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In an age when new technological breakthroughs are made every day, and when everyone is surrounded by a massive amount of diverse information, it is very difficult to identify bits of valuable knowledge. The capitalist core is firmly established in the societies of most modern developed countries, and global corporations interpret the goals of education in their way. Winner believes that “without anyone having explicitly chosen it, dependency upon highly centralized organizations has gradually become a dominant social form” (47).
All spheres of life are subordinate to this system today. However, it is possible to break the circle of production/consumption with the help of a developed education strategy, which would be aimed at the civic consciousness and individual responsibility of the younger generation. This work seeks to present a synthesized strategy based on the available material on civic education, which would combine the strengths of all theories and improve them.
It is necessary to fill the basis of public consciousness with a clear understanding of what type of state organization society should seek. The democratic path seems to be the most balanced and civilized in comparison with the others where the pursuit of personal gain and the human factor hinder the sustainable development of the state. According to Rancière et al., “democracy is that state of exception where no oppositions can function, where there is no predetermined principle of role allocation” (6).
The absence of predetermined roles assigned to certain segments of society is a key factor in understanding democracy. In this regard, civic education should not only encourage students to find and update information on the functioning of the state promptly but also encourage them to improve the existing order.
The next step to be taken to educate active and conscious new members of society is to clarify the role of the citizen in the healthy functioning of the state. The very concept of citizen and civil functions are subject to detailed consideration. Westheimer and Kahne suggest three types of citizens: “the personally responsible citizen; the participatory citizen; and the justice-oriented citizen” (239). The first one is a citizen who realizes his or her belonging to the society, knows the laws of his country and respects them, and carries out activities aimed at the well-being of other citizens. A participatory citizen is the one who conducts is active socially in addition to the above stated.
This citizen clearly understands what organizational actions need to be taken to change the situation in a particular area of life for the better. A justice-oriented citizen has a clear political and civil position, is guided in the legal framework of the state, and knows how to influence the situation of injustice.
Another important point in the development of a new way in education is that the cultivation of young people cannot be reduced to the hammering of facts into their heads. Only an integrated approach provides an opportunity to nurture individuals who would be honest and responsible, but at the same time creative and eager to improve the world. Dewey claims that “as a society becomes more complex, it is found necessary to provide a special social environment which shall especially look after nurturing the capacities of the immature” (36).
This special environment is an individual approach to each student, the development of skills and abilities, based on personal preferences. If the inclinations are not yet revealed, it is necessary to help the student to find and develop them as much as possible. Inspired and motivated youth able to understand, create, empathize, and love is the ultimate goal of any educational process.
The new approach should take into account modern trends in the perception of children and teenagers. Due to the widespread use of the Internet and the active interest of the younger generation to media content, it is necessary to consider these sources as the most effective for education. Unfortunately, reality shows that the information is given and absorbed uncontrollably and randomly, which leads to disorientation manifested in passive or aimlessly aggressive civil position of young people.
So it is necessary to encourage extracurricular interests of students with moral value so that they develop a good taste and use the information to enrich their mind and heart. As Jenkins et al. conclude, “we need to make sure that they (students) critically interrogate their own as-if worlds as rigorously as they do the world as it apparently is” (305). The ability of young people to dream and look into the future with open eyes is one of the prerequisites for the prosperity of society.
The most important point that any teacher needs to rely on is to give people understanding that they are free to choose their fate, but the future of the whole country is formed by millions of individual destinies. Therefore, the citizen cannot live only for personal needs: ultimately, the decline or prosperity of society depends on the consciousness of each. If one day every person is aware of involvement in the future of the country and the world as a whole, the civilization has a chance to find harmony.
Works Cited
Dewey, John. Democracy and Education. Courier Corporation, 2004.
Jenkins, Henry, et al. By Any Media Necessary: The New Youth Activism. New York University Press, 2016.
Rancière, Jacques, et al. “Ten Theses on Politics.” Theory & Event, vol. 5, no. 3, 2001, pp. 1-16.
Westheimer, Joel, and Joseph Kahne. “What Kind of Citizen? The Politics of Educating for Democracy.” American Educational Research Journal, vol. 41 no. 2, 2004, pp. 237-269.
Winner, Langdon. The Whale and the Reactor. University of Chicago Press, 1986.
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