Editorial | Of civics and values

This newspaper welcomes Education Minister Fayval Williams’ fulfilment of her pledge to formally reintroduce civics to the curricula of Jamaican schools.

It should not have been removed in the first place, to form part of the subject called social studies. Nudged by many groups in the society who are concerned over an increasingly coarse and less-caring Jamaica, Ms Williams has done what several of her predecessors had threatened. It is now left to see how policy translates to outcomes. Which, in part, will depend on just how broadly teachers are allowed, or expected, to define civics.

The idea, therefore, should be afforded the widest possible interpretation in keeping with the mission, as Ms Williams reminded a fortnight ago, of nurturing citizens who understand their rights and responsibilities, “and a Jamaican who understands him or herself as an individual and as a member of a group endowed with God-given abilities”.

Civics, in this context, ought to be about the structure and operation of government and governance, and the rights and obligations of citizens’ therein. It demands, too, a subtle and, in a sense, deeper addition: rekindling in Jamaicans the capacity for respect, care and decency, without conditions, regardless of the recipient.

In this regard, bringing civics back to schools should be one element of a larger national campaign around values and attitudes in the society, as the former prime minister, P.J. Patterson, had termed it when he launched such an effort 30 years ago.

That there is a need for the formal teaching of civics, narrowly defined, is in little doubt, although there might not be the empirical data to prove the case.

ANECDOTAL EVIDENCE

There is, however, plenty of anecdotal evidence of the ignorance of Jamaicans about the innards of the country’s democracy – of how the cogs of the legislature, the executive and the judiciary should fit together and work for the society.

People, nonetheless, have a strong sense, and in some instances know, that the institutions do not work in their interest; that they do not meet their obligations to them, or are fully protective of their rights. Put bluntly, the vast majority of Jamaicans, more than seven in 10 of them, believe that they live in a corrupt country, and most have little or no faith in the institutions of the State.

Jamaicans display their distrust with a deepening cynicism for democracy and by opting out of the political process. Indeed, a 2021 survey on democracy in the Americas by Vanderbilt University’s LAPOP research laboratory, found that nearly half (46 per cent) of Jamaicans would tolerate a military coup if its aim was to rout corruption. In General Election three years ago, just shy of 38 per cent of registered voters cast ballots, the lowest since universal adult suffering, continuing a downward trend of recent years. The voter turnout in 2020 was approximately 11 percentage points lower than in 2016.

Civics education will not by itself fix the problems of Jamaica’s politics and democracy. Knowledgeable citizens are more likely to be politically engaged, and better able to critically interrogate, and make specific demands of the political process and their leaders. Which should make for a healthier society.

INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS

But it is not in politics and governance that Jamaica has problems. There has been over decades, a hard and cringe-worthy callousness that has grown in interpersonal relationships and civic and social discourse. We are easy to disrespect and to feel disrespected – and to give no quarter at any suspicion of the latter. Apologies do not easily suffice. This difficulty in resolving disputes contributes to Jamaica’s high levels of violence – including around 1,500 murders annually.

Of course, these attitudes are not totally divorced from the country’s political history. Some are indeed calluses from the ‘garrisonisation’ of political relations, especially during the 1970s and ’80s, from which we have not fully recovered. So, there are many lessons to be relearnt, exoskeletons to be shed, and values and attitudes to be embraced.

When Mr Patterson launched his values and attitudes campaign he, and it, were ridiculed. With the teaching of civics as its foundation, a new campaign may fare better. There is consensus on its need.

Ms Williams has provided a start. Her boss, Prime Minister Andrew Holness, and the Opposition leader, Mark Golding, should give the process real legs.