Civic education stuck in a quagmire: A critical review of civic education in Hong Kong?

Abstract

Civic education is considered as a way to nurture good citizens who work to develop the polity. However, in real politics, education often mirrors instead of shaping the political development. Reviewing civic education of Hong Kong from a historical development perspective, this article explains that civic education has for long been used a tool of governance by the political regimes. This was true not only during the days of colonial rule but is also that after the reversion of sovereignty in 1997. Manipulating civic education as a tool of governance can have far-reaching consequence. In the case of Hong Kong’s civic education, the problems due to neglect, deliberate suppression, and twisting around in different historical phases created the problem for the future. Hong Kong’s civic education is now stuck in a quagmire, and preparing young people to face the sociopolitical challenges becomes increasingly difficult. Finally, this article makes suggestions for reforming civic education in Hong Kong. To conduct this study, a mixed methodology was adopted which comprised both literature review and qualitative interviews with civic education teachers and teachers of the subject Liberal Studies. Selective discourses of the teachers are reported to inform the understanding of the discussion.