government is not the primary institution responsible for inculcating those virtues. Rather, generating the necessary knowledge, skills, and dispositions is primarily the responsibility of families. The first and most powerful influences on character come from experiences and expectations learned in the family setting. In the endeavor to develop decent human beings who know how to work with one another, solve problems, and resolve disputes productively, families are supported by private institutions such as religious institutions and civic associations. Government plays a secondary role in encouraging these qualities in a variety of ways, including through its provision of tax-supported community schools.

There are many virtues that contribute to civil society, but the Founders’ public and private writings tell us that many of them understood at least the following attributes of character to be necessary: justice, responsibility, courage, moderation, respect, initiative, honor, perseverance, self-reliance, and civic knowledge.

To preserve freedom citizens must first understand what justice is and have the courage to assert themselves when their rights or the rights of others are violated. If individuals are to be free, they must exercise self-reliance and responsibility to provide for themselves and their families. They must also respect others enough to behave generously when other community members face hardship. Another outgrowth of respect for others is that individuals exercise moderation in their thoughts and actions in order to listen and engage in civil discourse. Communities built on this foundation also require individuals who apply initiative to act energetically in solving problems, perseverance because problems often do not yield to easy solutions, and honor so that people can trust one another to do the right thing. Civic knowledge is necessary so that people understand their rights and can act with wisdom based on evidence and reason. In addition to applying these virtues in their own lives, citizens must hold their elected officials accountable to these standards. Seeking to serve the public in a representative office is a heavy responsibility, and voters must exercise vigilance and wisdom as they mark their ballots. What principles guided the Founders in establishing the structure of the U.S. Constitution?

Based on their long and diligent study of the kinds of governments that been established in human history, Founders like James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, James Wilson, Alexander Hamilton, Benjamin Franklin, and George Mason, urged that certain principles must be incorporated in the framework of government in order for it to do its main job, which was protecting the natural rights of the citizens. Those principles of constitutional government included rule of law and due process, the idea that government and citizens alike abided by the same laws regardless of political power, and that those laws must reflect the virtue of justice. Because all humans are born with equal and inalienable rights, no one is born with a natural right to rule over others, so legitimate government is based on the principle of consent of the governed. In a large and complex society, the principle of consent is generally expressed through the principle of republicanism (or representation) as the people entrust to certain elected officials the responsibilities of day-today decision-making regarding law and policy. Because humans are flawed and disposed to increase their own power at the expense of others, Founders believed it is important to preserve the principle of limited government through a complex structure of enumerated, divided, shared powers and checks and balances.

The Founders knew that the preservation of liberty would not be easy; it is often difficult for flawed human beings to engage productively with one another to live peaceably in community. And they also knew that the American experiment in self-government had no chance to succeed without these constitutional principles, as well as personal and civic virtues.

REVIEW QUESTIONS

Using the definitions of “citizen” in the first paragraph of the essay, write your own definition of what it means to be a citizen.
Which of the Founders’ quotes in the second paragraph do you believe is most important for citizens to understand today? Be prepared to explain your answer.
Why do institutions like government, religious institutions, and voluntary organizations play a secondary, or supporting, role in developing strength of character, compared to the primary role of family?
Of the specific virtues listed in the essay, select the three or four that you think are most important, and be prepared to explain your opinion.
Of the specific principles described in the essay, select one or two that you believe are most important and be prepared to explain your opinion.
Paraphrase and evaluate the following quote from an essay that Samuel Adams wrote at the age of 27 in 1749. Was Adams correct, partially correct, or incorrect? Defend your answer. “Neither the wisest constitution nor the wisest laws will secure the liberty and happiness of a people whose manners are universally corrupt. He therefore is the truest friend of the liberty of his country who tries most to promote its virtue.” Samuel Adams, Essay in The Public Advertiser, 1749

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A good citizen paragraph 8 Models

A good citizen paragraph , It is important to know how to write a graph about a good citizen, or an essay about the characteristics of a good citizen, because this topic is asked in all grades, and you can write an article about the importance of a good citizen for the progress of the country, or a short essay summarizing the most important qualities of a good citizen from your point of view, and what are the duties of a citizen and what are his rights?. Because if you know your duties towards your country, it will be easy for you to perform these duties, and thus you will be a good citizen.

