Tutuparin ko ang Aking Tungkulin: Student Perspectives and Practices of Citizenship in Two Local Universities and Colleges in the Province of Rizal
Abstract
The goal of citizenship education to develop an informed and engaged citizenry is contentious, thereby necessitating an examination of how citizenship concepts are engendered in schools. This research explores the role of Philippine public schools, particularly at the tertiary level, in producing informed and engaged Filipino citizens and the extent to which they foster citizenship concepts. Equally significant is how these educational institutions promote social cohesion through the systematic features of citizenship reflected in the conduct and organization of classrooms, pedagogy, curricula, and economic and family institutions. The research draws from Bourdieu’s insights on social reproduction to demonstrate how schools reproduce inequalities, perpetuate the dominant sociocultural order, and nurture spaces of dialogue and dissent. The research also considers Apple’s understanding of the political role of education to demonstrate how hegemony in the Philippine reformed curriculum has influenced students’ consciousness for economic purposes. Focusing on the cases of two tertiary public institutions located in a city near the capital of the Philippines, focus group discussions and semi-structured interviews were conducted among students and school personnel to collect primary data. Research findings reveal that students have multiple concepts of citizenship, including identity, a duty to the country, and an ethical concept, aligned with Bourdieu’s forms of capital and habitus, teacher pedagogy, and curriculum. Citizenship education, which is accountable for citizenship learning, has developed students’ engagement in school- and community-based citizenship initiatives despite its indistinct position in the curricula. The results also show that citizenship education is vital to students’ institutionalized cultural capital through an earned academic degree, which they can convert into profit. However, the financial requisites of participating in citizenship initiatives restrict the involvement of students with limited economic capital in such activities, thereby constricting their chances of gaining social and cultural capital. Meanwhile, the hegemony encompassing the reformed curriculum promotes students’ consciousness geared toward economic development, thereby failing to strengthen the Philippine curriculum’s citizenship initiatives. The research suggests curricular modification grounded in Apple’s critical education approach to highlight the social transformative function of education.
