Civitas Home Page
            &n bsp; 

First Civitas Discussion this Saturday, Sept. 2

We want to remind you that the first Civitas Youth Discussion Group of the year is this Saturday, September 2 at Crossroads School (map) from 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM.  Crossroads is at 500 DeBaliviere; St. Louis, MO  63112.  If you need directions to get to Crossroads, simply go to www.mapquest.com (the directions section) and enter your home as your starting location and the Crossroads address as your ending location.

While we are making a special effort to attract new students for this discussion session, we invite non-freshmen who came to only a few of our activities last year to be there as well.  And since we like to be inclusive, we would be happy to see any "veteran" Civitas participants who want to help us explain the nature of our programs as well as act as "role models" in our discussion.

The first fifteen minutes or so will be a discussion about the nature of our Civitas programs.  We welcome any and all questions.  The rest of the time will be free and open discussion time (although we will have a fifteen minute break in the middle for delicious, nutritious, and non-nutritious snacks!).  We like to have our discussion topics be a mixture of international, national, local, and youth-based issues.  While it is up to you, the students, to determine what we actually discuss on these Saturdays, let us make a few suggestions for this first one:

1. How did the United States get involved in Iraq?  What, if any, mistakes were made along the way?  What options does the United States have now if it wants to bring its troops home from Iraq?
   
   
2. Why did we just have a war in the Middle East between the state of Israel and a group called Hezboullah?  Why do the roots of this conflict go back thousands of year?  What are the obstacles to long-term peace in this part of the world?  What role, if any, should either the United Nations or the United States play in trying to promote peace?
   
   
3. The current minimum wage for adult workers in the United States is $5.15 per hour ($10,712 per year; less if there is no paid vacation time).  The U.S. Congress just defeated a bill to raise the minimum wage.  Why did that happen?  In the state of Missouri, voters will have an opportunity to raise it to $6.50 per hour in this November's election.  What are the chances of that happening?  Why do some people oppose raising the minimum wage?
   
   
4. One of the on-going issues in education is whether it is best for students to go to coed or single-gender schools.   Some tnink that girls-only schools are okay but boys-only schools are not.  Others feel that coed schools better reflect reality and our schools should do their best to model reality.  What do you think?

Remember, you are free to come suggest any other topic that you would like.  If you wish, you can e-mail us a suggested topic in advance.

In September and October, we will have four other discussion groups.  We know that you have busy schedules (even if it includes sleeping in on weekends), but we hope that you can make as many of these as possible.  You will have excellent opportunities to meet students from other schools and to engage in discussions that are vital to our present and our future!

MEETING FOR HIGH SCHOOL FACULTY ADVISORS
 ON SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 9

 "MR. SMITH" MOVIE CONTINUES AT TIVOLI THEATER

There has been a great deal of interest in in the Civitas community about the movie, "CAN MR. SMITH GET TO WASHINGTON ANYMORE?"  We wanted to let you know that the movie will continue at the Tivoli until at least this Thursday, August 21.

CALENDAR for 2006-2007 SCHOOL YEAR

September & October, 2006

(Actual events in bold)

Reinventing U.N.Conference Home Page