What is citizenship?
Citizenship to my knowledge is understanding the concepts of a society that one lives among. Citizenship goes beyond being a citizen of a country; I am a citizen of Canada, but does that mean I understand citizenship? No! My understanding of citizenship may vary from others, but this is what I believe to be citizenship. Citizenship is about the gathering of collective understandings and sharing of knowledge for the betterment of society. It is the sharing of interests and the development of understanding between differing people. Citizenship is the continuous growth of knowledge and education through civilization to expand the potential of the future.
As Joel Westheimer explores in this video, citizenship and education are very closely related. Joel explains that he wanted to teach kids that they played a role in history and society and that it is important for educators to identify this to students. As Joel states, “We have lost a historical purpose of public education which is to educate a democratic citizenry.” Joel heavily emphasizes the importance of educating everyone. As part of a democratic society, it is important that we teach students about politics and that differences are not bad. “We have to teach kids that intelligent, well-meaning adults differ on important matters of social concern.” Joel paraphrases a quote by Thomas Jefferson, saying, “If citizens are not well educated enough to govern their own affairs, the solution is not to take away that power of governance away from them, but to educate them.”
Mike Capello illustrates the importance of Treaty Education in this podcast. Capello discusses the concept of treaty education and relates it to ethical/treaty citizenship. He expresses the importance of engaging with decolonization, such as through Territorial Land Acknowledgements. As Capello explains Land Acknowledgements, “Those acknowledgements are not about the past, they’re in fact deeply about our future.” He further explains that we should not be saying land acknowledgements or engaging with decolonization because we have to, but because we have a vision for a greater future for Canada. Treaty Education plays a significant role in Canadian citizenship and the successful, equitable future of Canada.
Hey Cameron! I thoroughly enjoyed your post. I found it to be very honest and raw. I enjoyed how you were honest abut the fact of being a ‘Canadian citizen’ doesn’t make you someone who truly understands what citizenship is. As I too, am a Canadian citizen and do not understand the true definition of what citizenship is. Amongst your post I thought you did a great job of connecting it back to the videos and readings from this week. If I had to knit pick anything it would be maybe try and connect your blog post back to your personal teaching ideologies and pedagogies. All in all I look forward to being able to read more of your work in the future.