Past postings of this blog present the concern of how
effective civic education is in promoting student engagement in the governance
and politics of their local communities.
Some writers who address this concern use the term civic engagement to
designate this concern. There are
various operational definitions of civic engagement; one of them is offered by
Thomas Ehrlich: “[T]o make a difference
in the civic life of our communities. … It means promoting the quality of life
in a community through both political and non-political processes.”[1]
The earlier
message of this blog is that schooling in America has been deficient in
promoting civic engagement. What has
more recent research indicated in this area of concern? This posting looks at that research.[2] To summarize that research, current evidence
does not paint a more promising picture assuming one sees civic engagement in a
positive light.
Thom File
reports in 2013 that fewer Americans take the time to vote.[3] To many, voting is seen as the bottom line
level of participation or engagement.
Yet, in the last national election, the 2016 presidential election, 58.6%
of eligible voters voted. In the last
mid-term election, 2014, 36.4% turned out.
How about other forms of involvement?
Peter Levine
and Eric Liu observe that Americans don’t belong to local, community
organizations as much or go to community meetings as often as in the past.[4] This finding echoes what Robert Putnam indicates
in his 2000 classic work, Bowling Alone.[5] Adding to this picture, a national task force
found that Americans are also less apt to contact public
officials and that young adults (18 to 29 year-olds) have engaged to lesser
levels in civic affairs – like voting and other civic oriented activities –
when measured over the last four decades.[6] File further reports on less voting.[7]
The task force also found that general
understanding of governance has declined along with overall all civic
literacy. Civic literacy, as a concept,
relates to what this blog has referred to as political knowledge and political
skills. According to a site, Urban Agenda, civic literacy means: “… the knowledge of how to
actively participate and initiate change in your community and the greater
society. It is the foundation by which a democratic society functions … a means
to create avenues for peaceful change.”[8] If one states it that way, it sounds
important – and it is.
So much so, research has been done on how much civic
literacy there is among Americans. This
blog will report on that research in its next posting. Knowledge and skills are two important aspects of citizenship,
but before they become utilized, one needs to be motivated to use them. In an upcoming posting, this account will
look at a motivator, social empathy.
Yes, acquiring and using political
knowledge and skills can be motivated by other concerns, some might be very
self-centered. But in terms of civic
literacy, one needs to first care about the societal conditions around him or her. This blog has used the term civic humanism to
designate such a motivated concern. The
next posting will continue this review and look closer at civic literacy and
then beyond, a look at social empathy will follow.
[2] Most of
the sources cited in this posting are previously identified by Mary E. Hylton. See Mary E. Hylton, “The Role of Civic
Literacy and Social Empathy on Rates of Civic Engagement among University Students,”
Journal of Higher Education Outreach and
Engagement, 2018, vol. 22, 1, 87-106.
[3] Thom File, Young-Adult Voting:
An Analysis of Presidential Elections, 1964–2012 (Current Population Survey
Reports, P20-572) (Washington, DC: U.S. Census Bureau, 2013).
[4] Peter Levine and Eric Liu, “America’s Civic Renewal Movement: A View
from Organizational Leaders (Medford, MA:
Tufts Report, Tufts University, 2015).
[5] Robert D.
Putnam, Bowling Alone: The Collapse and
Revival of American Community (New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 2000).
[6] The National Task Force on Civic Learning and
Democratic Engagement, “A Crucible Moment: College Learning and Democracy’s Future”
(Association of American Colleges and Universities, 2012), accessed May 7,
2018, http:// www.aacu.org/civiclearning/crucible .
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