Citizenship and Education: the role of the school

What is citizenship? When it comes to citizenship, political, social, and labor rights are an instant association. Citizenship is, precisely, the practice of rights and duties established in the Constitution of each country by the individuals who live in it. However, the concept of citizenship must go beyond the simple idea of belonging to a country and having rights and duties. Citizenship also includes a real sense of “Nation”, of getting close to values and ideals that best express the whole, and situating one within a social context with an awareness of their individual role.

In Brazil, the concept of citizenship tends to converge to the meaning obtained by political positioning, either the “left” (progressive) or the “right” (conservative) view.

For the left, citizenship is often just an appearance of democracy, as it discriminates against first, second, third, and no class citizens, eventually reinforcing inequality... For sectors of the “right”, by implying the idea of equality, even if only legal equality, citizenship becomes undesirable and threatening. To maintain their privileges (the Lex privata, the opposite of the public content in the notion of citizenship), the elites depend on the explicit recognition of the hierarchy between superiors and inferiors. (BENEVIDES, 1994, p. 6, free translation).

In each country, the achievements of civil, political, and social rights had their own history. In Brazil, according to Carvalho (2011, quoted by Vasquez, 2016, p. 124), social law preceded others. Consequently, that affects the form and exercise of citizenship, i.e., North American or English “citizen” is not the same concept for Brazilian “citizen”. Social benefits were treated as the result of negotiation of each category with the government, instead of a right of all. Since the autonomous organization of society is weak and the stimulus to political participation in search of rights is not as significant, corporate interests prevail. Historically, throughout the world, there have been many social struggles to conquer these rights, but in Brazil citizenship tends to be exercised with an individualistic vision, which stimulates the culture of consumption and denial of the public; consuming health plans and private schools rather than improving public services illustrates this situation well. 

School management has an important role in identifying possibilities and spaces to exercise democratic processes with educators at school.

The enormous inequalities in the political, cultural, and economic fields confront the human rights and the Brazilian citizen rights, guaranteed by the Federal Constitution of 1988.

The expansion of citizenship implies, other than an effective action of public authorities and popular pressure, a cultural change that is especially important in Brazil, as it implies the overthrow of values and customs rooted among its people, resulting from several historically defined factors: the long period of slavery, which meant exactly the violation of all principles of respect for the dignity of the human person, starting with the right to life; the oligarchic and patrimonial policy, which combines big capital with public agents; the authoritarian and elitist education system; our concern much more focused on private morality than on public ethics; the indignation with corruption, only of opponents or “class enemies”; religious practices essentially related to the value of charity to the detriment of the value of justice; the patriarchal; the racist and sexist social system; the racist and prejudiced society against all those considered different; the disinterest for citizen participation and associative solidarity; the consumerist individualism (BENEVIDES, 2016, p. 28, free translation).

What about the role of the school in transmitting culture, moral values, and citizenship? Several authors discuss the topic but Dussel (2009, p.352) asks “What happened to the ideal of transmitting culture and, more specifically, a “common culture” to all citizens by school?”.

The Moral and Civic Education subject was adopted in the national school curriculum via Decree-Law No. 2,072, March 8, 1940, by Getúlio Vargas and Minister Gustavo Capanema, who established its obligation and aimed to transmit moral and ethical values to the student. Thus, allowing mainly the knowledge of national symbols and the development of a positive feeling regarding the Homeland. Subsequently, it was resumed together with the subject of Organization of Social Policies in Brazil (OSPB) from 1969 via Decree Law 869/68. In 1993, however, President Itamar Franco revoked the decree. These two subjects were condemned by the National Curriculum Parameters (PCN), established by the Law of Directives and Bases of National Education (LDB) of 1996, since they propagated the authoritarian regime and related to the idea of “indoctrination”.

Since the Brazilian military government required the subjects Moral and Civic Education and Organization of Social Policies in Brazilian schools and some specialists and members of the academic community considered them retrograde and unnecessary, they were stigmatized. However, some specialists and educators believe that, if approached without excesses and focusing on the development of citizenship, this school discipline line could contribute to the formation of democratic consciousness and stimulate the sense of patriotism.

At the beginning of President Jair Bolsonaro’s Government, in February 2019, the Minister of Education at the time, Ricardo Vélez Rodríguez, defended the return of the Moral and Civic Education subject to the Brazilian elementary school curriculum, initially aiming to teach students the different social contexts and respect for the laws of other countries.

Among several theories and conceptions regarding the role of the School in the process of the citizen formation,

...Brazil has, for example, the idealist-liberal view that the School is an instrument of democratization and integration. If it has good quality, it could guarantee equal opportunities for all individuals. Such conception has proved to be unfeasible, at least until now, since one cannot speak of equal opportunities without equal conditions, which does not characterize our capitalist system (LEITE, 1989, p. 17, free translation).

