Civics education a long time coming

The only danger in teaching civics at school is that the status quo may not remain — and the question we have to ask ourselves is, would that be such a bad thing?

Labour’s policy announcement that it will introduce civics education to New Zealand schools has been a long time coming.

Youth voter turnout has been poor for years, with the occasional bump coming only when an issue captures their attention and galvanises support for a particular party.

In 2014, just 62.73 per cent of 18-24 year olds ventured into a polling booth.

If all young people in New Zealand had a solid understanding of how local and central government works, and what their roles and responsibilities are in those systems, that may no longer be the case.

A common argument against civics education is that it is an unnecessary addition to an already overcrowded curriculum.

It’s true that schools are expected to cram a huge amount of learning into a relatively short period of time.

But rather than looking at civics as a subject on its own, would it not be more prudent to examine how it could be incorporated into existing subjects?

Social studies, history, geography, maths. These are all areas that could be used to explain how the systems that govern our daily lives work.

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 which branch of government is in control of our state highways, or what process a bill must go through before it becomes law?

For the most part, those students 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 how effectively, or otherwise, our government works.

If we take the right to engage meaningfully with the system away from young people, we in turn lose the right to complain about voter apathy and stale policies.

Teaching young people why politics matters may also introduce a passion for the field that could see them looking to enter the political arena themselves, forcing the House of Representatives to live up to its name.

After all, regardless of where you sit on the political spectrum, can any of us really say we are satisfied with the current state of play?