It's come to the forefront because while the NSW Government understands the importance of young people having a working knowledge of democracy and the legal system, it announced last year that studying civics would be compulsory in primary schools from 2027. Critics are saying that the subject is too important to be included within a wider syllabus. At the moment, what the NSW Government is doing is putting civics in with human society and its wider environments syllabus, along with other things. Critics argue that civics is so important it should have its own standalone status, with its own standalone support material, and specialist teachers, and the like.
I couldn't really agree more, because when you look at everything we talk about on this show, when you look at the subject matters that are dear to our hearts, the genesis of all of the issues that come up comes down to decisions made by people voted by us or people choosing not to vote. So a small number of people get to choose individuals who will make decisions that impact us all, be it local bodies or government.
Or we're talking about issues because decisions are made by people who don't understand the social contract and what it means to be a citizen, and that's what civics is all about: understanding that when you are a citizen within a civilized society you have rights certainly, but you have duties and obligations. So if there was a greater understanding of civics, a greater understanding and appreciation of what it means to be involved in a democracy, a greater understanding of the way our governments work, both central and local government, the way our laws work, we would have a more civilised society.
Kerre McIvor, is a journalist, radio presenter, author and columnist. Currently hosts the Kerre Woodham mornings show on Newstalk ZB - where this article was sourced.
I couldn't really agree more, because when you look at everything we talk about on this show, when you look at the subject matters that are dear to our hearts, the genesis of all of the issues that come up comes down to decisions made by people voted by us or people choosing not to vote. So a small number of people get to choose individuals who will make decisions that impact us all, be it local bodies or government.
Or we're talking about issues because decisions are made by people who don't understand the social contract and what it means to be a citizen, and that's what civics is all about: understanding that when you are a citizen within a civilized society you have rights certainly, but you have duties and obligations. So if there was a greater understanding of civics, a greater understanding and appreciation of what it means to be involved in a democracy, a greater understanding of the way our governments work, both central and local government, the way our laws work, we would have a more civilised society.
Kerre McIvor, is a journalist, radio presenter, author and columnist. Currently hosts the Kerre Woodham mornings show on Newstalk ZB - where this article was sourced.
6 comments:
One of the most important things that should be taught is basic economics, at both a personal level and a national level. It is little wonder thar most kids vote Green when the media constantly cries spend, spend, spend and they have no concept that if you want to spend money, then you or someone else has to earn it.
There’s problem though about WHOSE civics. Look for example at the garbage ‘Core’ that Massey University inserted as requirements in the BA. It is ‘civics’, but it’s social-justice warrior ‘civics’. That is not what NZ needs. We don’t need academic social scientists in charge, so there’d need to be protections against ‘capture’.
Maybe instead of ‘civics’, students should be taught about the structure and arguments for democracy, in all its forms, and about how local government, Parliament, the courts, etc, function. That might make the idea safer and a public good.
Strongly agree with last para above (Anon 731). Civics education should also be a vehicle for law education - it's amazing how many high school leavers have little idea how laws are made. For ideas and comparisons regarding law education at school level, see my 2014 joint paper (with L, Traikovski, & I. Hussain) "Towards ‘law education for all’ – Teaching school students about the law in Australia and Pakistan", Journal of International Social Studies, Vol. 4(2), pp. 109-117.
As a poster has already said "who's civics" so I don't agree with teaching civics.
We should in fact teach philosophy, or first principals if you prefer. Most people young and old are too easily swayed by slogans with little substance. Perhaps if we equipped them with some thinking tools, logic and argument to name a couple then in all walks of life they would be better equipped to deal with snake oil salesmen.
Most politicians want (or claim) to make things better, it is the silly ideas most of them have about how that is the problem.
Teach people to recognise and respond to stupid.
So many discussions about how to create political systems come from 1760s-1790s American and French revolutions. Never studied in NZ, not even in POLISCI courses at uni.
Anon 12:43pm, it’s not obvious why you suppose that NZ is different from anywhere else. Not everyone will suppose that it is different. Most people would argue that real democratic principles don’t differ by area or ethnicity or era. The pretence that NZ is different needs some defence. No one is arguing for ancient Greek style ‘democracy’.
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