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Making the Rules
A Public Achievement Guidebook for Young People Who Intend to Make a Difference, continued

by Melissa Bass, in collaboration with Harry Boyte, Tim Sheldon, Walter Enloe, Jamie Martinez, Ginger Mitchell, Rachel Boyte-Evans, Project Public Life, and The Center for Democracy and Citizenship.

Manual Index

Introduction: How To Use This Workbook
Chapter One: The Framework
Chapter Two: Discovering Your Self-Interest
Chapter Three: Stepping into Public Life
Chapter Four: Encountering Diversity
Chapter Five: Building Power
Chapter Six: Taking Action
Resources

Contents

Resource A: Fighting For Our Lives - song
Resource B: Glossary
Resource C: Guidelines and Resources for Coaches
Resource D: More About Public Achievement
Resource E: More Avenues to Explore
Comments: Tell Us What You Think

Resource A: Fighting For Our Lives

words: Larry Long/Youth and Democracy Participants
music: Larry Long copyright Larry Long Publishing 1990/BMI
All rights reserved
Notation courtesy of Becky Post

Fighting For Our Lives was collectively written with participants at the Youth and Democracy Conference, April 1989. The chorus was written entirely by participants. The verses were selectively written by students representing different cultural regions of Minnesota; small town, family farms, suburbs, and inner city. The entire collective writing took one full day. The song was hotly debated by all, until a consensus was reached. If there was a division on any given line, a vote was taken and the decision was made. We hope you enjoy the song as much as we did writing it. A song is truly not a song, until it is given away. Enjoy. - Larry Long

Fighting For Our Lives

Down the streets of broken houses
Kids grow old before their time
The sirens are screaming
Between your house and mine
And there's a little baby crying
Papa's not at home
Mama's on the street
Left baby all alone

Chorus:
It's our thoughts
It's our future
Our voices and our lives
We are young
But we're not children
We're fighting for our lives

In the small towns of the country
You can hear the tires squeal
To the malls in the suburbs
Where the streets are getting filled
With the farmers' money
There's something going down
All the stores on Main Street
Are falling to the ground

In the suburbs of the city
Streets are quiet and still
Farmland turning into houses
Tearing down the hills
Making more room for buildings
There's trouble around the bend
Where did it start?
Where will it end?

From Laos into Thailand
Across the Mekong
River we came swimming
Through the night into the dawn
Now we miss our country
Now we miss our friends
How can we go back
When the killing never ends?

If I want to go to college
And get a degree
but I got no money
Into the infantry
Off to Guatemala,
El Salvador,
Mexico, Saudi Arabia—
Into a brutal war.

Treaties have been broken
Promises forgot
It's time to make a change
It will take a little thought
It will take a little action
It will take a little time
It will take a lot of people
To get this world into its prime

We're the next generation
Make sure we're not the last
Look forward to the future
But don't forget our past
We will make the difference
We know the fight is long
With our hope and our unity
Together we are strong . . .

Resource B: Glossary

The language we use is important: It serves as a map and guide for effective public action. Below is a quick list of the ideas and skills central to our work. Compare these definitions to what you came up with earlier in this book.

Public Concepts: The ideas that define the way we work.

Citizenship: The act of contributing to public life and participating in solving public problems.

Democracy: The idea that everyone has an active role to play governing our public world.

Diversity: The differences of ideas, opinions, histories, an cultures that exist among any people. Using these differences to solve problems is essential to citizen politics.

Politics: "The work of the citizen." The art and practice of working with diverse peoples to solve public problems.

Power: "To be able." The set of relationships we all have to one another that allows us to make changes and solve problems. Examples include knowledge, position, and numbers.

Public: An organized group (outside of your immediate family and friends) acting together to solve shared problems. We act differently in public life than private life because we want to accomplish different things.

Public Wisdom: The community's memory of how everyone's actions combine to make a difference over time. Using diversity to solve public problems creates public wisdom.

Self-Interest: What is important to you and motivates you to become involved in public life. Self-interest determines what you're willing to act on.

Public Arts: The skills we must learn and use in order to make a difference.

Accountability: Following through with an action you have agreed to do. Being responsible for tracking the results of the action.

Active Listening: The work that is required to understand others' self-interests. Requires recognizing your own self-interest—and not letting it get in the way of hearing a different perspective.

Disciplined Anger: Harnessing our frustration in a way that helps solve problems. Allows us to work with those we disagree with or who we may not like.

Evaluation: Examining what worked, what could have worked better, and how you felt about a public meeting, action, or event.

Imagination: The resourcefulness and open-mindedness to invent different ways of solving public problems. In order to change what isn't working, we must be able to envision a better way.

Interviewing: Asking probing questions to learn about others' self-interest.

Negotiation: Finding solutions that everybody can live with, by expressing your self-interest, discovering others' self-interest, discussing the problem, and debating suggested solutions.

