Unit 1 Resources: Foundations of American Citizenship - Deerlake ...

Name Date ClassEnrichment Activity 5The Peace CorpsDIRECTIONS: Today the responsibilities of citizenship extend well beyond the bordersof the local community. In his message to Congress on establishing a PeaceCorps on March 2, 1961, President John F. Kennedy made this point. Read thefollowing excerpts from his speech and then answer the questions on a separatesheet of paper.Copyright © by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.. . . Peace Corps members will often serve under conditions of physicalhardship, living under primitive conditions among the people of developingnations. For every Peace Corps member service will mean a great financialsacrifice. They will receive no salary. Instead they will be given an allowancewhich will only be sufficient to meet their basic needs and maintain health. Itis essential that Peace Corps men and women live simply and unostentatiouslyamong the people they have come to assist. . . .The benefits of the Peace Corps will not be limited to the countries in whichit serves. Our own young men and women will be enriched by the experienceof living and working in foreign lands. They will have acquired new skills andexperience which will aid them in their future careers and add to our owncountry’s supply of trained personnel and teachers. They will return better ableto assume the responsibilities of American citizenship and with greater understandingof our global responsibilities.. . . Our own freedom, and the future of freedom around the world, depend,in a very real sense, on [the] ability [of people in developing countries] to buildgrowing and independent nations where men can live in dignity, liberated fromthe bonds of hunger, ignorance and poverty.One of the greatest obstacles to the achievement of this goal is the lack oftrained men and women with the skill to teach the young and assist in theoperation of development projects—men and women with the capacity to copewith the demands of swiftly evolving economies, and with the dedication to putthat capacity to work in the villages, the mountains, the towns and the factoriesof dozens of struggling nations.[We] have in this country an immense reservoir of dedicated men andwomen willing to devote their life energies and time and toil to the cause ofworld peace and human progress.1. On what did President Kennedy say our freedom and the future of freedomaround the world depended?2. What rewards would working in the Peace Corps bring to the volunteers?3. CRITICAL THINKING What might Peace Corps volunteers be able to accomplishbetter than highly paid professionals? Why?4. CRITICAL THINKING How do you think working as a Peace Corps volunteerwould help you better understand our nation’s global responsibilities?CHAPTER 581