Blog Post Week #8

I spent my childhood and youth growing up on an eighty (80) acre farm roughly twenty (20) miles South East of Saskatoon. My traditional schooling occurred during 1975 – 1988. I went to Clavet Composite School from grade 3 to 12. I was a Clavet Cougar 6-man football corner back in 1986! Grrrr! Woot-woot! My untraditional schooling was land based with my late afternoons spent interacting with my pigs – Mork, Mindy, Clyde, Runt and Miss Piggy. I was a citizen the municipality of Corman Park for my 20’s. I was a citizen of Los Angeles and New Orleans for my 30’s. In my 40’s…I spent it stuck in butt-crack Regina. I hope it gets better in my 50’s…

I do not recall ANY citizenship education in my K-12 schooling. I can’t even recall who my high school social studies teacher’s name was. This is not to say I didn’t receive any citizenship education. My memory simply doesn’t reach back that far. I do not recall leaving high school with any sense of responsibility or knowledge regarding voting, procedures, rallies, running for office, or even group organizing. If I were to guess a type of citizenry education I could have been exposed to at Clavet, I’d assume it was the basics. I have been less than a Personally Responsible citizen. My committed desire to vote in elections, local, provincial, or federal didn’t begin until I was in my late 30’s.

However, I did learn a lot about politics (and possibly citizenry) while pursuing a Political Science degree in the 1990’s. Unfortunately, it did not have much impact regarding my citizenry duties. Living in Canada I took for granted.

Just as significant was that this non-dutiful citizen I have become, was echoed in the family household. I do not recall my parents ever participating in politics other than voting in the municipal, provincial, and federal elections.

What has this approach to the curriculum made (im) possible in regards to citizenship? This non-approach to the curriculum may have been due to the time period. I assume the acknowledgement and importance of citizenry education might have been apart of the same non-existent topics much like LGBTQ and Indigenous rights. It was the 1980’s…when Michael Jackson, Bruce Springsteen and Tina Turner were deemed most important.