We live in a society and we must abide by the laws without regard to personal interests only, because these laws are in the interest of everyone.

A good citizen paragraph

Undoubtedly, the well-being of society depends on the well-being of the citizens. This is because the individual is the basis for the formation of society. If the citizens are good, the society will advance.

Society consists of a group of individuals who live in a specific geographical place, have the same customs and traditions, the same language and the same beliefs, and they have a common culture and a long history written by their ancestors. All this makes the individual linked to his homeland with a strong bond that nothing can affect.

He carries the love of his homeland within him, so that his departure from his homeland does not change that strong emotion, but he remains longing for his homeland and dreams of returning to it.

Therefore, the citizen must have some good qualities that make him a good citizen, such as following the laws regulating the society, having decent morals in dealing with others, loving the homeland and belonging to it, and being ready to defend it and sacrifice for it.

All these qualities make you worthy of being called a good citizen.

Undoubtedly, if individuals reconcile, it will be reflected in society as a whole.

Therefore, we must take care of teaching students what they have to do towards their country, in addition to providing them with good moral qualities.

One of the important qualities that makes you a good citizen is to follow the laws that regulate life in your community.

Because not following these laws is detrimental to the public interest, you must abandon the idea of achieving personal gains without respecting the rights of others. You must also be loyal to your country so that you work for its progress and prosperity in peacetime, and defend it against its enemies in time of war.

The simplest example of this is paying the tax you owe. It is possible for a person to find a method that enables him to evade paying the tax, thus achieving a personal interest for himself, but at the same time it is detrimental to the interest of the society in which he lives, because these taxes will be used by the government in making projects or services that benefit all citizens.

Therefore, we must raise our children with love and loyalty to the homeland.

There are many good qualities that we must teach our children to be good citizens, including the preservation of public property.

We see many people do not maintain public property and spoil it.

These people are unaware that this public property was established from tax money paid by the citizens, which means that this public property is their property as well and they must preserve it by using it properly and not destroying it.

These qualities will not be acquired by a person except when there is awareness for the children in the school and the family to realize the importance of preserving public properties such as parks, transportation, schools, hospitals and other facilities that provide services to citizens.

Given the importance of the citizen and his influence in society, great attention must be given to the citizens’ ability to belong to the homeland.

This can be done through several methods, namely the family, the school, and the various media.

The family must cultivate in the young people a love of the homeland and the preservation of the environment in which we live.

When a mother directs her children to maintain public property, such as maintaining the cleanliness of gardens, streets, or schools, she instills in them a love of the environment in which they live.

Likewise, the school should play a major role in instilling a sense of belonging to the homeland in the hearts of students by preparing curricula to educate them about the importance of preserving the environment and others.

There must be a major role for the media in educating citizens about the importance of preserving the homeland and what are the risks that may result from not preserving the homeland.

In conclusion, we can say that since the individual is the building block of society, it has become necessary for the citizen to be a good citizen in order to be a reason for the progress and prosperity of his country.

In order for the citizens to be good, there must be awareness among the citizens of the importance of being good, because this will work on the cohesion of the country and increase its strength.

Therefore, the family and the school must cooperate in raising young people, giving them good morals and patriotism, and preserving public and private property as well.

There is also a major role for the various media in educating citizens about the importance of preserving their homeland and its wealth.

A good citizen essay

Since the citizen is one of the building blocks that make up the society, if the citizen is righteous, the society will progress and prosper and the crime rate will decrease, and if the citizen is not righteous, then injustice, chaos and underdevelopment will prevail.

Hence the importance of forming strong ties between the citizen and other citizens, as well as between him and his homeland. This is done by spreading awareness of the importance of cooperation among the people, and that the interest of the country is sacred to all citizens.

One of the manifestations that indicates love and belonging to the homeland is the mastery of work. A good citizen must abide by labor laws, such as adherence to work schedules and number of hours, and try to develop his work to give the best production.

