Young people, citizenship and democracy
Today I wore a suit. It doesn’t happen very often. Usually I’m fairly informal in dress, as I’m occupied doing housework or painting pictures with my kids, or I’m working alongside youth workers or young people. Now and then I get a chance to dress up a little bit and it feels nice.
Today I dressed up for a youth conference. It was all about citizenship and democracy and involved about 100 kids. I came in on a discussion about citizenship lessons and it was quite enlightening. Out of the seven or eight young people in my group only half were having citizenship lessons, although others had had occasional lessons, or lessons in previous years. It was clear the young people thought the lessons were important, whether they were about legislative processes or drugs and alcohol. They had enjoyed lessons where they played games about jobs and mortgages, practiced dispensing criminal justice and took part in other highly participative activities. Sometimes they didn’t like the delivery, especially if it involved filling in worksheets. They also noted that the subject was often taught by form tutors who sometimes did not have the expertise to talk about the topics that arose. They suggested more use of outside experts and activities to keep the subjects alive.
When they were asked what they thought the lessons were for, there didn’t seem to be any common understanding of what they were supposed to achieve. One thought citizenship was about the community. Another said it was for all the bits and pieces that couldn’t be fitted into the curriculum elsewhere, so in some schools it was combined with PSHE (Personal, Social and Health Education) and in others RE (Religious Education) was also added into the mix. Some thought the lessons should teach them to think and debate freely and to be diverse, but some thought the curriculum was not neutral (the word ‘propaganda’ was used) and aimed to create similar-thinking humans. For example, some of the young people wanted to discuss immigration and asylum, but felt they couldn’t say certain things and so the debate was stifled and they were forced to be politically correct. These young people did not have dangerously racist views, but admitted it might be tempting for them to rebel and take on that stance, just because they didn’t feel like they were trusted to have a proper debate. Others wanted to talk about drugs and sex but had to wait until it came up on the curriculum (often too late).
I think the education system aims to create ‘chips in the motherboard of the nation’ when it should be concentrating on creating good citizens and good parents. Citizenship, including parenting, should be the curriculum, and maths, science, literacy, etc should be built onto it where appropriate. It’s all arse about tit if you ask me. That’s all I’ve got to say for now, except that young people are quickly wising up to the fact that it’s a ‘fake world’ and that what is presented to them is not necessarily the whole truth, or any of it. If you think you can pull the wool over their eyes, you’d better think again. This generation are smart cookies like you’ve never seen before. Mark my words.
Today I dressed up for a youth conference. It was all about citizenship and democracy and involved about 100 kids. I came in on a discussion about citizenship lessons and it was quite enlightening. Out of the seven or eight young people in my group only half were having citizenship lessons, although others had had occasional lessons, or lessons in previous years. It was clear the young people thought the lessons were important, whether they were about legislative processes or drugs and alcohol. They had enjoyed lessons where they played games about jobs and mortgages, practiced dispensing criminal justice and took part in other highly participative activities. Sometimes they didn’t like the delivery, especially if it involved filling in worksheets. They also noted that the subject was often taught by form tutors who sometimes did not have the expertise to talk about the topics that arose. They suggested more use of outside experts and activities to keep the subjects alive.
When they were asked what they thought the lessons were for, there didn’t seem to be any common understanding of what they were supposed to achieve. One thought citizenship was about the community. Another said it was for all the bits and pieces that couldn’t be fitted into the curriculum elsewhere, so in some schools it was combined with PSHE (Personal, Social and Health Education) and in others RE (Religious Education) was also added into the mix. Some thought the lessons should teach them to think and debate freely and to be diverse, but some thought the curriculum was not neutral (the word ‘propaganda’ was used) and aimed to create similar-thinking humans. For example, some of the young people wanted to discuss immigration and asylum, but felt they couldn’t say certain things and so the debate was stifled and they were forced to be politically correct. These young people did not have dangerously racist views, but admitted it might be tempting for them to rebel and take on that stance, just because they didn’t feel like they were trusted to have a proper debate. Others wanted to talk about drugs and sex but had to wait until it came up on the curriculum (often too late).
I think the education system aims to create ‘chips in the motherboard of the nation’ when it should be concentrating on creating good citizens and good parents. Citizenship, including parenting, should be the curriculum, and maths, science, literacy, etc should be built onto it where appropriate. It’s all arse about tit if you ask me. That’s all I’ve got to say for now, except that young people are quickly wising up to the fact that it’s a ‘fake world’ and that what is presented to them is not necessarily the whole truth, or any of it. If you think you can pull the wool over their eyes, you’d better think again. This generation are smart cookies like you’ve never seen before. Mark my words.
posted by Firegoat @ 2:51 pm
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