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John Locke
Our "1776 - The Musical" Blog
25 comments:
Of course Americans possess civic virtue! In our school alone, this virtue is represented. Last year, a group of students (at that time run by a freshman and sophomore) decided to repaint the cafeteria, for the good of their fellow students, the school, and future attendees. The class of 2007 decided to redo the Auditorium lobby, for the same reasons. The gardening club does their best to tame the courtyards; not because they have to, but because it would help our little community of SKHS. It would seem as if the proof to American civic virtue can be found very close to home, and I hope it stays that way.
i can see what charlotte de berry is saying that some people possess civic virtue. but in the lobby, that was NOT all the seniors, and in the cafeteria there was a very small fraction of the students, and i believe that even if everybody knew about it not too many more people would have come. i believe that the civic virtue that the founding fathers admired has disappeared from the majority of our community, and it has been repleced with greed. greed for more money and more possessions.
I see, at least once a week, someone at where i work trying to get money off their food, and when they don't they're angry at you for not giving them the money off, as if that two dollars was going to help your family, help the community or even put more gas in your car. people care so much about so little, that today doesn't even matter. the majority of people care more about themselves then the greater good.
i'm leaning more towards what slappy said. Yes, some people have civic virtue, but not that many do and you can't just say "civis virtue is alive and well" when it only is shown by a very small group. First of all, in the high school student body, a lot of people only do community service to meet the portfolio requirment. 2nd, there are way too many greedy people, like slappy said, for civic virtue to dominate our society. I blame television, instead of watching things like "Leave it to Beaver," reality tv dominates the channels. And as for Amnesty International painting the cafeteria, i have heard more people complaining about the color scheme than i've heard positive things. Also, the giant thing of names of the people who did it just proves that those people didnt do it as a service as much as they did it to get their names on the wall. If they really cared about the school, they wouldn't care about getting recognition, and that isn't just my opinion, i've talked to a lot of people who agree about that.
When talking about the cafeteria, you have to understand that the decisions about the murals and the signature wall were only made by one person. (I happen to agree that the huge signatures are a bit too much). However, most people were not even aware that their names would go up on the wall, so trying make them seem greedy and selfish is just wrong. I happen to know that the members of Amnesty International painted the cafeteria for the good of the school as a whole, and not just for recognition. It is my personal belief that the people who volunteer just for the sake of volunteering do not have to make up the entire population; they just have to exist to be proof enough. In a country as large as ours, anyone would be hard pressed to find some quality that all Americans share.
The Founders knew that the world was not full of angels. They believed that people could show civic virtue while still gaining wealth, fame, or anything else they wanted. The students who painted the cafeteria did not get paid. All they got was their names on the wall, and I say that is fine. If all people need is a little recognition in oder for them to do something as generous as repainting a major part of our school during their summer then I see no problem in that. I think that a lot of Americans possess civic virtue, but all you ever see in the news are the ones who don't.
The majority of americans act around common good, but everyone still needs there cut in life. Plus there are always those who do not care for others, and just want things for themselves. but in a capititalist society, people are allowed to live for the good of themselves, and there friends and families.
I agree with Cap'n Raja Seabeard. There is quite a bit of civic virtue just in our school, but things just move so fast these days, that no one has time to notice them. The students have been working very hard to get that greenhouse up and no one is getting community service hours for it. I think the balance between civic people and non civic people has always been the same.
I also agree with charlotte de berry that Americans still possess civic virtue, simply because of community service. By volunteering in your community you are striving to help the common good, which is the main idea found in civic virtue. For example, if you volunteer at a soup kitchen, or help raise money for cancer or AIDS victims, then you are helping the common good. When you volunteer, you put aside your personal interests to service the needy or less fortunate in your community. This involves the same civic virtue that the American Founders admired.
Some Americans possess civic virtue still. For example people who participate in raising money for cancer and raising money and helping the troops is a way that shows civic virtue is still around.
Still some people do not show civic virtue. They participate in community service only for their individual benefit such as doing it for the portfolio or National Honor Society. They in those cases not doing it for the common good only for themselves.
