At its core, this project is really just learning to be a good citizen, or at least a better one. I’m essentially looking to go to ‘citizen school’. When you go to school you have to get graded. So, I need a report card.
Unfortunately, unlike regular school, the curriculum to be a better citizen doesn’t yet exist. At least not that I have found. Certainly not in a format and with a completeness that I find satisfactory. So I’m going to have to build one.
Step one is figuring out my topics of study. I did that. I figured out what duties a citizen is required to fulfill. I then figured out what representatives I have to study up on so that I’m a well-informed citizen when it comes time to vote this time. I think came up with a list of issues that plague the world that I can work to resolve over time. And then promptly figured out the UN had a better one, so I replaced mine with that one.
Step 2 is putting together a report card to track my progress on this project. A way to track my course of study, so to speak.
Why a report card?
Report cards are not only used for school. They are surprisingly somewhat common in the political world. I’ll refrain from the politicians are like children joke. Report cards are frequently issued for legislators by advocacy groups, referencing their stances on various issues or policies. here are a few ways I expect to use it.
- Tracking tool: A progress report to track projects or knowledge accumulation. Also track skills gathered or still unrealized.
- Accountability tool: A way to keep this project on top of mind. To force me to finish what I’ve started.
- Benchmarking tool: Compare actions across time. Compare actions with other citizens (probably friends I can harass into filling out their own report card)
- Diagnostic tool: Identify gap in my citizenship productivity.
I actually found a report card, but it was designed for a citizen to grade the municipality, not the other way around. Of course, in my case, I’m using the report card to grade the citizen. In a sense, using it as a PDP – personal development plan. A formal way to outline lifestyle priorities and analyze opportunities for improvement. Because there doesn’t seem to be a definitive citizen report card, similar to the duties list, I’m going to create one.
Version 1 Report Card:
- Part 1 | Citizen Duties: Pick out a number of duties to focus on each quarter. Include actions and projects that incorporate those duties.
- Part 2 | My Reps: Work to identify and learn about each of my reps. Then identify one or more I may want to support politically, work with on a future project or volunteer for a campaign / issue.
- Part 3 | UN 17 SDGs: Work to understand all 17 SGDs in full. Pick out one or two specific SDGs to focus energy on. May change over the course of the project.
I’m expecting the items being tracked in my report card will change over time. This is Year 1, Q1. Let’s look at each section and explain what it is, what I plan to do and why I included it.
Photo: Chalkboard with A+ score written on it by Marco Verch under Creative Commons 2.0
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