The school usually conveys a hegemonic ideology, while “schooling” develops the basic repertoire fundamental to the formation of citizenship. According to Leite (1989, p. 19), the role of the School could be much more important if it were planned based on the characteristics and needs of the population served; for example, if curricula and school programs were planned respecting the repertoire of the population and directed towards the formation of critical behavior, then the School would certainly have a great effect on the formation of citizenship.

This critical behavior also relates to the common sense that the detriment of contemporary behavior is massified, guided by self-centeredness, and based on discussions of social networks, focused on the search for acceptance and popularity. There is a kind of massification of thought that does not allow discussions favorable to the formation of the ethical individual that is conscious of their role within society as well as their rights and duties as a citizen. The feeling of patriotism is not encouraged and a knowledge of civic contents lacks in schools, such as the history of National Symbols of Brazil.

In this context of mass behavior, there is a tendency to disrespect authority in the family and at school. Thus, the difficult relationship between educators and students is evidenced by disrespect for teachers and inappropriate behaviors in educational institutions, which are common in the era of the Communication and Information Revolution. Technology has made daily activities easier, but Education has suffered in several aspects due to the lack of critical evaluation of the contents available on the Internet. The ease and speed to find information requires greater attention from parents and educators regarding the formation of individuals, since it is necessary to direct their steps towards the construction of a citizen consciousness. Other than passing on knowledge by formal subjects, the role of teachers expands to “administrator” of content, due to the disorderly way and uncontrollable quantity that information enters people’s lives by technology.

On the other hand, the school should encourage the respect for and recognition of individual differences and the fight against prejudice, discrimination, and privileges by the awareness of rights and duties. Each individual must trust in themself to understand their contribution to transform their own reality and to the common good in the environment in which they are inserted.

Individuals should experience citizenship in the daily life of the school. Citizen formation should not be restricted only to the intellectual sphere. To allow the student to develop value judgment, have discernment, and know how to act before the different everyday circumstances in a fair, conscious, and responsible way this formation should also focus on the critical view of life.

Despite the several challenges in the Brazilian reality, it is worth insisting on the idea that each individual can contribute to an active citizenship since “Democracy is not only a political regime and a form of government: it is a way of life” (BENEVIDES, 2016, p. 21).

Discredit in political actions or in “democratic government” should not contaminate the actions of educators. On the other hand, they should encourage the formation of a political, social, and participatory consciousness. Moreover, it is necessary to engage each citizen in this process, whether participating in social activities or in class conflicts for social justice, or constantly directing their own actions for the common good.

Recife, August 30, 2019.

sources consulted

BENEVIDES, Maria Victoria de Mesquita. Cidadania e Democracia. Lua Nova: Revista de Cultura e Política, São Paulo: CEDEC, n. 33, p. 5-16, 1994. 

________. Cidadania Ativa e Democracia no Brasil. Rev. Parlamento e Sociedade, São Paulo, v.4, n.6, p.21-31, jan./jun. 2016.

CHAUÍ, Marilena. Cultura e democracia ativa. São Paulo: Editora Ática, 1991.

DUSSEL, Inés. A transmissão cultural assediada: metamorfoses da cultura comum na escola. Cadernos de Pesquisa, São Paulo, v. 39, n. 137, p. 351-365, maio/ago. 2009. Tradução de Neide Luzia de Rezende.

LEITE, Sérgio Antônio da Silva. A escola e a formação da cidadania ou para além de uma concepção reprodutivista. Brasília, Psicologia Ciência e Profissão, vol.9, n.3, p.17-19, 1989. Disponível em: <http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1414-98931989000300007>. Acesso em 29 ago. 2019.

MENEZES, Ebenezer Takuno de; SANTOS, Thais Helena dos. Verbete EMC (Educação Moral e Cívica). Dicionário Interativo da Educação Brasileira - Educabrasil. São Paulo: Midiamix, 2001. Disponível em: <https://www.educabrasil.com.br/emc-educacao-moral-e-civica/>. Acesso em: 29 de ago. 2019.

SILBERNAGEL, Gustavo Furtado. Generalidades nas democracias constitucionais: partidos políticos e o fortalecimento do governo democrático [Foto neste texto]. Disponível em: <https://www.gustavofurtadosilbernagel.com.br/2018/08/14/generalidades-nas-democracias-constitucionais-partidos-politicos-e-o-fortalecimento-do-governo-democratico/>. Acesso em: 30 ago. 2019. 

how to quote this text

VERARDI, Cláudia Albuquerque.Citizenship and Education: the role of the school. In: Pesquisa Escolar. Recife: Fundação Joaquim Nabuco, 2019. Available at:https://pesquisaescolar.fundaj.gov.br/en/artigo/citizenship-and-education-role-school/. Access on: month day year. (Ex.: Aug. 6, 2020).