And do not forget the role of students in the development of their homeland, and this is through learning seriously, and trying to join the best international universities in order to learn there, and then transfer his experiences to his homeland. The role of young people is pivotal, as they are the ones who can develop and raise their country.

Qualities of a good citizen essay

There are many qualities that characterize a good citizen, such as love of the homeland and sacrifice for it, keenness to seek knowledge in order to develop the country for the better, and preserving public property.

One of the important characteristics of a good citizen is that he be a positive person, who fights corruption and reports the corrupt to the police.

In order for the citizen to be righteous, he must have decent morals such as honesty and trust, and not deceive or defraud people, so that peace and security prevail among the members of society. Because it is very important that peace and cooperation prevail among the citizens so that everyone can perform his duty towards the homeland.

We must respect the good citizen and present him in the media as a model that we must emulate. Because young people want to take for themselves a role model to follow in thinking and lifestyle.

There must be a focus from the media on examples of good citizens who have rendered great services to their country. This will encourage young people to take these good citizens as role models.

Duties of a good citizen essay

The responsibility of a good citizen is great, as it does not stop at following the laws regulating life only, but he must be a positive citizen with an effective influence in society, and be a reason for the progress of society.

The willingness of a citizen to defend his homeland, even if he loses his life, is the highest quality of a good citizen.

We can mention some of these responsibilities that a good citizen must have as follows:

A good citizen respects and adheres to the laws of his country, because failure to follow the laws leads to the spread of chaos and corruption.
A good citizen respects the cultural heritage of his country and preserves its monuments.
The good citizen must respect the beliefs of his homeland and respect the prophets, sages and heroes who sacrificed themselves for the sake of the country.
A good citizen respects the race to which he belongs, and tries to develop the positives. And eliminates the negative customs and traditions of his society.
He must be ready to defend his homeland against the enemies, even if it would cost him his life.
Works for the common good, such as paying taxes, maintaining public property, and cooperating in the dissemination of science and knowledge among citizens.
The good citizen must also be positive in repelling injustice from the oppressed, fighting corruption and other things in which he can participate.
A good citizen is a person responsible for his actions, who does not commit mistakes that harm his country, and he is a conscious person who is aware of the dangers facing his country.
A good citizen must have decent morals such as honesty, cooperation and other good qualities.

Importance of being a good citizen essay

There is great importance to be a good citizen, because society consists of a group of individuals and the progress of that society depends on the progress and advancement of these individuals (citizens).

Citizens must be good and aware of their importance and effective influence in their country, as they are responsible for the progress and protection of their country.

Therefore, everyone should be working hard, and there should be brilliant scientists, distinguished engineers, distinguished doctors, skilled craftsmen, loyal teachers, loyal soldiers, and students who are diligent in acquiring knowledge.

Certainly, if every citizen does what he must, the country will advance and become stronger, and the enemies will never be able to defeat it.

Therefore, the state should care about educating citizens about the importance of loyalty to their homeland, and that the progress of the homeland depends on them.

A good citizen short essay

A good citizen is the main engine of the country towards progress and prosperity. The role of the good citizen is highlighted in all areas of life. The scientist who invents machines and works for the advancement of his country is a good citizen.

A soldier who fights for his country and may lose his life is a good citizen, and a doctor who works seriously to eradicate diseases and epidemics without caring that he may be exposed to infection is a good citizen.

A student who studies seriously and tries to excel in his studies in order to benefit his country in the future is also a good citizen, and a teacher who endures difficulties in order to educate students is a good citizen.

From the foregoing it becomes clear that every citizen who does his job in the best manner is indeed a good citizen.

I am a good citizen essay

I consider myself a good citizen, because my family taught me from my childhood to preserve public property. When I used to go with my family to the public garden, my mother used to ask us not to pick roses and not climb trees, and to keep the garden clean by throwing garbage in the designated bin.

Then when I joined school, my mother asked me to keep my school clean, just as I keep my house clean. She also asked me to respect the school’s rules in terms of appointments, uniform, and dealing with other students, in addition to respecting teachers and all school staff.

