Tomorrow is election day in Canada. If the last Federal election a scant 18 months ago is any indication, some 40 percent of us will not exercise our fundamental right and civic responsibility to vote. It’s a perfect time to reflect on the nature of citizenship and the possible role that learning designers play in such a state of affairs. University of Toronto philosopher Mark Kingwell writes that, “Citizenship, if it means anything, means making our desire for justice active. It is not something we can do alone” (The World We Want, 2000, p.19). Yet, my memories of my high school civics class are more of dwelling on the arcane workings of government, less of galvanizing the social desires for justice. In this weekend’s (appropriately named!) Ottawa Citizen, Tony Atherton quotes John Myers, a curriculum instructor at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, who concurs: “Students are really interested in programs in whch they feel they can make a difference. They’re not really interested in the role of the governor general or the powers of the Senate.”
The quotations for this theme will be collected as the essential citizen, and what better place than to start with Mark Kingwell.
Update Jan 25, 2006. In fact, more people cast ballots in this election than the previous two, with about 65% of registered voters showing up at the polls. I guess that’s a good thing. But does voter turnout=good citizen?
