Critical Citzenship

"Critical Citizenship" is a term that I keep coming across in my research for my social inquiry project. It's come up in the book that I read "Reading and Writing for Social Action" by Randy and Katherine Bomer, and in the work of Ernest Morrell. The more I come across this term, the more I think about what am I personally doing? What do I stand for? What do I believe in? What matters to me? How do I make a stand for what matters to me within the constraints of a state funded public institution that mandates teachers not to give personal opinions?