Civics education a long time coming

The only danger in teaching civics at school is that it may affect change to the status quo. And would that be such a bad thing?

The Labour Party wants to introduce civics education to New Zealand schools.

It is a bold bid to teach people about democracy and it has been a long time coming.

Youth voter turnout has been dreadful for years, save the occasional bump when an issue captures youthful attention or a personality galvanises support for a party.

In 2014, just 62.73 per cent of 18-24 year olds voted in the general election.

Turnout, as a percentage of the population, gets better the older the population group gets. For example, in 2014, the age band with the highest turnout was those aged 65-69, at 88.06 per cent.

It is not enough to say this is symptomatic of young people not caring about democracy. After all, the age group data suggests we care more about democracy the more we participate in it.

Knowledge is a barrier to participation in many things and there is no reason to believe that is not the case for voting. Education, then, is key to improving our democracy.

Critics say civics education will become an unnecessary addition to an already overcrowded curriculum. But that needs to be unpicked.

Schools cram a huge amount of learning into a relatively short period of time. But civics need not be a subject on its own – its elements could be incorporated into existing subjects.

Social studies, history, geography, economics and even maths are all areas in which a dose of civics could help explain the systems and processes that affect our daily lives.

And yet, if you were to ask any school leaver what their district council actually does, would they be able to tell you? Would they know who looks after state highways, or how a bill becomes law?

For the most part, those that could tell you would be able to do so because they have gone to the effort to find out themselves.

Given how much of our lives are determined by the policies of local and central government, that is simply not good enough.

We all have a role to play in our democracy.

If we do not enhance the ability of youth to engage with it, we lose the right to complain about voter apathy and stale policies.

Teaching civics might even encourage young faces onto the ballot. Imagine that – a House of Representatives that lives up to its name.

The status quo includes a built-in assumption that young people do not vote. A sigh and a shrug are not good enough if we are to grow a strong democracy.