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Theorizing Citizenship and Evaluating Public Achievement

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2013

R.W. Hildreth*
Affiliation:
University of Minnesota

Extract

Researcher (R): How has doing Public Achievement (PA) changed the way you think about yourself?

Casey (pseudonym for an elementary school student): I am less lonely now that I have done Public Achievement.

R: Really, that's interesting, what is it in PA makes you less lonely?

Casey: Well, people used to think that I am kinda weird here, and I am different. I like playing in the woods and stuff by myself and doing my own kind of stuff.

R: And people think of you as less weird when you do PA?

Casey: Yeah, they even give awards to kids like me in PA.

R: Wow! It sounds like you are a leader in PA.

Casey: Yeah, I really like doing PA.

R: Let me see if I am hearing you right, before PA people thought that you were weird, and now that you have done PA, people look at you differently?

Casey: Yeah.

R: How do you think they look at you differently now?

Casey: They look at me as a citizen.

R: As a citizen, what does it mean for them to look at you as a citizen?

Casey: Like I am more of an equal, they listen to what I have to say.

This dialogue, filled with civic promise, is typical of the many conversations I have had with young participants in reflecting upon their experiences in Public Achievement.

Type
Service Learning in Political Science
Copyright
Copyright © The American Political Science Association 2000

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