July 24, 2023

Civic education is an essential part of any country’s nation building and young people’s school experience. The notion of citizenship, however, is facing challenges from an increasingly globalising and technologically mediated world.

In ‘Rethinking civic education in the digital era: How media, school, and youth negotiate the meaning of citizenship’ (International Communication Gazette, 2022), Associate Professor Weiyu Zhang, Dr Zhuo Chen (both NUS Department of Communications and New Media), Dr Yeow-Tong Chia, and Dr Jia Ying Neoh (both University of Sydney) discuss the evolving notion of civic education that resulted from technological advancement and the finding that young people in Singapore have very different conceptions of civic education.

The researchers engaged in focus group discussions with eight groups of 21 to 34-year-old young Singaporeans, each group consisting of four to six participants. The participants were asked about how they understood and felt about citizenship or being civic, followed by questions about the declining interest in conventional political activities. Lastly, the researchers asked them about news media and its potential impact on civic activeness.

The theme of ‘making society better’ encapsulates most participants’ responses towards their understanding of ‘civic’ in Singapore. Most of them understand being ‘civic’ as abiding by legal rules and social norms, but there are disagreements about the type of actions that better the society (for instance, whether participating in a petition, boycotting, or ‘cancelling’ makes society better). Some participants believe that such actions cause divides, whereas others argue that boycotting is a form of political expression of support for certain causes. Some participants also associate being ‘civic’ with activities that may lead to broader social or political changes, such as the increasing support for the opposition party in Singapore’s most recent general elections. While the participants displayed a basic understanding of being civic and different methods of civic participation, a key challenge to being civic is that they pay limited attention to the notion of civic participation that could potentially challenge social norms and threaten social harmony.

The participants recognise that social media has played a role in their civic education. Traditional news media focuses on descriptively reporting what has happened around the world, whereas online platforms enable everyone who has read the online news to express his or her views. Moreover, the participants reckon that there are always differences between what they learn from social media and from friends and family. Ultimately, many participants reflect that they tend to side with the views of their friends or family.

The researchers emphasise that while social media is conducive to cultivating skills for participatory citizenship, internet users need to be able to identify accurate and reliable information from the rest. Besides teaching young people about existing forms of civic participation, civic education nowadays must also equip them with the ability to engage in civic participation in light of social media and other emerging technologies.

Read the article here: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/17480485221094101?journalCode=gazb