For this week's "Profiles in Civics" Q&A, we bring you our conversation with Stephen Kagansky-Young, founder and executive director of Ontario's Civics Education Network.
To start, tell me a bit about the Civics Education Network. What motivated you to found the organization, and what do you hope it will achieve?
The Civics Education Network was formed out of a desire to improve the resources and programs available to teachers of the Grade 10 civics course. The course has long been left to languish by schools and other subject organizations, despite being an incredible and uniquely Ontarian opportunity to engage our youth in democracy. I wanted to bring together the disparate resources which various NGOs had created and offer teachers, many of them new or inexperienced teachers, programs and materials to improve their practice. The hope is that CEN would improve the course, the teaching of it and the curriculum itself. I am looking to find innovative and practical tools for Ontario teachers to help engage Canadian youth more critically with their communities and civics in general.
When it comes to youth disengagement, CEN doesn’t buy the “apathy” argument. You believe the problem comes down to a fundamental disconnect between the way kids learn about politics, and the way they’re expected to engage in it in real life. How does CEN propose to bridge that disconnect?
All of our programming is built around a broad concept of democracy and political engagement. It is about social integrity, a strong commitment to education, and giving kids ample room to make informed decisions about where they stand as citizens. The goal is to foster civic confidence by showing our youth what they can achieve when given proper guidance. I am convinced that students are interested in their communities; they do want to be involved in politics. However our educators and political institutions are failing them. The politicians and institutions have mostly written them off, or are focusing on the very narrow goal of getting youth to vote. CEN believes that voting is just one component of a broader idea of civic engagement and that given the opportunity and the tools youth will bring their enormous appetite for change to the issues. This in turn will lead over time to involvement in the formal mechanisms of democracy. CEN aims to help educators do this, to understand the world beyond the walls of Parliament, give their students the tools they need and to trust the young to change the world.
What are the main challenges you face in getting innovative civics programming into schools?
The single biggest obstacle is unfortunately the schools themselves. The civics course, along with the careers course it’s tied to, are the only half credits in the entire system. In most schools this means that the course last for half a semester. This is a ridiculously small amount of time to present three levels of government, the justice system, the Charter of Rights and community activism in any exciting, enriching manner. The courses also have a bad reputation among students and teachers across Ontario. The schools themselves perpetuate this, often putting new, inexperienced or uninterested teachers into the course. These teachers then teach to the text, often focusing on the federal government and formal structures, not making any effort to inspire and motivate their students. It becomes hard for CEN to deliver programming to these teachers, since they have no interested in focusing on a course they will likely teach for only one year and is not within their areas of expertise. Most adults are not themselves experts in this material. Lastly, there is a prevailing attitude out there now that youth are lazy and apathetic. Connect this with the general belief that democracy is equated to voting, and you have a recipe for failure in our educational system. Most programs which attempt to breach this divide ignore the role that the schools system plays for young people, and the enormous opportunity that we have. As educators we need to start thinking outside the box before we can begin making steps in the right direction.
When Samara participated in the CEN Youth Forum this past fall, we were struck by how many teachers expressed a need for more relevant and useful teaching resources. Can you expand on this issue?
Schools provide textbooks. That’s about where their job ends. They simply don’t have the ability to provide relevant and timeline resources for their teachers. Courses like these are incredibly timely. Textbooks printed only five years ago are already out of date. No textbook can help teachers make sense of the dizzying array of issues and news which bombard us every single day. Teachers need access to this and to each other, to best practices. How can we work together to produce the best possible lesson for our students? How can we produce work that defines the course and reaches students where they are. Civic education is about much more than reading text books, it’s about teaching students to make civic engagement a priority in their lives. We can do that by broadening their understanding of the roles they play in affecting change in their neighborhood or community.
What are a few examples of the kinds activities CEN runs, both for teachers and students?
Our flagship program has been the annual teacher symposium, a full day professional development conference for teachers of civics and politics. Held in the council chambers of Toronto City Hall in October, we give teachers accesses to speakers, workshops, resources and each other, for a full day. We also offer teaches semi-regular post-work professional development. Each PoshPD event is held in a nice Toronto restaurant, where attendees can have a drink, hear from an interesting speaker and talk about as specific element of their practice. For the students we offer a speakers bureau though which teachers have easy access to local politicians and community activists whom they can bring into their classrooms. We make it easy for classes to connect with the people who are directly involved in our democratic process.
In your experience, what gets students fired up to participate in civic life?
A lot of what we sell to youth today through the education system falls into two categories - either collecting money for a charity, or large global issues. For some students this works, but for most it fails. People, especially youth, need to see the result of their actions. Raising and giving money leaves an enormous disconnect: What happened to the money? Did I really make a difference? The global issues we often use in classrooms are important but not related to them in any direct manner. Want to get youth excited? Make the issue local, relevant and above all allow them to see the results of their actions. It could be as simple as convincing your local city councillor to add some bike posts to your street. The scope doesn’t matter, the opportunity to make a difference does.
What’s next for CEN?
This year we are focusing on building our institutional capacity and financial resources. We have been operating for four years now on shoestring budgets and volunteer work. The plan is to expand our programming, add new programming and eventually expand our reach. Already we are growing our membership beyond schools and looking to reach everyone who does political education in Ontario, whether in schools or though non-profits, universities or colleges. We have several programs in development including an aggressive research and fellowship program, an awards program for teachers and students, surveys, a student conference and meeting to bring together all stakeholders in political education to help find solutions.
If people want to get involved in your work, what should they do?
They can email me at stephen.young@civicsnetwork.ca. We’re always looking for volunteers who are passionate and want to get involved. If you just want to keep informed, you can join our mailing list through our website at civicsnetwork.ca.