Power Analysis: Figuring out who holds the power on a particular issue, why, and how your team can use this knowledge to solve public problems.

Public Judgment: A consensus opinion about a situation or issue, which is created after debate, discussion, and imagining alternatives. Opens the door to many different solutions to any one problem.

Storytelling: Using your past and your experiences to explain to others why you believe what you believe and to describe what is important to you.

Strategic Planning: Creating a workplan to help frame your team's actions.

Suspending Pre-judgment: Not allowing your own self-interest to affect what you hear when others are describing their self-interests.

Resource C: Guidelines and Resources for Coaches

This workbook is about getting young people to enter public life and make a difference in the public arena. But they are not they only ones who benefit from new concepts of politics and citizenship. The adults who work with them—the coaches—also learn to see themselves as public actors. Coaches learn skills of critical and conceptual thinking, listening, debate and argument, accountability, meeting planning, and strategy development which will serve them well in their public lives.

Coaches should act as guides, not directors, of the young people's work. Coaches have the capacity to help young people find out what matters to them, and to cultivate and nourish their interests and abilities. Coaches:

• help young people see that there is political possibility between apathy ("it can't be done") and perfectionism ("everything will be great");
• recognize and value the different ways young people contribute to decision making;
• encourage young people to move beyond the safety of their own way of seeing things to define and solve public problems;
• help young people channel frustrations into effective action;
• bring structure and pragmatism to the team's process; and
• help young people build alliances based on solving a public problems and thus gain power.

Our role is to tap the energy of young people to help them place their interest in a larger public framework, to learn how to work together, and recognize their own power.

- Dave Van Hattum, coach

Coaching Tips

Ask Questions: When all else fails, and even when it doesn't, ask questions. Probe and challenge the team's thinking.

Come Prepared: Before team meetings, think about what you need to do.

Think Political: Use the language and concepts of politics (problems, public, power, interest, etc.) in your discussion of your teams' problem and encourage them to use it as well.

Focus: Try to keep things on track.

Encourage Discussion and Argument: Ask the team members to respond to, and challenge one another's ideas.

Spread Responsibility: Have students rotate roles (chairing the meeting, taking notes, leading the evaluation, etc.).

Experiment with Teaching Styles:

• Call on people.
• Go around in a circle and have everyone give an answer or share an idea.
• Have them write down answers and evaluation points, then share with the group. This is especially helpful with shy kids.
• Have kids work in small groups of 2 or 3, then share answers and ideas with everyone.

Evaluate: Always evaluate at the end of each session. What went well? What needs to be done better? What do we need to do for next time?

Get it in Writing: Have the team put their problem, solution/goal, and weekly tasks in writing.

Use Your Resources: Talk to other coaches, teachers, group leaders, or call Project Public Life for more information. You can also read up on citizen politics, youth development, educational psychology, and other related subjects. See the following reading list for suggestions.

Have fun (when coaches do, so do the teams): "Put a lot of energy and enthusiasm into team work. I really believe that as coaches we are—beyond the public skill building—opening up some possibilities for kids wh can do something about issues that otherwise only frustrate and alienate them." - Dave Van Hattum, coach.

Remember, citizen politics is an experiment. There is no formula (you wouldn't want one anyway) and no right or wrong answers. Coaches can often teach off of their teams' mistakes (and their own) even better than their successes, so don't worry about being perfect.

Hang in there! At first it seemed so hard, but once it got rolling - it was great!

- Charles Teague, coach

Suggested Readings

Robert Archambault, ed., John Dewey on Education. (New York: Random House, 1964).

Brian Arvine, A Manual for Group Facilitators, Center for Conflict Resolution, 731 State St., Madison, WI 53703, 1978.

Harry Boyte, Reinventing Citizenship. Project Public Life, Humphrey Institute, 301- 19th Avenue S., Minneapolis, MN 55455.

Harry Boyte and Kate Hogg, Doing Politics: An Owner's Manual for Public Life. Project Public Life, Humphrey Institute, 301-19th Avenue S., Minneapolis, MN 55455.

Can't We All Just Get Along? A Manual for Discussion Programs on Raacism and Race Relations. Study Circle Resource Center, Box 203, Pomfret CT 06528.

Duane Dale, Dave Magnani, and Robin Miller, Beyond Experts: A Guide for Trainers. Center for Organizational and community Development, 225 Furcolo Hall, University of Massachusetts, Amherst MA 01003.

David Johnson, Joining Together. (New York: Prentice Hall, 1987).

Thomas Lickona, Educating for Character: How Our Schools Can Teach Respect and Responsibility. (New York: Bantham, 1991).

Barbara McEwan, Practicing Judicious Discipline: An Educators Guide to the Democratic Classroom. (Davis, CA: Caddo Gap Press, 1991).

Fred Newman, Educating for Citizen Action. (Berkeley: McCutchan, 1975).

The Next Progressive (magazine) P.O. Box 5675, Washington, D.C. 20016.

