U.S. Role in a Changing World: Youth Speak Out
Report on Student Views—January 2005
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During the year leading up to the 2004 national elections, high school students across the country wrestled with the question of our nation’s role in the world. Study and discussion took place both in class and in extracurricular programs and involved consideration of a wide range of current international issues. At the core of students’ deliberations was a framework of four divergent policy directions—four Futures. An online ballot was developed to provide an opportunity for students to register their views on key international issues and then to have those views presented to elected officials at the start of the new administration in January 2005. More than 8,200 students participated in the online ballot during this period.
The U.S. Role in the World: A Report on Student Views was released in January 2005. Senators Chuck Hagel (R-NE) and Jack Reed (D-RI) distributed the report to their colleagues in the U.S. Senate, and Representatives Patrick Kennedy (D-RI) and Christopher Shays (R-CT) did the same in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Most students participating in the online ballot had worked with the The U.S. Role in a Changing World in their classes, as part of their participation in the Choices Program’s Capitol Forum on America’s Future or Youth Speak Out, or in Youth Circles sponsored by The People Speak, a program of the UN Foundation. Ballots were entered online between March 1, 2004 and January 7, 2005.
The U.S. Role in the World: Youth Speak Out is a program of the Choices Program at Brown University's Watson Institute. Additional online and published curriculum resources are available from the Choices Program.