Dynamic Citizenship: Action and Prospects Volume 10 - Issue 2

Nabil Jouini*

• Doctoral researcher in sociology and educational science, France

Received: October 21, 2024;   Published: October 29, 2024

Corresponding author: Nabil Jouini, Doctoral researcher in sociology and educational science, France

DOI: 10.32474/JAAS.2024.10.000332

 

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Abstract

Enormous technological advances and scientific discoveries are helping to extend life expectancy and improve performance. However, modern society is also helping to increase social inequalities, with the grievances that afflict the most vulnerable forcing some people to survive from day to day. As globalisation spreads, the process of confrontation is launched between those who have been able to mobilise their resources for general social participation and those who, for lack of resources, are unable to do so. Exclusion then takes the form of a multidimensional social phenomenon, which leads individuals to opt out of a number of benefits to which they are entitled as full members of society that contradict the social integration model. Reflecting on the theme of citizenship education in educational institutions would seem to be essential to ensure that certain values central to the personal and collective development of the community are taught. As a result, educational institutions have set themselves the task of fostering openness to social diversity, developing civic skills (civic-mindedness, respect, solidarity) and a sense of belonging to the community, and encouraging pupils to forge their own judgement so that they are capable of responding to the challenges that await them. This kind of education is a key means of enabling young people to gradually become involved in the community.

Keywords: Education; Social Demands; Citizenship

Introduction

The era in which we live in the world today is the era of sudden upheavals in all contexts, or the era of the unexpected to use Edgar Morin’s language, and social, cultural, religious and human values have not survived the winds of this storm of change.

The global market system and the spread of the instrumental and calculating mindset have destroyed our individual, social, national and other relationships, and reinforced extreme individualism and profit-driven values at the expense of human dignity and social and human bonds [1]. Loyalty to country, land and others has disappeared with it, triviality, ugliness, emotion and standardisation of lifestyle have spread, and taste and feeling have vanished. Along with beauty and human compassion.

In this context, there is a need for education in the values of local and global citizenship, as well as human rights. Education has become a global and local demand, in a world that is moving towards fragmentation. The school is therefore called upon to be a nursery for inculcating national and humanitarian values in the souls of children, so that they are not devoured by the ferocious beast of globalisation and its globalised values. Nationalising citizenship as the basis of the social contract means creating a culture of citizenship, i.e. working to make the values of citizenship effective.

Our society today desperately needs education as the basis for the process of social change, because man is lost in the changing spirit, the values of efficiency and the will to change, his problems come from himself and need to be reconfigured, to strengthen the will, apply values and transmit the spirit of change, restore the spirit and an efficient impetus that prepares him for the impact of reform and change.

Education in the service of public space

Perspective and dimension of education

Education must be the guardian of humanist values, and attentive to the changes brought about by modernity. While modernity puts forward values such as individualism, scientific and technical rationality, freedom of initiative, etc., the work of education is based on the idea of social consensus and respect for the human person, and is built on the foundations of a culture that enables it to be part of a tradition, and at the same time to participate endogenously in processes of innovation (Figure 1). What lies at the heart of this work is not so much the value attributed to a school discipline taught as mere knowledge or technique, but rather a spirit, a general attitude, a “habitus” to which the child adheres in order to rise to the status of man [2]. There is no education or teaching, however professional, that does not in some way teach man.

“Education is an art” is the definition Kant suggests in the introduction to his reflections on education, and this art must become reasoned if it is to develop human nature in such a way that it reaches its destination:

• Being disciplined: This consists of taming human brutality, because, despite primitive behavior towards the good, man is bad in nature, and it’s better in the case of civilization.

• Being cultured: this means developing various instructions and lessons that enable the acquisition of skills.

• Civilization: which enables man to adapt to human society and to exercise the prudence that makes it possible to use all men for one’s essential ends.

• Moralization: logically in line with Kant’s moral thinking, “man must not only be fit for all kinds of ends, but must also acquire a disposition to choose only good ends.

The challenge of education is to renew citizenship

If man only begins to exist as a citizen, according to “Rousseau”, when he is linked to other people in a spirit of freedom, equality and communion, and sometimes even usefulness, then his education is necessary and must focus on knowledge as much as on life skills. The latter will be the subject of ethics teaching, which will enable the citizen to take the path of knowledge of his rights and duties, and of active, pioneering participation in the city.

Education as a social Project

Every human community draws its Consistency from a set of common activities and projects, but also from shared values, which constitute many aspects of the “will to live together”. Over time, these physical and spiritual links are enriched and become, in the individual and collective memory, a cultural heritage, in the broadest sense of the term, which forms the basis of a sense of belonging and solidarity. Education in its various forms throughout the world aims to establish social links between individuals on the basis of shared references [3]. The methods used include the diversity of cultures and circumstances, but in all cases, the primary objective of education is the fulfillment of people in their social dimension. It is defined as a vector of cultures and values, as the construction of a space for socialization and a crucible for common enterprise. Today, these different patterns of socialization are being put to the test, in societies threatened by chaos and the breakdown of social ties. Education systems are therefore subject to a series of tensions, insofar as they have to respect the diversity of individuals and groups of people, while preserving the principle of homogeneity implied by the need to respect general rules. Education faces major challenges in this respect, and finds itself caught up in a seemingly impossible paradox: while it is accused of being at the root of many exclusions and exacerbating the breakdown of the social fabric, it is largely called upon to attempt to restore some of those similarities essential to group life.