WhoCares (magazine) 1511 K Street N.W., Suite 1042, Washington, D.C. 20005.

Many thanks to Dr. Walter Enloe for providing much of this suggested reading list.

Organizations

Black Student Leadership Network
25 E Street, NW
Washington, D.C. 20001
(202) 628-8787

Campus Compact
Brown University, Box 1975
Providence, RI 02912
(401) 863-1119

Campus Outreach Opportunity League
(COOL)
411 Washington Ave. N., Suite 110
Minneapolis, MN 55401
(612) 333-2665

Teach for America (TFA)
One World Trade Center
78th Floor
New York, NY 10048
(800) 832-1230

U.S. Peace Corps
1990 K Street, NW
Washington, D.C. 20006
(800) 424-8580

This list of organizations was compiled with information from a more comprehensive guide in WhoCares, Spring 1994.

Resource D: More About Public Achievement

Public Achievement is the citizenship and youth service initiative of Project Public Life. Public Achievement brings together the young people and the leadership of existing organizations (schools, community groups, etc.), college students, and Public Achievement staff with two goals in mind. The first is to involve kids, teenagers, and young adults in public life, and the second is to change institutions that work with youth so that citizenship becomes integral to their work.

The Structure

Teams: The youth teams are the basic organizing unit of Public Achievement. The teams engage in citizenship and service work within their institutions, with coaches, to solve public problems that are important to them.

Organizations: The partner organizations create and maintain teams of young people, work with and support their teams' coaches, participate on the Public Achievement working group, and provide leadership in integrating citizenship and service into their institution.

The Public Achievement Working Group: This working group is composed of the leaders of the organizations that have created Public Achievement teams, and the Public Achievement staff. It makes decisions regarding the structure and implementation of Public Achievement.

Public Achievement Staff: The staff coordinates Public Achievement. This includes recruiting and training coaches, organizing conferences and training for the teams, coordinating the working group, and providing support and information to the partner organizations.

Coaches: Coaches are college students or adult leaders of youth organizations who act as guides for the youth teams as they engage in their public problem-solving work. They work closely with their professors, Public Achievement staff, and their host organizations to ensure that they gain an understanding of, and practical experience in, citizen politics.

Colleges: As colleges look to create and expand their citizenship and service-learning programs, many are finding that combining academic work with Public Achievement coaching provides their students with an important conceptual and practical experience in public life.

University students need more than book learning, if they are to be prepared for active citizenship. They need to experiment in civic learning, not only in the classroom, but in the broader classroom of public life.

- Dr. James Farr, Commencing a Public Life, 1994

Resource E: More Avenues to Explore

Organizations

Education

IDEALS Project
Nat'l Assoc. of Partners in Education
209 Madison Street, Suite 401
Alexandria, VA 22314
(703) 836-4880

Innovation Partners
1101 Johnson Street
Menlo Park, CA 94025
(415) 322-8366

National Youth Leadership Council
386 McNeal Hall
University of Minnesota
St. Paul, MN 55108
(612) 631-3672

Quality Education for Minorities
1818 N. Street, NW, Suite 350
Washington, D.C. 20036

Highlander Research and Education Center
Route 3, Box 370
New Market, TN 37820 (615) 933-3443

Service Internships and Fellowships

Public Allies
1511 K Street, NW, Suite 330
Washington, D.C. 20005
(202) 638-3300

Southern Community Partners
214 Taylor Education Building
North Carolina Central University
Durham, NC. 27707
(919) 683-1840 

National and Community Service Groups

4-H
340 Coffey Hall
University of Minnesota
St. Paul, MN 55057
(612) 625-9700

Young People for National Service
1511 K Street, NW, Suite 949
Washington, D.C. 20005

Corporation for National & Community Service
1100 Vermont Ave, NW, Suite 8100
Washington, D.C. 20525
(202) 606-5000

Points of Light Foundation
1737 H Street, NW
Washington, D.C. 20006
(202) 223-9186
 
Youth Service America (YSA)			
1101 15th Street NW, Suite 200			
Washington, D.C. 20005				
(202) 296-2992					

This list of organizations was compiled with information from a more comprehensive guide in WhoCares, Spring 1994.

CommentsWe want to hear how you've used this book, what worked, what didn't, and what suggestions you have for updating future editions. Please send us copies of the "Wrap-Up" pages at the end of the chapters, or use this page to write down your ideas and send it our way.  Thanks.  

Project Public Life, Center for Democracy and Citizenship, Humphrey Center 301 19th Ave. S. Minneapolis, MN 55455 612/625-0142.

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Manual Index

Introduction: How To Use This Workbook
Chapter One: The Framework
Chapter Two: Discovering Your Self-Interest
Chapter Three: Stepping into Public Life
Chapter Four: Encountering Diversity
Chapter Five: Building Power
Chapter Six: Taking Action
Resources