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Lesson

Voluntarism and Public Servants

Guiding question

Who can be considered public servants, in addition to elected officials?

Duration
50 min
Grade
9–12
Published
Nov 5, 2020
A navy service member serves food and drinks to a man in a red hat at a community event.
Americans celebrate volunteers and public servants, intuitively recognizing that there is something of great value in helping your community. But often we have arrived at distorted understandings of voluntarism and public service: definitions that emphasize trivial engagement and exclude important forms of public service. Exploring the benefits of service, the rules and norms that support and promote it, and the virtues that volunteers display will provide us will a more accurate understanding of what it means to serve.

Virtues

Contribution

Guiding Questions

  • Who can be considered public servants, in addition to elected officials?
  • What is considered voluntarism?
  • To what extent does Tocqueville see voluntarism as necessary for building a nation?

Objectives

  • Students will define and explain the benefits of voluntarism.
  • Students will describe multiple ways in which citizens participate in public life.
  • Students will identify who can be a public servant.

Materials

Student Handouts

Lesson Components

ActivityHandout F: Summarizing Tocqueville on Voluntarism
EssayEssay: Voluntarism and Public Servants

Americans celebrate volunteers and public servants, intuitively recognizing that there is something of great value in helping your community. But often we have arrived at distorted understandings of voluntarism and public service: definitions that emphasize trivial engagement and exclude important forms of public service. Exploring the benefits of service, the rules and norms that support and promote it, and the virtues that volunteers display will provide us will a more accurate understanding of what it means to serve.

Lesson plan

50 minClick a phase to open it

Key Terms

checks and balances
Framers
Constitution
James Madison
separation of powers

Standards

Check whether this resource aligns with your state’s standards →

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CurriculumMyImpact Challenge

How can students practice the skills of citizenship now? By working through this curriculum that fosters a robust understanding of citizenship and gets them active in their communities as young people!