Civic Education: The Future Of Civic Education

The realm of Civic education encompasses notable knowledge issues which underlies cardinal areas of human development. Preparation of young people for future endeavours is the heart of the subject matter of Civic education. Therefore, it is the ultimate goal of civic education to “help young people acquire and learn to use the skills, knowledge, and attitudes that will prepare them to be competent and responsible citizens throughout their lives”, (Kirlin, 2003). This entails that Civic education aims at creating people that are knowledgeable and confident in various matters pertaining to the society in which they live. When people are empowered with knowledge and skills they can effectively participate in community and national decision making

It is only when a sense of responsibility is embedded in the minds of individuals can a society benefit fully from Civic education. Thus, an individual’s role in society forms the basis of the second assumption. Indeed “society is composed of individuals, and thus civic education should cultivate the role that the individual takes in the public sphere” (Nie, Junn, & Stehlik-Barry, 1996: Cited by Cohen, 2009). This assumption is motivated by the fact that each individual aims at achieving his or her own personal goal. Therefore, Civic education enables individuals to develop some civic behaviours that make them confident towards taking up responsibilities in the public domain (Kirlin, 2003). An individual is part of a society and his or her role is cardinal to becoming a useful citizen. It is therefore imperative for each citizen to take his or her responsibilities to contribute effectively to society. Short of which, an individual may be rendered redundant in the affairs of a particular community. For instance, in the democratic political structure, it is an individual’s civic responsibility to participate in the electoral system such as voting to elect leaders (Cohen, 2009). This sense of responsibility may include acquaintance with the different opportunities for political involvement such as voting, connecting to representatives and understanding the main issues being