A quality education does more than just teach facts and figures. It also provides a foundation for students to contribute to civic life as informed citizens actively.

Students who participate in civic responsibilities or community service will reap many benefits. Civic duties provide a sense of purpose, connection, and fulfillment. They also allow students to practice and improve their social skills.

Civic education is, therefore, an important part of educating students about the world around them. It teaches social responsibility and produces responsible citizens who will transmit the value of civic engagement to future generations. When citizens participate in the improvement of our communities, everyone benefits.

Understanding Civic Responsibility

“Civic duty” refers to the active, voluntary participation of individuals in community life. This can take many different forms, depending on the role involved and the community in question. It could involve taking a strong leadership position, or it could simply involve helping out with community service and playing your part.

Taking an active role in some form of community is important for mental health and a sense of accomplishment. Not only does it improve a student’s quality of life, it also helps to reduce alienation.

Research suggests there is a direct correlation between happiness and volunteering. A large-scale study of people in the UK reported their happiness levels rose considerably after they participated in community service, and those levels continued to rise the more they volunteered. It doesn’t stop there. Another study of more than 70,000 people in the UK found that happiness rose even among people who were happy before volunteering. Each study was cross-generational and based on datasets occurring over a 20-year period. 

Civic responsibility examples for students

Community involvement can take many forms.

• Volunteering for a social purpose is a popular and important form of community involvement. This could be anything from helping at a homeless shelter to cleaning up with environmental groups.
• Religious and spiritual groups often provide avenues for social involvement for students. This could include attending and running youth groups or helping with weekly services.
• Clubs, sports, and other extracurriculars are common forms of community involvement for students. If your student has a hobby or passion but cannot find a local group that caters to it, they can become a leader by starting one.
• Political engagement is an option, even for students too young to vote. People of any age are allowed to organize and express their opinions as part of the democratic process in the United States.

Students may play different roles in each type of community engagement. They may choose to be leaders or founders, or they may simply choose to help others.

Benefits of Community Involvement for Students

Being involved in a community provides many benefits to students. It is especially important for homeschooling students, who may have less frequent social opportunities outside the home.

Community involvement provides academic and intellectual benefits by allowing students to practice and extend their knowledge of social studies in real-life situations. A student who is politically involved can apply their knowledge of the US Government, for example.

Community involvement also provides personal development. Students who engage with their community will strengthen their social skills by facing and overcoming social challenges. They will also gain a sense of purpose by working for a cause greater than themselves.

There are also practical benefits to student volunteering, as well. In a survey of 10,000 college administrators, researchers found that over 58% of respondents said community service positively affected acceptance rates. More than half said volunteering was a tie-breaker when candidates competed for limited spots. Students heading directly into the workforce should also consider putting their community service on their resumes and job applications. Multiple studies show candidates have a higher chance of landing a job if they’ve volunteered in their communities.  

By its nature, community involvement implies benefits beyond individual students. Making a difference in the community is a common good and will typically reflect positively on the students involved.

Teaching Community Involvement in Educational Settings

Becoming involved with a homeschooling community is a great way to teach students about community involvement. This is especially true with a group community. These communities provide students with a wide variety of experiences, both social and academic, and more opportunities for community engagement.

Look for opportunities in your area. Many nonprofit groups, such as libraries, environmental groups, and religious institutions, encourage young people to participate and may welcome student volunteer help. VolunteerMatch is a fantastic resource for identifying community service opportunities in your locality, while DoSomething provides resources about engagement opportunities in the fields of education, mental health, and social justice. 

Use lessons as an opportunity to foster community involvement. If you teach the United States Constitution, for example, you can use this time to show them how to contact and become involved with their local congressperson. If you are teaching environmental science, this can be a great opportunity for a field trip to help an environmental group.

Challenges with Community Involvement for Homeschoolers

One challenge for home educators is finding a community to engage with in the first place. This varies from place to place. Students who live in remote rural areas may find it more difficult to connect with community groups than those who live in more urban areas. However, they may have more success connecting with regional communities online and occasionally meeting in person.

Some students may be reluctant to become involved or even resentful of the idea. The appeal of community engagement varies widely from student to student, and that’s completely normal. Not everyone has an innate desire to become president. If your student is reluctant to get involved, think of what activities or interests they already enjoy and look for some sort of community revolving around them.

Time is a limited resource, and community engagement is often sacrificed to make way for other activities. Prioritizing student academic success over community involvement is understandable, of course, especially if they’re struggling in a core area like reading. However, civic activities are a great way to fill the schedules of students who are performing well academically and have some extra time.

Teaching Students the Value of Civic Responsibility

Whether you choose to engage in civil society actively or not, the world around us demands some amount of participation. For example, paying taxes and showing up for jury duty are both forms of civic duties that are sometimes unavoidable.

These worthy civic contributions shouldn’t be the end of one’s participation in broader society, however. A person who participates in other forms of social engagement, such as volunteering or leading a club, will reap many benefits both intrinsically and extrinsically.

As an educator, it’s important to instill this value in students early so that they can carry it with them for the rest of their lives. At a time when public institutions and trust are on the decline, this has never been more important.

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