Education Guidebook - Online Education Guide

Children are never too young to learn how to be good citizens. “Explain to your children that they are citizens of many communities-their town, the country and the world,” says Sharon Bergen, senior vice president of education and training for Knowledge Learning Corporation, the nation’s leading provider of early childhood care and education. “Most important,” says Bergen, “is for parents to model good citizenship.”

Bergen suggests parents explain to their children that being good citizens means caring about others. She offers these tips:

Start by encouraging citizenship at the local level. Encourage your children to help elderly neighbors-without payment. At school, they can organize a recycling drive to benefit a local charity. Instill the habit of volunteerism by helping at a library or animal shelter.

Children can learn to appreciate their heritage. For example, parents can explain why Americans celebrate the Fourth of July and Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday.

To drive home the concept that we are all citizens of the world, teach respect for the environment and for other cultures. As a family, join a cleanup project on Earth Day or contribute time and money to assist victims of natural disasters worldwide.

With a little effort, children will grow up to take seriously their citizenship in the many communities in which they live.

While it may surprise some, a noted theologian says a person can be religious and still believe in the theory of evolution. “Not only is it possible, but it’s essential to a fuller understanding of the way God creates,” says theologian John Haught of Georgetown Uni-versity, a Roman Catholic.

Haught, one of the speakers at the New York Academy of Sciences’ recent Teaching Evolution and the Nature of Science Conference, believes the controversy over whether evolution should be taught in schools overlooks the fact that science and religion are “different disciplines that ask different questions.”

According to Haught, embracing scientific truths does not mandate a rejection of all religion. “Science alone doesn’t tell us everything we need to know, as it focuses on the observable world,” he says. “We may still profitably consult the religions of the world to find the deepest understandings of life and the universe.”

Haught emphasizes that both religion and science share a common purpose-to fulfill humankind’s thirst for truth. “Evolution teaches us that God creates a world that in some sense can create itself. Such a God is much more impressive than the ‘intelligent designer’ proposed by the anti-evolutionists,” he says.

Founded in 1817, the New York Academy of Sciences is a worldwide nonprofit membership organization committed to building communities and advancing science.