Bringing about a new vision for the improvement of an American national community will not be a successful endeavor if it be a fragmented initiative lacking a clearly outlined understanding of what is needed to achieve a healthy communities, healthy individuals, and healthy economies. As it is, their are limitations to the solutions the federal government can offer leading to dynamic efficacy in the required resolutions to address long-standing social issues. Manifesting the actionable answers entails asking the right questions, in order to solve the actual problems.
Unto whom should we look for leadership, and how do we replicate these kind of individuals on a grand scale? What are nonnegotiable qualities and characteristics that such leaders should exhibit, and how do we support their process, that it be efficient and effective in its undertakings?
The notion of civic participation on a local and national level has had a series of adaptations over the decades, largely running in a wayward direction to the continual familial and nation-wide perspective to grow economy. Establishing such mindsets and forming the kind of awareness needed to support such success involves a confluence or ‘pulling together’ of community to provide right kind of supports and accommodations for such an environment to function properly. Beyond President John F. Kennedy’s call to consider what we can do for our country, the reality on the ground is that on a whole, our nation’s public school educational curriculum is not adequately understanding the dire need to inculcate not only professionals in a given trade, industry or field, but professionals who are critical thinkers participating in democracy. Individual economic growth continues to be the culturally-prescribed measure of individual success. Underpinning this paradigm is an institutionalized indifference, even a dismissive ignorance, that we do not all attain to the same quality education, and we do not all enjoy the same social opportunities.
Slowly, over time, a shift in educational curriculum can change the kind of American citizenry which would create a new era of leadership that:
(1) participates in democracy through writing and speaking, and the undertaking of community-strengthening projects
(2) earns a living through social enterprise, that is more outspoken on a local and national level, and ultimately, are able to self-sustain financially as they help bring about practical solutions to social maladies, and issues besetting community
Social enterprising cannot be the end all be all answer, but certainly, educational curriculum that acknowledges the importance of supporting the rise of a more critical thinking class of professionals can render a greater proportion of civic participants versed in writing, and public speaking. These civically-minded critical thinkers may not be social entrepreneurs, but they may be doctors, engineers, technology professionals, lawyers, judges, teachers, parents, and trade professionals who have been educated to confidently add, balance, call out, and shape the national conversation, as a counterweight to organized special interests groups who may fund large, corporate mainstream news outlets to skew the information we receive (and don’t receive) in their favor.
More civic participation is needed from fellow Americans. Educational curriculum has to support this development, and it has to start with individuals working with community. Social enterprising places the care taking of community before profit, though it should not disregard it. Poverty, drugs, environmental degradation, human rights issues, these all can and should be addressed at the local level through individual engineering of project-based missions, with the most successful of these being identified and replicated.
In closing, the delivery of practical solutions to long-standing social issues begins with changes to educational curriculum at the grade school and university level. It is social engineering from the ground level upwards, and is in effect… a new art form with ordinary American citizens being trained and brought up to engineer the betterment of local life. What makes it artistic, is that the writers, speakers, and social enterprisers bring their own unique views forward, making their own signature mark. This local to national action delivers itself as the creative direction and energy in firstly forming organizations of social purpose that prove themselves to be effective in their goals and their ability to operate as a business, with an ultimate phase of scaling nationally through networking with local business, organizations and government across counties and states.
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