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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.
Teachers statewide chosen for 12th Capitol Forum
Twenty-seven high school teachers from schools across the state have been chosen to participate in the 12th annual Nebraska Capitol Forum on America’s Future.
Through Capitol Forum, social studies and government 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.
Selected teachers represent rural, urban, public and private schools. Schools and teachers chosen for the 12th Capitol Forum are: Ashland-Greenwood High School (Brian Petermann); West Holt High School, Atkinson (Chris Nemetz); Auburn High School (Bryce Roth); Bellevue West High School (Robin Kratina and Mike McLaughlin); Centura High School, Cairo (George Lytle); Crawford High School (Mary Gould-Traphagan); Dodge Public Schools (Mitch Hoffer); Falls City High School (Lori Rech); Twin River High School, Genoa (Ryan Sidwell); Grand Island Senior High School (Tamara Bailey); Hampton High School (Patrick Alexander); Cedar Catholic High School, Hartington (Audrey Freeman); Hastings High School (Robert Kerr); Hemingford High School (Dave Chatelain); Holdrege High School (Chad Bailey); Howells High School (Scott Polacek); Lincoln North Star High School (Jace Ahlberg); Pius X High School, Lincoln (Tom Seib); Millard West High School (Tim Royers); Norfolk Senior High School (Katherine Steinkamp); North Platte High School (N. Dennis Fornander); Duchesne Academy, Omaha (Heidi Reinhart); Rising City High School (Nonie Hrabik); Platteview High School, Springfield (Jon Comine); Sterling High School (Arlo Wusk); and Wilcox-Hildreth High School (Ken Meyers).
Eight of the teachers and four of the schools are new to the program this year. Robin Kratina of Bellevue West and Dennis Fornander of North Platte will participate as lead teachers. Together, they have 13 years of combined Capitol Forum experience.
On Aug. 3, the teachers gathered at the Strategic Air and Space Museum near Ashland to discuss Capitol Forum curriculum, teaching strategies, and approaches to teaching the history of genocide. Guest speaker Moshe Gershovich, professor of history at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, led a discussion on how to define genocide, categories of people involved, and reasons for studying and caring about the history of genocide.
When school begins this fall, students will study and discuss Capitol Forum issues in preparation for a March 29 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 from the Duncan Family Trust, “We the People” initiative of the National Endowment for the Humanities, Nebraska Cultural Endowment, and private donations.
Forum survey reveals concerns about U.S. status
Results of a recent survey indicate that Nebraska high school students are concerned about nuclear weapons and a decline in the United States’ status as an economic and international power.
Nearly 400 students throughout Nebraska completed the survey in April and May expressing their concerns, priorities and visions for our nation’s future as part of the 11th 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 distinct proposals for the future of U.S. foreign policy. Whereas students in 2008 agreed that the guiding principal should be to facilitate and encourage more international cooperation and to strengthen the United Nations’ role in international affairs, students in 2009 rejected that policy in favor of one in which the U.S. would protect itself and its global interests by being selective in international involvement, cultivating key trade relationships to ensure access to crucial materials, and stopping the spread of nuclear weapons.
When asked what concerns them most, 45 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. This has been students’ top concern in Nebraska and nationally since 2002. New to the list of top three concerns, ranking second with 38 percent, was that U.S. jobs will be lost to other countries.
Students were also asked what beliefs drive their thinking. As in past years, the top response was that U.S. resources should be focused on addressing poverty, crime and budget deficits at home. The second top response was split between international cooperation and a response new to the top three—that we will always have to compete with other nations for power.
Survey results showed little agreement among Nebraska students about what the U.S. should do. A crack-down on illegal immigration and a policy to accept fewer immigrants ranked first with 48 percent, down from 71 percent in 2007 and 61 percent in 2006. Three policies—using our military to stop human rights violations, eliminating nuclear weapons, and placing trade sanctions on countries that threaten their neighbors—competed for second with one percentage point or less between them.
Capitol Forum is a Choices for the 21st Century project, an outreach of Brown University’s Watson Institute for International Studies. The 2009 Nebraska Capitol Forum was funded in part by the Cooper Foundation, A to Z Printing, the Nebraska Cultural Endowment, and an appropriation by the Nebraska Legislature.
U.S. lawmakers participate in Capitol Forum
LINCOLN—All five members of Nebraska’s congressional delegation participated in the 11th annual Nebraska Capitol Forum on America’s Future on March 30 at the State Capitol.
U.S. Sens. Ben Nelson and Mike Johanns and U.S. Reps. Jeff Fortenberry, Lee Terry and Adrian Smith participated via video conferencing from Washington, D.C. The delegation answered foreign policy questions from a group of 90 high school students as part of a daylong forum in which the students discuss the U.S. role in today’s world. The forum is a collaboration of the Nebraska Humanities Council and Secretary of State John Gale.
The students and their teachers represented 21 high schools in Lincoln, Omaha, Ashland, Bellevue, Cairo, Dodge, Falls City, Genoa, Hampton, Hastings, Hemingford, Holdrege, Howells, Norfolk, North Platte, Springfield, Stella, Sterling, Sumner and Wilcox.
Capitol Forum is a civic education initiative designed to give high school students a voice in public policy. For six months, students have studied and deliberated foreign policy issues in the classroom. Student representatives from each school engaged in discussion among themselves and with policymakers on such issues as immigration, nuclear weapon proliferation, terrorism, international trade, and the global environment. They deliberated on four distinct options for the future of U.S. foreign policy, culminating in a conversation with members of Nebraska’s congressional delegation.
The day began at 8:30 a.m. with a welcome by Lt. Gov. Rick Sheehy in the Warner Chamber. Deliberation on the four futures began at 1:25 p.m. The students’ conversation with the congressional delegation was at 2:45 p.m.
Teachers and students returned home to share their experiences with classmates, broadening the impact of Capitol Forum to more than 1,200 students statewide. Classes will complete a ballot describing their view of America’s future role in the world. Ballot results will be compiled and distributed to elected officials, Nebraska schools and news media.
Capitol Forum is a Choices for the 21st Century project, an outreach educational program of Brown University’s Watson Institute for International Studies.
In Nebraska, Capitol Forum is funded in part by the Cooper Foundation, A to Z Printing, the Nebraska Cultural Endowment, and a state appropriation by the Nebraska Legislature.
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