Today’s education tomorrow’s citizenship

Civic education is not problematic when it merges with the general education of man, as is the case in Plato’s “Republic”. If man is a natural citizen, the good of the state and the good of the individual are in harmony; the training of the individual and the education of the citizen are part of the same logic as the realization of the natural personality [4]. Education, in the etymological sense of the word (education), consists in taking care of the human being, making the child a potential citizen and assigning him a civic role corresponding to his nature: education civilizes, it makes the individual civilized and civic, without exerting violence against him because he is already a citizen by birth, so in Plato’s or Aristotle’s view, the educational message is part of the political treatise.

Education and citizenship are closely linked, as education plays a vital role in shaping responsible, committed citizens. Education provides knowledge about the rights and duties of citizens, about democratic institutions, and about the history and culture of their country. It also develops the civic skills needed to participate actively in democratic life, such as the ability to engage in dialogue, make informed decisions, and respect the opinions and rights of others. In addition, education makes individuals aware of the social issues and problems facing their community or society as a whole. It thus encourages their involvement in civic actions aimed at solving these problems and improving their environment. Education also plays an essential role in transmitting civic values such as tolerance, respect for human rights, equality, solidarity and social justice.

Education prepares individuals to live in society by teaching them the basic skills required for community life, such as communication, conflict resolution and respect for rules. In this way, it fosters the development of civic awareness and active involvement in society. Education plays a key role in shaping responsible citizens, aware of their rights and duties, capable of actively contributing to the construction of a democratic, inclusive and supportive society. The practice of citizenship is not an innate skill: being a citizen is learned. Citizenship education is identified as a cross-disciplinary tool that can be developed at all ages, in different forms and by all types of actors.

Indeed, as defined by UNESCO, “education for democratic citizenship is a set of practices and activities aimed at young people and adults, with the aim of equipping them to participate actively in democratic life, by assuming and exercising their rights and responsibilities. In this way, citizenship education will be a tool for strengthening civil society and community life.

Renewing citizenship

The exercise of citizenship remains necessary, and the renewal of citizenship leads us to seek more effective forms of participation in the life of the national community than simply taking part in elections. The new citizenship of everyday life, based on commitment and solidarity, reconnects with a fundamental dimension of citizenship: exemplarity through action. To be a citizen is, above all, to commit oneself to serving the common good on a daily basis. Citizenship education is also a major challenge. It depends first and foremost on the school system, which needs to make a thorough assessment of the moral and civic education reforms of recent years. In this respect, civic and moral education must closely link all those involved in citizenship and the educational community [5]. So, the renewal of citizenship also involves the search for a community of brothers.

Contemporary Transformations in Citizenship

It is difficult to venture an exhaustive definition of the concept of citizenship, especially as this definition has fluctuated over time and with the evolution of societies [6]. Indeed, commitment to the “citizen” has become the hallmark of an era that aimed to place commitment to collective causes or civic values at the forefront of social values [7,8]. The term “citizen” no longer simply designates a man or woman subject to and representative of an institutionalized system; it expresses first and foremost the behavior that determines the values of social life.

Conclusion

The effective role of education is to disseminate ideas, concepts, values and principles. This is what gives the individual the skills, abilities and practices to adapt to social reality, so education believes that change in its nature is ideas and practices, and from this comes education’s role in consolidating new ideas, practices and values, participation, cooperative work, respect for other people’s cultures and the fight against corruption.

Education communicates something to its perfection by developing human cognitive abilities through training, and by developing psychological functions through training and the acquisition of skills. And when a person is nurtured, his faculties are strengthened, his abilities increase, his behavior is refined and he becomes fit for social life, qualified for the civil environment, for the earth to live on and for the well-being of the universe.

Ricoeur appeals to education as an ethical measure after political authority and moral duty failed to uproot the seeds of evil implanted in human nature and culture. For Ricoeur, reflection on education was oriented towards removing the character of evil from human action and creating the conditions for the possibility of a prudent act free of violence, lies, harm and harm to others. A way that enables coexistence, the preservation of pluralism, respect for difference, the preservation of rights and freedoms, and the assurance of diversity.

References

1. Aristotle, Politics, trans. Pellegrin I, 2 1253 a-b
2. Spinoza Ethique 4 (1677)
3. Condorcet, Public Instruction and the Birth of the Citizen. Préface de Jean-Claude Milner, 1984.
4. Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Émile ou De l'éducation, Garnier-Flammarion, 1966.
5. Jurgen Habermas, Theory of communicative action, Paris, Fayard, 1987.
6. Kant E (2000) Reflections on Paris: Philosophical Bookstore J Vrin.
7. Platon (1993) République, translation by Pierre Pachet, Paris, Gallimard, coll. « Folio ».
8. Ricœur P, Criticism and conviction (Interviews), Calmann edition - Levy. 1995.