Civic Duties and Responsibilities

Civic Duties

• All American citizens are responsible for fulfilling their Civic Duties

• These duties include:– Obeying the laws– Paying taxes– Jury duty– Defending the nation (register for draft)– Serve as a witness

Civic Responsibilities

• Not as clear cut as the duties• People are not arrested or punished for

failing to fulfill these obligations• They include:

– Be aware of government actions– Voice your opinion (voting, protesting, etc.)– Working for a political campaign– Volunteering at community events or in local

libraries, hospitals, and schools

Getting Informed

• How do most citizens learn about what is going on in the government?– Internet– News– Newspapers

• What kind of information do these sources provide?– Interviews– quotes– Overviews of events– statistics

Are These Sources Reliable?

• How reliable are these sources?– Bias– Select samples– Nonresponse

• Bias – “Don’t you think…”

“Don’t you agree…”

“I think…., don’t you?”

Polls and Statistics• Polls are particularly unreliable because:

– Can poll just a select group (ex: only males, only over 50, only immigrants, etc.)

• Using Demographics to manipulate poll– Demographics: Classifying a group of people

» Income» Race» Religion» Age» Nationality» Gender» Level of Education

– People may refuse to answer strangers– Wording of the question – Lying

Assignment

• Create a 3 question poll about a topic(s) that is important to you.

• Poll 2 groups in our class (ex: girls/boys, red polos/blue polos, in uniform/not in uniform, sophomores/not sophomores )

• Create charts that documents your results.• Analyze your results.

– Ex: People in Red polo shirts prefer McDonalds as their favorite fast food restaurant while people in Blue polo shirts prefer Wendy’s

Step 1 and 2 Example

What is your favorite form of social media?

Girls: Boys:Sierra – Twiter Tom – Facebook

Amy – Facebook Allen – Twitter

Danae – Twitter Marcus- My Space

Do you like having school uniforms?

Blue Polos Red Polos

Sierra – Yes Tom – No

Amy – No Allen- Yes

Danae – Yes Marcus - No

Step 3 Example