My mother also asked me to work hard in my studies, and she told me that you study in order to benefit your country, and this goal you must remember throughout the years of your studies.

Indeed, I carried out my mother’s directives until I became a good citizen, and I am appreciated and respected by everyone.

Being a good citizen essay

There is no doubt that a good citizen is a wealth for his country. Throughout history, we have read about citizens who changed their country’s life for the better. Some of them struggled for the independence of their country, some were keen to spread useful sciences among members of their community, and some of them challenged difficulties and worked hard to improve their country’s economy.

The good citizen model has many forms. Each of us can be a good citizen by performing his work seriously and being sincere in performing his work. The citizen must also have good morals in order for peace and cooperation to prevail among the members of society.

The role of the good citizen never stops. In peace, he works to advance his country economically, healthily, culturally and socially, and in war his role is greater, since defending the homeland and sacrificing for it, which is the highest goal that a citizen can offer to his homeland.

We have provided you with an A good citizen paragraph, and you can read more through the following link:

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Essay on “A Good Citizen” Complete Essay for Class 10, Class 12 and Graduation and other classes.

A Good Citizen

Essay No. 01

Citizen is one of the most commonly used word in a democracy. It is used at all levels of politics. A citizen is a person who enjoys rights and performs her/his duties in a state. Every Indian living in India is not citizen. To live in India does not make a person citizen. A citizen is one who is a member of the State and took part in the process of making government. A person who is ruled by laws but has no political rights, is not a citizen.

The term citizen was linked with the rise of democracy. Where one has political rights, the right to vote and the right to participate in decision- making on important questions, that one is citizen. In 1789 the word ‘citizen’ became popular after the French Revolution. It was said, “All citizens are equal. They have equal rights.”

A good citizen is one who is conscious of both rights and duties. For instance, the right to vote is one of our most important rights and it is our duty also to exercise the right to vote. If a person does not vote she or he cannot be considered a good citizen, though otherwise she or he may be a good person. Good citizen should not only be conscious of their own right alone, but also give the government what is its due. They should obey laws that are made by the legislature and pay taxes. These are their duties towards the government. But they must also perform their duties to other citizens. And the most important duty of every citizen is to respect the rights of others. Our constitution gives everyone the right to practice one’s religion. Every citizen , should practise religion in her / his own way; but in doing so one must respect the right of other citizens to practise their religion in the way they like. The qualities of good citizens must therefore, include a consciousness of their own rights, tolerance for others and respect for laws.

A democratic state particularly depends on the quality of its citizens. If citizens do not take interest in politics, a democratic state might also gradually become undemocratic. Conversely , democracy can be strengthened if the rights of others; it means that they know the demand what they can claim from the government. They also know what the government can claim from them. The quality of democracy improves if the citizens from all walks of life take part in its activates with interest.

A good citizen is always loyal. He is loyal to the president, because he stands for all that is best in the laws of his country. A good citizen is also devoted to his country. He thinks that as his parents gave him natural life, so he owes his civic life to his country. He , therefore, calls his country his motherland, and is ever ready to lay down even his life for her sake.

A good citizen always respects the laws of his country. He obeys all the laws of the land. He goes even further, he does not keep the law himself, but is the enemy of all those who break the law. He has no sympathy for thieves , criminals and cheats. He will assist the police. He is, therefore, always ready to public. He is therefore, always ready to put down crime and help the guardians of law in arresting criminals.

A good citizen always takes an interest in the welfare of his country. He has a vote, and he uses it not to further his own interests or those of the party he belongs to, but to help his country as a whole. He is always ready to help forward good causes. He is most active when illiteracy is to be removed, or when the sanitation of the town is to be improved, or when a dishonest person is to be punished. If a school is to be opened, a dispute is to be ended, a disease is to be checked, a road is to be built, or any other work of public utility is to be taken up, he is most energetic and helpful.

In this way a good citizen believes in co-operation with other citizen for the common good. he feels that the members of community are like the different limbs of a body. The head thinks for the hand, the hand works for the belly and the belly supplies nourishment to all. Similarly, all the members of a community work for the common good.

