My progression into the Leaving Certificate cycle coincided with the emergence of my interest in politics. Sitting at home during the first Covid Lockdown watching my fellow Irish teenagers grow increasingly animated about political issues on social media {most occurring across the Atlantic Ocean}. I decided it was time to expand my interests beyond sports and video games and jump into the fray, ultimately ending up firmly across the aisle from the majority of my peers.
Luckily my school had begun offering Politics and Society as a subject option, one of roughly a hundred schools to offer the subject which was first introduced in 2017. The course aims to engage students with both the political process and the world around us and in my opinion does a good job of both.
The main body of the course is split into four strands. Strand one is titled ‘power and decision making’ which introduces students to different forms of Governments, the relationship between the rulers and citizens of a hierarchal society and how those concepts could be applied in a school setting. Strand two focuses on active citizenship and includes political ideologies, the selection of representatives and policy making. Strand three encompasses human rights and responsibilities both in Ireland and abroad while strand four delves into the topic of globalization with topics including identity, global development and climate change.
These topics are enhanced by key thinkers whose work and ideas typically focus on one of the above topics. It’s a diverse group that ranges from Karl Marx to John Locke, but the list is overwhelmingly composed of left-wing individuals. Three Marxists feature {Karl himself is joined by Paulo Freire and Andre Gunnar Frank}. Similarly, the majority of commentators on Identity and globalization do so from a left-wing perspective. Personally, If I could change one thing about the course, I would remove the key thinkers and instead focus on how different political ideologies view and approach the issues at hand. Failing this surely one or two Conservative thinkers wouldn’t hurt anybody {I would personally recommend Edmund Burke and Thomas Sowell}
Of course, this all leads to the leaving cert exam {which annoying was held on the final day, thus delaying the start of my summer} Firstly one must complete the citizenship project which is done during the school year and requires students to choose one of four topics. Examples from this year included exploring the rise of a racist and anti-racist movement and examining the potential of social media influencers to exert political power over young people.
The exam itself is straightforward. Section A involves answering short questions, some of which can be answered by memorizing the course while others require a small bit of critical thinking. Section two is a documents based question which asks students to read two documents and answer questions by critiquing, comparing and opining the material. The 2022 exam features stories of individuals ‘growing up black in Ireland’ and statistics from the annual report of the Irish Network Against Racism. The exam concludes with an essay section which allows students to give an at length opinion on a topic while drawing on knowledge from the course and the ideas of the aforementioned key thinkers. To achieve high marks a student must be able to present both sides of the given argument.
With the subject being expanded to include new schools across the country each year I would highly recommend anybody who has the option to avail of the opportunity. It is a chance to experience different viewpoints, refine your own arguments and enjoy a subject that doesn’t consist entirely of memorizing sentences from a book.
The Author, Niall Jordan, recently completed his leaving certificate.