[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 17]
[Senate]
[Page 22741]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




               SOWING THE SEEDS FOR DEMOCRACY IN CROATIA

  Mr. SMITH of Oregon. Mr. President, I rise today to bring to my 
colleagues' attention the Civitas International Civic Education 
Exchange Program--a program that is helping to promote democratic 
principles in emerging and established democracies throughout the 
world.
  The Civitas Exchange Program, administered by the Center for Civic 
Education and funded by the U.S. Department of Education under the 
Education for Democracy Act, engages educators from around the world in 
the development of effective civic education initiatives that can be 
implemented in their own countries. The program provides international 
leaders in civic education the opportunity to learn from one another 
and to assist each other in improving education for democracy in their 
nations.
  The Civitas Exchange Program makes use of the experience, expertise, 
and programmatic offerings of U.S.-based State and national civic 
education centers by linking them in partnerships with public and 
private sector entities in emerging and advanced democracies. The 
partnerships serve to institutionalize civic education in these 
nations, creating working relationships that lead to tangible results 
for both American and international students and teachers. Today the 
Civitas Exchange Program is operating in 30 countries linked with 22 
American States.
  One of those partnerships involves my home State of Oregon, and the 
States of Delaware and Maryland, linked with the country of Croatia. 
Marilyn Cover, the executive director of the Classroom Law Project in 
Portland, OR, manages the partnership. Ms. Cover recently brought a 
delegation of American teachers and Croatian educators to Capitol Hill 
to observe our system of government first hand. I am pleased to 
recognize the two Oregonian teachers participating in the exchange, 
Bert Key from Sandy Union High School in Sandy, OR and Maggie 
McSwiggen, from Vocational Village in Portland, OR. I would also like 
to recognize the Croatian teachers in the delegation, Jadranka 
Kostanjsak from Zagreb, Jasminka Zagorac from Zagreb, and Natalija 
Palcic from Split.
  These teachers, and others from Delaware and Maryland, are currently 
working with teachers from Croatia to develop a series of lessons 
comparing the Constitutions of the United States and Croatia, examining 
political parties within each country, and exploring ideas of personal 
and civic responsibility for use in their respective classes. Begun 
during a summer writing program, the teachers continue to refine their 
lessons through team teaching in classrooms in both the United States 
and Croatia. It is an excellent example of the reciprocal nature of the 
exchange, which provides benefits to American students and 
international students alike.
  The ideas exchanged in Oregon's partnership have led to at least two 
significant developments with the support of the Croatian Ministry of 
Education and Sport: first, as part of the exchange, an American civics 
curriculum, Foundations of Democracy program on justice, has been 
translated and is now a requirement in Croatian preschools and primary 
schools; second, We the People . . . Project Citizen, an American civic 
education program which engages young people in learning how to monitor 
and influence public policy, has become a requirement in grades 7 and 8 
for secondary schools in Croatia.
  The Civitas Exchange Program is an excellent example of how programs 
supported by the federal government can help achieve U.S. foreign 
policy objectives by helping emerging democracies develop a political 
culture supportive of democratic values, principles, and institutions. 
I wish to thank the Center for Civic Education for their successful 
administration of the Civitas program and applaud Oregonian Marilyn 
Cover for her excellent work in the project.

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