It is not easy to be good citizen because a good citizen has to conquer his selfishness. A good citizen cares more for his duties that is what he can do for the country.

Essay No. 02

Duties of a Good Citizen

A citizen is a person who lives in a particular country for a long time. He may be born in the country or not but, by virtue of his long stay in the country he earns the right to the citizenship of the country and starts being so called. The basic difference in the acquired citizenship after stay and that of being a citizen by birth is that, when a person acquires it, it is to be by an application for the same. When a person is born in a place, he is automatically a citizen of it, and does not have to apply for it. Now, as we all know that man, no matter where he stays in the family, in the society, in the office or in the country, he has some obligations towards them. These obligations of an individual are called duties.

Thus, in all his activities, man has some duties, and so as a citizen also man has some obligations to the country of his citizenship. In this Essay we will discuss the duties of a man as a citizen of a country. When a person belongs to a particular country whether the country of his birth or the country that he has adopted due to a long stay, it is to be remembered that, the country has nurtured him. He has grown there, avails of all facilities and advantages that accrue to the people of the country and has been granted all kinds of rights of the citizens of that country. This is because it is all necessary for the healthy growth of the individual. If he was not to be given all that, he may not have been able to grow to his full bloom. This much is fine, but, this is only one side of the coin of citizenship. When on the one hand an individual is given so much, the other side of the coin would obviously be to given to an individual clarify and express his duties. For, let us never forget that all rights have their corresponding duties. Every right that a human being enjoys in any sphere of life, there are his corresponding duties that go hand in hand with these rights. Thus, on the one hand are the rights of the citizen and the other side are his duties.

A good citizen has to fulfil several duties in order to honestly enjoy all his rights. The first duty of a good citizen is to understand his rights and enjoy them but, with wisdom and an analytical mind. He must be loyal to the country that gives him all that it has, to enjoy and grow. He must consider the country of his living, as his own mother, for, just like the mother helps a child to grow, so does the country provide for him all that he needs to grow in every way, physically, mentally, and spiritually. Then when a country gives so much, is it not its right to demand loyalty from the individual? How can the country ever expect or accept disloyalty from a man it helps live and grow. How can disloyalty to a mother be accepted? Such breach of faith and loyalty, to my mind should be considered as a grave offence. Besides, can we ever disown a mother? Thus a good citizen is one who is always found to be proud of belonging to his country – whether of birth or after living.

The second quality of a good citizen is that he should always follow all the laws of the land meticulously with the greatest of caution. He should never be found breaking or Flouting any law.

He must love and respect all his fellow citizens who are to him like good citizen lives, must feel his presence as a good person, a reliable person and as a loving and helpful person. He himself must be a good brother/sister to the others living in that country his brothers and sisters. The society in which the Besides being good, a duty of a good citizen also extends to his helping in the development of the country of his residence, because of the simple reason that, it is his, it belongs to him. Respect for all that belongs to that country is also one great quality expected from a good citizen.

Thus, a good citizen is one who adjusts with his environment, lives up to the expectations of his fellowmen, according to all norms and rules of the country. He does not act in any way that brings any sort of dishonor to the country. With all these essential qualities, any individual belonging to any country can be called a good citizen fulfilling these norms will be termed as a good citizen in any country.

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Qualities of a Good Citizen Essay

A citizen belongs to the state. Citizenship does not indicate a mere residence in a particular state. As a member of the state, he or she has certain rights and duties. Only good citizens can make a state great. He enjoys rights and privileges and he or she is expected to contribute his or her bit in making the society as well as the country progress on healthy lines.

A citizen enjoys liberty in a democratic state. He or she is free to take up any job or profession. He or she has the right to vote. The citizens can elect a government of their choice. The citizens have a right to property, right to worship, right to seek justice, right to write or express thoughts, etc.

In the near future, they may also get the right to information and right to work. But all these rights may prove useless or even harmful if these are not exercised judiciously. After all, liberty cannot be converted into license .

