Is defending our political system a mission impossible for civics teachers?

TALKBACK:Teachers must try and inspire a generation made cynical by our excesses

WHAT CAN IT be like for the average second-level student those days? Ultimately, it is this generation who will pick up the tab for years of maladministration, corruption and greed. Hopefully they are enjoying their youth and not worrying unduly about how we have put them in hock for decades to come.

It would be good to be a fly on the wall during one of their civics classes, or CSPE as it is now known. The course is designed to foster interest and confidence in our democratic institutions. But are our young people, like the rest of us, a little war-weary? Do they have real confidence that this country can turn itself around?

What must today’s teenagers think of our parliamentary structures when TDs seem to spend almost no time in the Dáil chamber? And when they do attend, most seem to spend their time engaging in what the public sees increasingly as pointless confrontation.

Teachers face real challenges when discussing these issues in class. It must be difficult to speak up for the role of the Seanad against a background of lurid headlines about very generous expenses for Ivor Callelly and others. Are the Dáil and the Seanad viewed with respect by teenagers? And what do today’s students make of the banks? What judgment will they pass on those who operated and regulated our financial institutions? These people have destroyed much of the accumulated wealth of the older generations, leaving Ireland’s young people to pick up the bill.

What will they make of their studies of Irish trade unions? They could be forgiven for being utterly cynical if they examined the behaviour of Siptu officials (and other representatives of social partnership) who lavished public funds on foreign junkets. And let’s hope they avert their gaze from the goings on in Fás.

So where do the youth of today look for inspiration? Sadly, given the revelations of recent years, once-venerable institutions such as the Catholic Church do not currently offer solid ground upon which our children can build a new and better Ireland.

What then can we, the teachers of Ireland, say to the teenagers in our care about the state of our nation?

We could try pointing out that the material wealth of the past decade, resulting from the explosion in unlimited credit, shows us what happens to a society when greed takes over. We could explain how corruption has cut away at our core values. We could say that the Ireland of the boom was not all roses, that community spirit and social solidarity were undermined.

But teachers must also try to inspire and motivate. We cannot be too downbeat. We must recognise that Irish people are fundamentally decent and warm.

The message has to be that we can rebuild this Republic in time to celebrate its centenary in 2021. Or am I being hopelessly optimistic?

Brian Mooney is a guidance counsellor at Oatlands College, Stillorgan, Dublin