Citizenship and
Patriotism
Citizenship requires doing our share for our community and our
country. Being a good citizen means caring about the good of society and
participating actively to make things better.
Patriotism is an important part of good citizenship. Patriotism
is love of and loyalty to our country. It involves honouring the
democratic ideals on which the country is based and expecting elected officials
to do the same, respecting and obeying its laws and honouring its flag and
other symbols. It also involves accepting the responsibilities of good
citizenship, such as keeping informed about national issues, voting,
volunteering and serving the country in times of war.
The first and foremost quality asked
of a good citizen is patriotism. He should have a genuine love for his
country and should have a sense of involvement in its day to day affairs, in
its economic policies and its international relationships. All this cannot be
achieved overnight: it is the product of
a good training and a good heritage and various other factors contribute
towards patriotic feelings. The first among these is the right kind of
upbringing. If a child hears only stories of betrayal and listens to a discussion of the various
methods of making easy money, he is unlikely to acquire any good
qualities. Honesty, integrity and self-respect are the qualities of a good citizen that can only be nurtured at
home. These form the foundation of good citizenship.
Being a Good Citizen
Good Citizens know where
they fit into society and how to do the best they can to keep that place
clean, healthy, well-managed and informed. They care about what happens to
other people around them, and how things going on now will affect the lives of
their children and their children's children. They understand how the world
works so they can take action to fix things when they go wrong, and to maintain
things that are going right. They stay informed on important topics. They
devote time to improving the world so they leave it better than they found it.
They understand that everyone working together is much more powerful than
everyone working only for their own betterment. They understand that making oneself
a better person makes the world a better place.
COMPREHENSION
1. Circle a, b, or c, in each statement below. Only one choice is
correct.
1.1. Patriotism is…
a) When you love your country and are proud of it.
b) Believing or showing an unreasonable belief that your own country or
race is the best or most important.
c) (The crime of) showing no
loyalty to your country, especially by helping its enemies or attempting to
defeat its government.
1.2. Honesty, integrity and
self-respect are...
a) Unimportant qualities for good citizenship.
b) The foundation of good citizenship.
c) bad
qualities.
1.3. Being a good citizen means …
a) Being an active member in your society.
b) Being a passive member in your
society.
c) Being a disloyal citizen to your
country.
1.4. Good Citizens...
a) Care about others.
b) Do not care about others.
c) Do not respect the others.
2. Answer the following questions briefly, in your own words as far as
possible.
a. What
does patriotism involve?
………………………………………...……………………………………………….………………………………………………………………………………………………………….........................…...
b. What should a good citizen have?
………………………………………...……………………………………………….………………………………………………………………………………………………………….........................…...
c. What are the good qualities for
good citizenship?
………………………………………...……………………………………………….………………………………………………………………………………………………………….........................…...
3. Complete the following diagram with the right quality which is
related to patriotism and citizenship from the box below.
4. Put the words between brackets before the appropriate definition/
meaning.
(Flag, genuine, upbringing, betrayal, integrity, betterment)
1……………………………….: If something is
genuine, it is real and exactly what it appears to be.
2……………………………….: an act of betraying
someone or something, or when someone or something is betrayed.
3……………………………….: the quality of being honest and having strong moral
principles that you refuse to change.
4……………………………….: the way in which someone is treated and
educated when they are young, especially by their parents, especially in
relation to the effect which this has on how they behave and make moral
decisions.
5……………………………….:
improvement.
6……………………………….: a piece of cloth,
usually rectangular and fixed to a pole at one edge, that has a pattern which
shows it represents a country or a group, or has a particular meaning.
5. Find in the text the antonyms of the following words.
a. Loyalty (paragraph 2) #…………………………….
b. not true
(paragraph 2) #…………………………….
6. What do the underlined words in the text refer to?
a. It
(paragraph 1) :…………………….……………
b. He
(paragraph 2) :…………………….……………
c. He
(paragraph 2) :…………………….……………
d. These (paragraph 2) :…………………….……………
e. They (paragraph 3) :…………………….……………