One is supposed to enjoy liberty or freedom in such a way that one’s actions or utterances do not interfere with the liberty of others. While making use of one’s rights and liberty, one must be conscious of one’s duties and responsibilities.

The prime duty of a citizen is to become a good, conscious, dutiful and responsible citizen. A person must have certain qualities in order to good citizen. Only good citizens can ensure a bright future for their country.

Good citizens are intelligent and hard-working. They are bold daring. They are always prepared to lay down their lives to protect the interests and honour of their country.

A good citizen is honest in word and deed. He is always truthful and hence, never avoids paying taxes. He is selfless and does not live for himself or his family but also for others. He seeks his good in the good of all. he helps those who need help. encourages those who need encouragement and Protects those who need protection.

A good citizen is never a fanatic and narrow-minded. He or she never allows himself or herself to be dominated by emotion and petty consider tion . Religious tolerance and communal harmony are the articles of faith to an ideal citizen.

Such a person never loses temper whatever the provocation may be. good citizen always understands and uses the language of reason and follows the dictate of conscience.

A good citizen is every inch a patriot. Being loyal to the country, he or is prepared to sacrifice anything and everything for the motherland. Being broad-minded, such a citizen loves not only his own country but also other countries.

A good citizen is law-abiding and obeys the laws of the country sincerely. He or she never takes law in his or her hands. Rather people of kind extend their full co-operation to the government in maintaining law and order in the country. They are ever ready to put down crime and help the police in arresting criminals.

Ours is a democratic state. No country can ever function successfully if its citizen are not aware of their rights and responsibilities. Rights and duties always go together. They always exercise them intelligently.

Above all, a good citizen has the welfare of his country and his fellow citizens at heart. He or she does his best to further their interests. Such people render voluntary service to the city or the country in various capacities.

