Citizenship education for myself is a bit disheartening, to say the least. At the time, when learning how to be a ‘good’ global citizen, I was taught to ‘reduce, reuse, and recycle’ to help the Earth, as well as ‘treat everyone the way you would like to be treated’, which we called the ‘golden rule’. There was also WWJD (What Would Jesus Do) displayed in every hallway of my Catholic Schools. The ideas expressed were more about being active community members, doing what was morally (and biblically) right, as well as being active in society. One aspect I was never taught was the justice-oriented citizen, which I now find odd as I was taught that the Saints and religious groups were fixing the issues of our world. Us, as students, were never taught that we could try to address change and look at long term solutions.
While I went to a Catholic school and worked at a Bible Camp for quite some time, I am no longer religious. I am stating this now because this may help explain my personal experiences with being a global citizen.
By intentionally leaving out justice-oriented citizen education in my K-8, as well as a strong emphasis on Christian values, I found myself very resistant to things that were deemed ‘progressive’ and, honestly, things that would benefit the general population. For about nine years I had been taught to be a good citizen within the Church community, and the global Church community. I had not been taught how to be a good citizen in the global community. This is due to the Catholic school system I was apart of having their own beliefs that they wanted to instill in their students, which I understand. I was molded into the citizen they wanted me to be. A Christ following, Church supporting, believer.
This changed in high school, or rather, my last year of high school. I had opened up a bit to other ideologies and wasn’t as dismissive of others, which was inspired in large part due to my History and Biology classes. They helped shake my core Christian beliefs and opened me up to other perspectives. Conversations late at night after rehearsals also gave me time to talk with my director, who was and still is a role model and friend I have. His encouragement to find out what it is I honestly believed is what pushed me to explore the foundational issues that affect not just myself, but the community and world around me. This one question by him started me on the path that I am on today, with me becoming more actively involved in politics, social issues, and seeking to understand issues as well as be a partner in finding solutions for these issues.
What these two approaches do is quite different, but both are understandable. My original citizenship approach was a very Conservative and Christian one, and the one that I am now apart of is a very Progressive one. Both approaches have an agenda they want to promote, and that will always be the case in education, but I believe that the lack of a justice-oriented citizen education is a huge detriment to a student because it doesn’t teach them that they can be instrumental in addressing things that they try to help alleviate or address.
Hey Jonathon!
Being someone who also attended a Catholic school for my entire educational career until University, I can very much understand what you’re saying. Unfortunately, sometimes there are aspects chosen to be the strict main idea of one’s educational experience, but it makes me happy to see how you were willing to find a new approach to citizenship for yourself! I know not all schools are the same, but I hope that very soon, regardless of religion or other factors, that schools begin focusing on all the different approaches to citizenship. Thank you for sharing!
Hi Jaelyn!
I’m glad I am not the only former Catholic school student who noticed this. I really do hope it changes sometime soon and more schools have a more holistic approach to citizenship.
We all have our own personal journeys, and I’m glad you found mine interesting!
Great blog post, Jonathon!
I really enjoyed having this insight to a different perspective. I personally was not raised as apart of a religion, nor did I go to a catholic school, so I have always found it very interesting to hear how these change our views of both education, as well as the community and the world. I think its so great that you were eventually able to look at things from a different perspective, and see the world through other peoples eyes, as well as your own.
It seems as though you are maybe have a bit of resentment towards what you feel was left out of your education, so just to play devils advocate, do you believe that you may have gained positive insight that you would not have without your Catholic upbringing? In what ways did it help you? I would have also loved to maybe hear some more of the positives!
I really agreed with your post that religious views can often times blind people to the reality of others, and can sometimes result in more conservative, less “forward” views. I have always found that topic very interesting, because I could always see a correlation around being a bit more conservative, and having catholic or christian views, and I truly wonder if that is a deliberate outcome of the religion, or just a side affect that many have from it.
Overall very interesting post, and thank you for being so open and honest about your experiences. I know it can be difficult to bring these topics up, but I feel that you did it in a respectful, professional way.
Your classmate,
Emily Logan
Hi Emily!
I’m glad you found my take interesting, it means a lot!
I will say that growing up with Christian/Catholic influence, and mostly having people in these circles as influential people in my life shaped me quite a bit. From attending church and religious schooling, as well as working at Bible Camps, I found my views were not entirely my own and more to fit the community around me, which has also influenced how much my own perspective has shifted in significant ways.
There is a bit of resentment in me towards these institutions and are mostly fueled by personal reasons and lived experiences. What i will say on the matter is that yes, my initial perspectives were largely shaped by the Catholic/Christian spheres I was apart of. When my ideologies shifted, I found myself more critical of what I believe, what I research, and how I interact with others. So, while I may not be a religious person anymore, I am not ashamed of being religious, as it has helped me get to where I am today, even if I do still have some resentment towards the said institutions.
From what I had taught at Bible Camps to my campers, it was more emphasized on traditional values, without going into specifics. As of now, I do not share many, if any of these beliefs anymore.
Thanks for reading my long post and complex post, it means a lot! I found this topic hit a bit close to home for me and it was something difficult to write about while being professional, as I know my own journey with religion is not indicative of others journeys. as well as what doesn’t work for me may also work for someone else.
If you have anymore questions or things you’d like to discuss send me an email at jdg968@uregina.ca