Can Political Participation Be Taught?
The Civics of Student Engagement
Amid calls for a dramatic overhaul of American education aimed at preserving the nation’s dominant position in the global economy, there are still voices advocating more-traditional ideals of education, such as preparation for living in and passing on a democracy. Though we recognize the economic role of schooling, many of us continue to worry about declining voting rates for young people and their lagging civic participation. Some reformers recommend increased instruction and classroom discussion about American history—the various wars, founding documents, social movements, and national holidays—to remind students of our democratic traditions.
Such activities are of course important in helping young people understand the origins and significance of their rights and responsibilities as citizens. But voting rates haven’t declined because students aren’t exposed to enough history. Indeed, as an academic subject, American history has managed to survive more or less intact while civics—the subject aimed at teaching the mechanics of civic participation—has been steadily squeezed out of the curriculum.
One problem may be that schools have been slow to embrace the kinds of engaging instructional strategies that could mitigate students’ cynicism about politics and encourage their participation. Service-learning, for example, in which students identify a community need, work with community partners to develop solutions, and then take action to address the need, is a proven strategy for teaching problem-solving, teamwork, critical thinking, and many other civic, academic, and workplace skills. Well-designed service-learning experiences that incorporate discussion of the political dimensions of an issue selected by the students themselves can increase young people’s interest in politics and can make continued civic participation more likely later in life. Moreover, a recent study by RMC Research Corp. indicates that service-learning which allows students to engage in research and advocacy (organizing a community forum, circulating a petition, and so forth) contributes to better outcomes in terms of civic knowledge, civic dispositions, and efficacy than direct service alone (feeding...
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