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Good Citizen Essay for Students & Children in English
The first essay is a long essay on the Good Citizen of 400-500 words. This long essay about Good Citizen is suitable for students of class 7, 8, 9 and 10, and also for competitive exam aspirants. The second essay is a short essay on Good Citizen of 150-200 words. These are suitable for students and children in class 6 and below.
Essay on Who is a Good Citizen
Conclusion. In conclusion, a good citizen is a valuable asset to any country. They follow rules, respect others, participate actively in their community, behave responsibly, and promote education. They contribute positively to their society and inspire others to do the same. Being a good citizen is not just about enjoying rights but also about ...
Qualities of a Good Citizen: Characteristics and Examples: [Essay
Active participation is a dynamic characteristic of good citizenship. Engaged citizens take an active role in their communities, whether through volunteerism, activism, or civic engagement. They do not merely observe societal issues but work to address them. Active participation is a catalyst for positive change, driving progress and social ...
Essay on Responsibilities of A Good Citizen
The Responsibilities of A Good Citizen essay 100, 150, 200, 250, 500 words in English help the students with their class assignments, comprehension tasks, and even for competitive examinations. You can also find more Essay Writing articles on events, persons, sports, technology and many more.
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500 Words Essay on Good Citizen Introduction: The Concept of a Good Citizen. A good citizen is a cornerstone of any thriving society, embodying the values, norms, and principles that bind a community together. The concept of a good citizen has evolved over time, reflecting the changing social, cultural, and political contexts. However, core ...
What Does it Mean to Be a Good Citizen?
Center For Public Leadership. What Does it Mean to Be a Good Citizen? "We don't agree on everything—but we do agree on enough that we can work together to start to heal our civic culture and our country." CPL's James Piltch asked people all over the US what it means to be a good citizen. "We don't agree on everything—but we do agree on ...
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Good Citizens pay taxes - A good citizen always pays taxes. People who do not pay their taxes are considered tax evaders. Tax evasion is illegal in most countries and can result in fines, jail time, or both. Moreover, tax helps to maintain public infrastructure, which is essential for a healthy society. Good Citizens serve on a jury - Jury ...
Essay on Responsibilities of a Good Citizen for Students [500+ Words]
Essay on Responsibilities of a Good Citizen: Responsibility of a good citizen is to sacrifice everything for the motherland. Respecting the culture & heritage of their own country is one of the duties of a citizen. ... Essay on Good Citizen 500 Words in English. Below we have provided the responsibilities of a good citizen essay, written in ...
What Is a "Good Citizen"? a Systematic Literature Review
The concept of "good citizenship" has long been part of discussions in various academic fields. Good citizenship involves multiple components, including values, norms, ethical ideals, behaviors, and expectations of participation. This chapter seeks to discuss the idea of good citizenship by surveying the academic literature on the subject.
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Good Citizenship and Global Citizenship
The UN states that the global citizen should have values such as "rights to freedom of thought, conscience and religion". A good citizen should also have these values enshrined in them. A good citizen should avoid engaging in religious discrimination since this threatens unity among the citizens of the nation.
Good citizenship
A good citizen is an individual who strives towards the goal to honor and submit to their government and takes the initiative to improve their country. There are many opinions as to what constitutes a good citizen. Aristotle makes a distinction between the good citizen and the good man, writing, "...there cannot be a single absolute excellence ...
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Paragraph Writing. A citizen is the asset of a country. A good citizen has as many duties as he has rights. The basic rights of a citizen are his basic human rights. He has right to live, travel, work, and vote. He has the right to education, security and justice. He has also the right to die a normal death.
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A good citizen should maintain cordial relations with his neighbors. He should be ready to extend his help to them and other citizens in times of need. He should be vigilant against his enemies. He must respect all faiths. These and many more qualities should make him a good citizen. A Good Citizen. A good citizen needs to imbibe many qualities.
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A Good Citizen Paragraph. In 130 words, for class 5 to 8. The prerequisite for building a peaceful country is to create good citizens. The identity of a good citizen is that he is a good man. He is honest and kind. He abides by the rules of religion and the laws of the state.
The Many Ways to Be a Good Citizen
The Constitution tells us what makes a citizen of the United States, legally speaking. But over the decades, American citizenship—and the ingredients that make a good citizen in a modern Republic—has been a subject of debate. Voting and serving in the armed forces are part of the equation to be sure. But for some women, minorities, and ...
Handout A
Ratified in 1868, the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution provides the legal definition of U.S. citizenship, stating, "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and the State wherein they reside.". For purposes of this study, we will use the ...
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A good citizen short essay. A good citizen is the main engine of the country towards progress and prosperity. The role of the good citizen is highlighted in all areas of life. The scientist who invents machines and works for the advancement of his country is a good citizen.
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A Good Citizen. Essay No. 01. Citizen is one of the most commonly used word in a democracy. It is used at all levels of politics. A citizen is a person who enjoys rights and performs her/his duties in a state. Every Indian living in India is not citizen. To live in India does not make a person citizen. A citizen is one who is a member of the ...
Qualities of a Good Citizen Essay
A good citizen is honest in word and deed. He is always truthful and hence, never avoids paying taxes. He is selfless and does not live for himself or his family but also for others. He seeks his good in the good of all. he helps those who need help. encourages those who need encouragement and Protects those who need protection.
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Qualities of a Good Citizen: Characteristics and Examples

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Characteristics of a Good Citizen

The Importance of Being a Good Citizen

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Understanding the Role

Embracing Social Responsibility

Upholding Moral Responsibility

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Active Participation in Society

Adherence to Laws and Respect for Authority

Social Responsibility and Empathy

Continuous Learning and Self-Improvement

Conclusion: The Role of Good Citizens in Society

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What Does it Mean to Be a Good Citizen?

Essay on Responsibilities of a Good Citizen for Students [500+ Words]

Essay on Good Citizen 500 Words in English

What Is a “Good Citizen”? a Systematic Literature Review

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1 Introduction

2 Methodology

2.2 Procedure

2.3 Analytical Strategy

3 The Concept of Good Citizenship in Academia

4 Understanding the Meaning of “Good Citizenship”

5 Discussion and Conclusions

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Handout A – Background Essay: What Does it Mean to Be a Citizen?

What is a Citizen?

Why did the Founders think virtue is necessary?

What virtues are necessary in a free society, and who is responsible for cultivating them among the citizens?

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