The majority of Americans today do not possess civic virtue. In todays world it is more about the protection of yourself and your family. People earn their money for their family and make their decisions for their family. It is very rarely that you would find many people as a whole practicing civic virtue. America would be in better shape than it is today if everybody practiced civic virtue just a little bit.
I believe that like any society we have evolved and changed over time. During this time many ideas have stayed true like the constitution but others have changed. In the book it says " A person with civic virtue was one who set aside personal interests to promote the common good". I see many good things being done in this world by people but many of us don't actually put aside our personal time to benefit the greater good. What good that is being done being done in the world is by paid organizations not people volunteering their time to promote greater good. So overall no I don't think the founding founders would be proud of today's civic virtue.
I totally agree with Slappy. The idea of civic virtue is almost totally gone from the common life. Being replaced by the opinion of "I don't care".People care about themselves and getting ahead as they should, but they also should look back at what they are doing and realize it's time to change. If the founding fathers could travel through time and see what the country is today, you have to wonder if they'd think it was run by a bunch of madmen out for there own personal gain. But not only that they'd look at the common people and want to know where the spirit of civic virtue has gone. People don't care and it's going to take something major to make that change.
No, Americans today do not possess the civic virtue the Founders admired, but neither did all of the men and women in their life time. The civic virtue the Founders admired was ideal, they knew everyone was born with a human nature--motivated primarily by self-interest. However, as capn' raja seabeard states,the Founders believed that people could show civic virtue while still gaining his or her economic self-interest. As black lizzy refered to the portfolio, students at SKHS may each be pursuing their individual requirements, but in doing so they each contribute to the general prosperity. Just having volunteer hours be a portfolio requirement shows that our country has not forgotten civic virtue and the common good. The government is trying to encourage (with rewards) students who put aside their own intrests of TV or shopping for a few hours and help out in their community. Civic virtue is not lost, it just that sometimes we need a push or two (A REBEL RING!!) to get us moving!
I don't think that Americans possess civic virtue anymore. I agree with slappy and skcowgirl. Everyone is out to better themselves instead of themselves AND the community. Everyone is all about themselves and their families. As long as they're ok and all set, nothing else matters. Where family should matter, so should the rest of the community. I also agree with dirty jake julian that if everyone practiced civic virtue, even just a little bit, the country would be in better shape.
Personally I feel that civic virtue is not posessed by the American citizens, the way that the founding fathers hoped. I agree with the idea that Haley Holiday stated about the new portfolio program at SKHS. Yet the volenteering hours are not on a willing basis. If we volenteer then we are honored the right to graduate. They are almost bullying us into helping others. Personally I enjoy to volenteer, whether it be at the local hospital or around town, yet many people think of themselves and not others. Civic virtue is not completely gone, yet it is not seen enough in society.
Yes, Americans have civic virtue, or have the capability to have it, but not too many actually use it or put into action. The many charity and volunteer groups out there are a great example, but that isn't the majority of the population. We notice these groups because they do things that deserve to be acknowledged, and perhaps that is why they seem bigger than they actually are, because the things they are accomplishing are so much bigger than seem possible. As a whole, people are not born greedy or virtuous. How they are brought up and their natural personalities shine through eventually in their actions. So, yes, there are not enough people putting civic virtue into action, but everyone has the potential.
I also liked what Charlotte said - "the people who volunteer do not have to make up the entire population; they just have to exist to be proof enough." This is very true in my opinion, because with such a huge society and country, being completely united on just one cause of topic is hard.
Yep, civic virtue is possessed by people today to some notable extent, no matter just how greedy or "goody" they are. A vague example: Sometimes people need to actually do some good to others to get somewhere. Some person (official or not) wants to be liked? They're going to do something fantastic to try to appeal to a group, and more often than not that group is going to benefit somehow, even if it's temporary. Most things are temporary, anyway. What I'm trying to get at, too, is that people display civic virtue in different ways. Obviously a group of townspeople that get together to talk about what to do about/how to help stop...uhhh, littering in their town are concerned for the town and the people living in it. If they were only concerned about themselves, they'd just be running a "let's clean up our own yards, to hell with everywhere else" group. Even if people aren't deeply involved with some obvious acts displaying civic virtue, people are still concerned about the "whole" in some way, especially if helping the whole will help them, as it often does. Hey, even the founders knew no one is perfect!
