In my last post, Understanding Political Identities. And Other Questions, I shared some insight into my own political identity and history and asked quite a few questions. Hopefully, it spurred some helpful reflection and dialogue.
This post will focus on one question in particular which I hope you, dear reader, consider in earnest.
What has contributed to your political education and political identity?
The research for my current book project has led me to explore more texts on political pedagogical theory, texts that attempt to cover how people should be taught or teach others about politics. I followed my own educational background, unintentionally at first, and uncovered more philosophical texts, as well as some texts within the field of political science. And, unfortunately, I am quite underwhelmed with what I have uncovered so far.Â
Most of the texts I have encountered recently (which isnât even close to comprehensive yet, I must admit) seem to essentially be espousing institutional indoctrination of sorts. In other words, they promote the idea that the only way one can truly learn about how politics exist or work in the real world is via âThe Great Worksâ or âThe Great Booksâ of political philosophy or theory, established institutional canons, and what established professors or intellectual elites determine as being worthy or profound.Â
**Cue eye-rolling and a heavy sigh.**
Since my collegiate education has influenced how I understand politics to a great extent, this discovery is certainly disheartening, but not very surprising.
College students are typically instructed to read texts about political theory from âThe Great Worksâ of the Greco-Roman period, the revolutionary era of the 18th century, and or from the Marxist era (especially for the newly engaged neoliberal). But they arenât usually encouraged to critically engage with âThe Great Worksâ they encounter, to question the political theories they encounter within those texts.
They are simply supposed to understand the texts as they are, just as the authors and creators intended, and then apply their understanding of such theories in their papers in one fashion or another. [Side note: Whether texts can and should be understood as their authors or creators intended is certainly an issue to cover more in-depth another day.]
And students certainly arenât encouraged to question how they should apply such political theories to their own political identities and engagement in the real world, right now. I wasnât. At least, not in any of my traditional college courses.
This is kind of understandable, however, seeing as how these courses (and most college courses, for that matter) are designed to simply disseminate knowledge about âThe Great Works.â This is probably why such courses arenât very effective (perhaps, ironically) when it comes to teaching students about political engagement, and how politics and political identities exist in the real world. [The pros and cons of current educational institutions can and should be tackled another day too.]
This revelation got me wondering what else, aside from educational institutions, contributes to oneâs entire political education and identity.Â
While it seems pretty clear that educational institutions have their place (for better and worse) in shaping oneâs political education and political identity, they arenât the only institutions that wield influence.
In fact, other institutions seem to have a more profound impact on the average personâs political education and identity, such as religious institutions, social institutions and organizations (e.g., sororities, nonprofit organizations, professional organizations, prestigious awards programs), government institutions, medical institutions, prisons, familial institutions, marriage, corporate and public institutions where people work, and the list goes on and on.Â
My education in school regarding politics wasnât very influential and didnât seem to have much meaning in the real world until I started voting and actively doing things with others from other institutions that I was a part of —until I started keeping up with current events and talking with others in my family and circle of friends and community about politics and political affairs. And not until I joined anti-corruption efforts and started reminding others to go out and vote while volunteering with nonpartisan nonprofit organizations.Â
Most people probably donât learn extensively about political theories while they’re in school. And even if they do, such theories seem to fall flat of teaching them how to reflect on and form their own political identities, and how to be politically engaged in the real world, after graduation.
But everyone still has a political education of some sort, in one way or another, because everyone has a political viewpoint and engages in politics in one way or another.
Even if someone is simply repudiating a political candidate because the candidate isn’t religious enough, or claims that they donât vote at all because they âarenât political,â they are still engaging in politics in one way or another.
[I would argue that not actively engaging in politics via voting or via discussing political issues is still a political stance influenced by oneâs political education or education of politics, and their overall political identity. Perhaps this is a subject for a subsequent post…]
And what influences one’s political identity–essentially, oneâs political education via the institutions they engage with or are a member of–needs to be reflected on and considered in earnest.Â
What institutions or groups have influenced your political education and identity? Your school? Your family? Your religious organization? The nonprofit you volunteer at on the weekends?Â
Scroll to the bottom of the page to leave a comment.
Subscribe to Daily Drafts & Dialogues
One comment
Comments are closed.