Importance of Civic Education

In the educational field, one of the subjects or subjects that goes unnoticed the most but which is strikingly more important should be for the coexistence in community is one that can be called Civic or Citizen Education, although depending on the country or the time this name changes.

A subject whose objective is mainly social and collective

The current educational and pedagogical situation is what makes it excessively attention to subjects whose content abounds everywhere. At the same time, a subject such as Civic Education does not appear so easily nor is it so simple since it is highly ideological and subject to opinion. In other words, we must point out that this type of education, as its name suggests, is the education that aims to teach us to live socially, with others, with those who surround.

The reason that makes this subject the most urgently necessary

Citizenship instruction should prepare students to learn not only how the government or the laws of the territory in which they live is formed, but also what is central to work, learn, discuss values, forms of behavior, cultural traits, the idiosyncrasies of those who share the community in which they are dwells etc. All these elements are necessary and the school here should have a

responsibility greater since it is urgent, in the postmodern societies in which we live, to give more space to talk about peaceful and harmonious coexistence.

Citizenship education as a subject that builds people and nation

In this section we must make it clear that Civic Education, more than any other subject, is a curricular space in which the social and political interests that are typical of the time and of the society in which it is lives. That is why if one makes a historical analysis of the contents of this subject, they will see that they vary greatly depending on who govern and the interests that they have about what type of citizen to build, the values ​​that should surround them, participation and commitment to the another etc

In the case of Latin America, all these questions have always depended to a great extent on the historical periods and thus, while under dictatorships, Civic Education served to contemplate more strongly the values ​​of obedience, morality and respect for authorities, in times of democracy republican and democratic values ​​appear with greater power. Social coexistence is built from the more or less consensual elaboration of these contents and from the wishes of the States to contribute or control that construction.

Images: Fotolia. vectomart – flint01