One of the primary ways in which young people acquire civic knowledge and skills is through social studies courses. The public school system traditionally has a purpose in the development of citizens However, the major responsibility for providing explicit civics instruction and experiences rests with the social studies curricula. How do social studies teachers today negotiate their way through changing national and global contexts, through civic identities that are torn between the national and global? The primary purpose of this paper is to suggest some of the understandings preservice teachers should develop, and the experiences they should have to nurture the civic identity of young people in a multicultural, globally interdependent society. The paper examines two models of good citizens, (1) traditional, and (2) future-oriented. It describes their conceptualizations of the good citizen, and identifies the characteristics suggested as essential. It examines the degree to which young people today reflect those characteristics. It is the gap between the characteristics of the ideal citizen (traditional and future-oriented) and the characteristics of the young people today, as suggested by the research, that best informs those interested in the preparation of social studies teachers. The paper finds that social studies methods classes provide preservice teachers with many opportunities to practice methods that facilitate perspective-taking and that educators need to consciously integrate global perspectives and issues into their methods courses. (Contains 5 notes, 2 tables, and 40 references.) (BT)