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Capitol Forum on America's Future
Co-sponsored with the Nebraska Secretary of State, Capitol Forum encourages high school students to better understand American democratic values and examine global issues facing the U.S. Students participate in discussions and deliberations with their peers from across the state and members of our elected congressional delegation.
September 2011 Teachers statewide chosen for 14th Capitol Forum
Thirty high school teachers from schools across the state have been chosen to participate in the 14th annual Nebraska Capitol Forum on America’s Future. Through Capitol Forum, high school social studies teachers and their students will engage in discussion of our nation’s future in a changing international environment.
A program of the Choices for the 21st Century Project of Brown University’s Watson Institute for International Studies, Capitol Forum seeks to develop a foundation for long-term civic engagement by giving students a voice in public consideration of current issues. Students study and discuss various positions on global concerns to better understand options and their consequences. Global issues to be discussed include terrorism, nuclear weapon proliferation, immigration, trade and the global economy, and environmental concerns.
Dennis Fornander of North Platte and Heidi Reinhart of Duchesne Academy will participate as lead teachers. Together, they have 12 years of combined Capitol Forum experience.
Selected teachers represent rural, urban, public and private schools. Five of the teachers and three of the schools are new to the program this year.
On Aug. 1, the teachers gathered at Educational Service Unit #16 in North Platte to discuss Capitol Forum curriculum and teaching strategies. Guest speaker Army Lt. Col. Jeffrey Scot Davis of U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) in Colorado Springs, Colo., led teachers in a discussion of the role of USNORTHCOM and the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) in a 21st century world in order to gain insights and approaches to address topics of homeland security and terrorism in their classrooms.
This school year, students will study and discuss Capitol Forum issues in preparation for a March 26 visit to the State Capitol, where class representatives will report and deliberate on the international concerns of their classmates and have opportunities to question members of Nebraska’s congressional delegation about global issues and foreign policy.
The Nebraska Humanities Council presents Capitol Forum in collaboration with the office of Secretary of State John Gale and with funding support in 2011 from the Dillon Foundation, Tom and Rhonda Peed, A to Z Printing, the “We the People” initiative of the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Nebraska Cultural Endowment, the State of Nebraska, and private donations.
Schools and teachers chosen for the 14th Capitol Forum are:
July 2011 Nebraska high school students still fear proliferation
Results of a recent survey indicate that Nebraska high school students continue to be concerned about the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
Nearly 500 students statewide completed the survey in April and May expressing their concerns, priorities and visions for U.S. foreign policy as part of the 13th annual Nebraska Capitol Forum on America’s Future, co-sponsored by the Nebraska Humanities Council and the office of Secretary of State John Gale.
The survey asked students to rank four proposals for future U.S. foreign policy, which provide the core for the Capitol Forum program. In 2010 students agreed that the main objective should be to protect the U.S. homeland, but in 2011 more students favor a more cooperative world, while protecting U.S. global interests and protecting the U.S. homeland virtually tied at second.
When asked what concerns them most, 42 percent of respondents agreed that their top concern is that nuclear, biological and chemical weapons will proliferate and end up in the hands of terrorists. While the percentage has varied from year to year, this concern has consistently been the students’ top concern since 2002.
For complete details on what Nebraska high school students have to say about options for U.S. foreign policy, click on Capitol Forum Survey 2011 in the left-hand column. For comparison, we also offer survey results from 2010 and 2009.
Capitol Forum is a Choices for the 21st Century project, an outreach of Brown University’s Watson Institute for International Studies. The 2011 Capitol Forum was funded in part by the Dillon Foundation, A to Z Printing, Tom and Rhonda Peed, the Nebraska Cultural Endowment, the State of Nebraska, and the We the People initiative of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
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