Civic Literacy and Its Importance in the 21st Century

Introduction

Today, in the 21st century, societies are dependent on the people’s ability to read, hear, write (literacy) and understand the issues of the day. It is a must for the citizens to understand economic issues, laws made by politicians and other problems in order to make factual assumptions on the government’s execution of their policies and to participate in political matters successfully. By “civic learning”, it means experiences that prepare students for democracy by developing their civic knowledge. Civic literacy is a framework for comparing societies’ capacity for informed political participation. It is the knowledge and capacity citizens have to make sense of their political world and become effective citizens. In this regard, the following essay will discuss civic literacy and why it is needed to maintain people’s participation in the 21st century.

The Importance of Civic Literacy

Civic literacy has brought a major economical impact in our world and due to this reason, it is important for people to know their involvement with their own government. It is mentioned that through social interaction that citizens will be able to learn and develop the abilities required for political involvement in a democracy. Several laws have been implemented for the conservation of this literacy. These include the Civic Literacy Act of the United States and in local means, Republic Act No. 10122 of the Philippines. However, as time went on, it is said that even developing countries such as the United States and Canada have diminishing civic literacy. At the 2011 iCivics conference on “Educating for Democracy in a Digital Age”, US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan highlighted that when polled, nearly two-thirds of Americans failed to name the three branches of government. Less than half of the public can name a Supreme Court justice, and more than a quarter can’t identify which nation America fought in the Revolutionary War. In the 1984 Canadian Election Study (CES), close to 90 percent of Canadians could identify their provincial premier and it went down to 77 percent in the 1997 Canadian Election Study. In local issues, people have identified the Philippines as a weak state; that we are controlled by an oligarchy, self-interest groups dominate our political system and the people lack cohesion. 

One of the main complications of declining civic literacy is lack of civic education. In American studies, according to the 2010 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), less than one-third of American fourth-, eight-, and twelfth-graders are proficient in civics.It also does not improve in secondary education. In one study of 14,000 college seniors, the average score on a test of civic knowledge was F. It has been pointed out that learning civics isn’t a requirement at the college level; nor, at many institutions, is history.

Another issue is the lack of resources. When talking about the Philippines, it is highly known that it is a weak state due to its lack of political stability. There is the wide gap between rich and poor, the elite capitalists who have used the state for their personal interests and control over the Philippines’ widely diverse population. Consequentially, groups and institutions of the government are unprogressive. Absolute or relative poverty and unequal economic opportunities decrease political engagement. among the people. The issue of poverty complements other issues such as lack of human rights and gender inequality. If you add up poverty with the domination of elites, it lessens opportunities for participation in life, especially in civic learning. Additionally, the choice of your media is a factor in degrading civic literacy. This includes television dependency and is based equally on countries’ relative rating on newspaper reading and commercial television consumption. It is said that greater media choice widens the “knowledge gap” and as it increases, the exposure to daily news may continue to function as a provider of knowledge however, the distribution of news exposure has become more unequal and as the population grows bigger, more channels can widen the gap. Those who frequently watch the news become more knowledgeable and vote at higher rates. Those who are interested in other media content vote less. It demonstrates that motivation, not ability, is the main trouble that stands between the distribution of political knowledge and a well-informed public. These issues tell us so much on the current situation of different civic literacies around the world. Furthermore, decreasing civic literacy can have consequences in our societies such as mistakenly voting for the wrong candidate due to lack of awareness and knowledge. 

Several laws have been implemented for the on people’s civic learning. An example is the Civic Literacy Act of United States. The citizens believe that they possess a singular political heritage based on principles of life and equal opportunities, as shown in the Declaration of Independence. Thomas Jefferson felt the need to protect America’s political heritage and so prescribed an education for the citizens and “to instruct the mass of our citizens in these their rights, interests, and duties, as men and citizens.” However, many students have been denied their right in basic education to form ideas in helping the government. In the Philippines, Republic Act No. 10122 has been implemented to strengthen the people’s literacy. Unfortunately, this law hasn’t been practiced as often as it should be.

The future of our institutions may be compromised if civic learning continues to go down. The main problem of decreasing civic literacy continues to point in lack of education and awareness thus, proposed actions and solution were made. Firstly, newspaper superiority needs to be established. This is the simplest solution in maintaining civic literacy and promoting it specifically. Newspapers are well suited in conveying information on politics and a lifetime exposure to it can contribute to a person’s political knowledge. Efforts have been made to encourage newspaper reading such as cassette recordings of the daily newspapers are sent out free of charge to people with dyslexia or vision disabilities. It can also help immigrants, to help them understand current issues. Usage of digital media could also help in increasing political participation and civic learning. It plays an important role in election campaigns since it offers opportunities for engagement — participating in polls, blogging or online debates. Second, it is easier to access multiple websites and news sources via Internet anytime and anywhere. The Internet contains a huge amount of information on politics and civic learning, which can result to a more knowledgeable voter. Online media make the whole political system appear more accessible to citizens and it becomes a medium for a discourse on politics. Increased political knowledge and involvement in the election process are predicted.

Conclusion

Our nation has reached a critical point in civic learning. The number of people who are politically unaware has risen since we joined the “information age”. However, it all comes down to the fact that reversal of the current situation of developing world countries start with us students. Molding their minds and exposing them to reality can turn a nation from ashes to diamonds. As former President Obama said, “This nation is great because we built it together. nation is great because we worked as a team. If we are joined in common purpose, as long as we maintain our common resolve, our journey moves forward, and our future is hopeful, and the state of our Union will always be strong.”