I would have to say that on a whole, Americans do not posses civic virtue. There are many people who do great things for their communities but it tends to be a small portion of a community. And sometimes its recquired, manditory and a form of punishment. So although some good poeple still do good things, the ones that dont ruin it for everyone else because like skcowgirl said, their attitudes are always 'I don't care'.
Although some may possess the civic virtue that the Founding Fathers admired, of course not all do. The CEO and heads of AIG insurance received $85 billion in taxes from all of the US citizens so that their company would not fail causing the stock market to tumble even more. That is the American public possessing civic virtue to help each other out. However, what did the men from AIG do just days after with money from our taxes? They went to a resort and spa and spent a lavish week-long retreat playing golf, drinking wine, eating fancy meals, and being pampered at the spa. They spend over $23,000 at the spa alone and over $460,000 on their week-long getaway. That is NOT civic virtue.
Americans as a whole do not possess the civic virtue that the Founders were hoping for. Sure, there are a vast majority of people who do (there are over 300 million people). But there is also a majority of people that do not take full care in the decisions of the government and in the common good of the people. It is known that many Americans are ignorant to many of the facts of politics and global issues. It is also known that many people are willing to just sit down for a minute and read about today's news so they are informed of what is happening in the world. So, in general, the idea of civic virtue and the American people do not go hand-in-hand 100 percent. The people as a whole should all work harder to devoting time in gaining intelligence of political issues and develop their own opinions on them because that that is what being an independent is all about: having an own opinion about anything. And that has always been something that Americans have had access to and it is time that we start taking advantage of that and not forget it.
oneporkermcgee i completely agree with. America as a whole is lacking civic virtue. I think that SKHS has an unusual amount of virtue. Not enough people care what happens in the world, or in our country as long as their life isnt effected. There are of course exceptions, but as a whole i think our founding fathers would be disappointed in the lack of concern our society has.
Yes, Americans do (for the majority) possess the civic virtue that the founders admired. It is represented differently, but it is there in two different ways. One, as I mentioned in Question One, we all give to the common good by simply paying our taxes. A portion of our taxes go to government operated systems. Like food stamps, welfare, homeless shelters, and medicaid. Even though paying taxes is mandatory, most people would not change how we currently support and help those in poverty.
The second way we still possess civic virtue is by direct donation and simple acts of kindness. We ALL do them everyday; giving a dollar to the Hungary Childrens Fund at the supermarket, donating ten dollars to the High Schools football team, holding the door open for people, donating clothes, picking up something something someone dropped, or even just smiling at a complete stranger. These simple acts promote the common good by simply making life easier and more enjoyable for everyone.
It would depend on your perspective about people today verses people of revolutionary America. Optimistic people would say that today there is civic virtue like way back when. pessimistic people would say that people don't. it's all about how you look at what happens in the world like 9/11, the cold war and slavery.then and now. i would say that people are relativly the same, although that is a generalization because not everyone is the same.
The answer would depend on perspective. optimistic people would say that people today do posses those virtues while pessimistic people would disagree. It all counts on how you look at then verses now. You need to look at the things that are happening today and what happened then like slavery, imperialism, 9/11, and the war on terror. in my mind people are relativly the same considering people are all different.
Yes, Americans do for the majority posses the civic virtue that the founders admired. It is represented differently, but it is there in two different ways. One, as I mentioned in Question One, we all give to the common good by simply paying our taxes. A portion of our taxes go to government operated systems like food stamps, welfare, homeless shelters, and medicaid. Even though paying taxes is mandatory, most people would not change how we currently support and help those in poverty.
The second way we still possess civic virtue is by direct donation and simple acts of kindness. We ALL do them everyday; Givinga dollar to the Hungary Childrens Fund at your supermarket, donating 10$ to the High Schools football team, holding the door open for people, donating clothes and books and other various items, picking up peoples trash, or even just smiling and being polite to a complete stanger. These simple acts promote the common good by simply ,aling life easier and more enjoyable for everyone.
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