Judges teach teens civility, life skills
In 1958, President Dwight D. Eisenhower designated May 1 as Law Day with the statement: “In a very real sense, the world no longer has a choice between force and law. If civilization is to survive it must choose the rule of law.”
Sixty years later, our children are teaching us the power of that message with their participation in real-life civics lessons of their own making. The conviction and initiative of these high school students are attracting the attention of all three branches of government and, in doing so, they are demonstrating this year’s Law Day theme: “Separation of Powers: Framework for Freedom.”
For our part, in the judicial branch, federal judges in the Southern District of Florida over the past six months have brought into our courtrooms more than 500 high school and college students to give them exposure to, and experience with civil discourse and decision-making practices that are not only legal skills but critical life skills.
Federal judges in West Palm Beach, Fort Pierce, Miami and Fort Lauderdale are the first to launch the program as part of a national civility and decision-making initiative that in Florida we call Teen Discourse and Decisions — TD-Squared. Volunteer attorneys, including members of local Federal Bar Association chapters, assist the presiding judge in guiding participants through a high-stakes case involving a peer caught up in a fictional but relatable scenario. Students use civil discourse skills during their jury deliberations to come to a verdict.
To prepare for the deliberations, the student jurors commit to ground rules for relating respectfully while working through the issues.
However, they quickly learn that civility doesn’t mean the process is devoid of emotion. On the contrary, reason is powered by passions deeply felt but constructively channeled.
Through this program and many life experiences as a judge, a lawyer and a mother, I have found that, even when emotions run high, young people have an innate sense of fair play. They understand, even when they fall short, that passion isn’t a license to be disrespectful to others.
I was moved to see how this philosophy came through in a commentary piece my 16-year-old son wrote for his high school newspaper. The title of his editorial is “Challenging Ideas, Not People.” In it, he reminded us that “we must find a way to have our voices heard and stand up for what we believe in, but not in a way that aims to threaten and embarrass others.” That mentality is at the heart of civil discourse.
In that way, TD-Squared is a practical civics lesson that has much to offer students, not only about managing their discourse but about making mindful decisions about their behavior. In fact, while we have the participants in the courtroom, we also introduce them to a series of everyday scenarios in which they could find themselves facing legal and long-term ramifications.
We talk through common situations that law-abiding students might face and we help them identify decision points and possible consequences.
Students leave the TD-Squared program three hours later with sharpened tools for civil discourse and solid decision making. They are armed with insights and guidance they can use to deploy the rule of law, rather than force, in the resolution of conflicts in their personal lives and in the life of our nation and our world.
ROBIN L. ROSENBERG,