Did You Miss Our Final Hearings? Get a Recap Here on How to Create an Expectation of Service.
On June 20, the Commission held its final two hearings at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum in Hyde Park, New York. This was the culmination of fourteen hearings that the Commission held after releasing its Interim Report earlier this year.
For the last two hearings, the Commission met to ponder an important question: How can we, as a country, create an expectation of service?
As we traveled around the country talking with everyday Americans and experts alike about how to create a culture of service, time and time again people recommended we look at the decline of civic education in K-12 classrooms. Although forty-four states and the District of Columbia require students to pass a civics or U.S. government course as a condition of graduation, the length of those courses, their curricula, and their instructional standards vary greatly between schools, cities, states.
Civic education was not an issue that we sought to examine originally, until we found studies that show that a robust civic education improves civic health in many ways — by increasing voter participation, reducing dropout rates, and encouraging constructive community engagement. Students who receive effective civic education are four times more likely to volunteer and participate in their communities. To create an expectation and a culture of service in the United States, it is vital to incorporate meaningful civic instruction and service learning opportunities into the educational experience at all levels.
During the first hearing, panelists discussed the impact a strong civic education can have on young Americans and how enhancing service in K-12 school curriculum can have positive lasting effects.
Panelists included:
• Mr. Derek Black, Professor of Law, University of South Carolina School of Law
• Ms. Annie Hsiao, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Discretionary Grants and Support Services in the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, U.S. Department of Education
• Dr. Kei Kawashima-Ginsberg, Director of The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE), Tufts University
• Ms. Ananya Singh, Youth Advisory Council Mentor, National Youth Leadership Council
• Mr. Alhassan Susso, 2019 New York State Teacher of the Year, International Community High School
While civic education might be the start to creating a culture of service, how do we get more Americans engaged and inspired to serve? The Commission has looked at opportunities and barriers to service through research on aspiration, awareness, and access. The second hearing explored creating an expectation of service in the U.S. through designing a better infrastructure to serve by increasing awareness of and facilitating access to opportunities.
During our first year of work, we learned many Americans are not aware of and have trouble accessing the opportunities available to them across all streams of service — military, national, and public. We also learned that service organizations have mixed experiences in identifying and recruiting individuals that fit their needs.
To ensure that all Americans have a clear and supported path to service, the Commission is considering recommendations that include creating a voluntary service registration system. To help guide the June 20 hearing, Commission staff released a memo that outlined one such system. As seen in the diagram below, this approach would connect individual Americans with organizations and opportunities in military, national, or public service. For individuals, the idea is to increase awareness and facilitate access to opportunities. For organizations, it would help them to identify candidates that meet their needs and have an interest in serving their country or communities. It is possible this system could be offered to all registrants for the current Selective Service System, on an “opt-in” basis, to ensure that as many Americans as possible are aware of the opportunities presented through voluntary service.
Panelists included:
• Brigadier General Derin Durham, Deputy Commander, Air Force Recruiting Service
• Dr. Ben Ho, Associate Professor of Economics, Vassar College
• Dr. Dorothy Stoneman, Founder and Former CEO of YouthBuild USA, Inc., Senior Advisor for Opportunity Youth United
• Mr. Drew Train, Co-Founder and President, OBERLAND
• Mr. Dakota Wood, Senior Research Fellow for Defense Programs at the Center for National Defense, Davis Institute for National Security and Foreign Policy, The Heritage Foundation
Have thoughts on how to create an expectation of service in America? Our public hearings might have come to an end, but the Commission is accepting public comments until December 31, 2019, so please make sure share your thoughts on our website on any aspect of our mandate or on the eight staff memorandums released this year in conjunction with our hearings. The two memorandums released in conjunction with this hearing included Civic Education and An Infrastructure to Serve America.
Were you unable to join us at the FDR Library? Did you miss one of our fourteen hearings? Make sure to watch them on YouTube and read the hearing transcripts.
