Nurturing an Engaged Citizen
Why Civic Engagement is needed in schools, and how to make it happen
Voting - The Darling of American Values
Professor Nicholas Burns wrote in an essay published in the summer of 2020 on the importance of American values in our leadership, across all public and private sectors, for a peaceful next decade. The foundation and hallmark of a thriving democracy, and really, the darling of our American values has always been our voice to elect officials, our ability to Vote.
As the American Presidency Project illustrates, the Presidential election of 1876 had the highest turnout of voters, in comparison to the Voting Age Population at the time. The election was heavily contested as the results would significantly impact the direction which the United States would go with Reconstruction after the Civil War. As a result, even with significant barriers and suppression of the black vote, especially in the South, voters turned out at just under 82%.
Since then, voter turnout has steadily decreased, even though the Voting Age Population of the U.S. has increased significantly. The Presidential election of 2008 occurred during the economically perilous times of the “Great Recession”. Along with the hope of electing Nation’s first Black president or first woman Vice President, the 2008 election resulted in the highest turnout of the last two decades, at just 58% voter turnout, meaning over 40% of our Voting Age Population abstained from their right to vote. Conversely, in economically “good” times, the Presidential election of 1996 resulted in the lowest turnout after 1876, with only 49% of voters actively participating. In terms of the most recent presidential election of 2016, and all the political activism that was involved, still only 56% of the U.S. voters turned out. The reason why I focus on Presidential election numbers is mainly because Midterm elections for our officials in Congress, or even state and local elections, have incredibly low voter turnout rates.
Spotlight on Youth vote:
Political apathy is rife, and unfortunately, that extends to youth voters. Using data obtained from Tufts’ CIRCLE of the 2018 Midterm elections, out of the entire Voting age population for youths ages 18-29, voter turnout was only 28%. Over 72% of the U.S. youth voters did not vote. There are a few barriers to voting in this age bracket, including registration confusion, and access to polls and election offices when on campus, however the barriers don’t account for such high numbers of non-voters. When breaking down the youth vote even further, the 2018 Midterm elections for youth under 20, thus the 18-19 age bracket was even lower at 23%. When looking at the data state by state, the range expanded significantly, going from 13% to 37% of voter turnout in that age bracket. Some states with higher voter turnout, including CO and NY, although skewing the average numbers, achieved higher voter turnout than even the expanded youth numbers mostly through a targeted campaign of activist youth members encouraging them to make a plan and vote.
But why does focusing on youth civic engagement even matter? According to a 2018 study on civic engagement published by the Society for Research in Child Development, it is evident that there are positive correlations and favorable outcomes when youth and young adults vote and volunteer in regards to mental health, and overall health behaviors. As the saying goes, “Activism is a calling,” and youth activists require a strong support system, as activism could increase risky health behaviors. Activism did not show any significant positive, nor negative, impact on mental health. Not everyone has the ability to be an activist, but civic engagement is for everyone, through our ability and right to vote. Voting, according to the study, correlated with positive health behaviors, and, along with volunteering, exhibited a positive impact on mental health states for youth. In the current climate, any and all efforts to focus on improved mental and physical health is what we should be focusing on in schools.
As the study illustrated however, the positive outcomes from voting, volunteering, and activism didn’t just end with a focus on present-term health, but also highlighted the positive long-term benefits that come from civic engagement. Youth that participated in the study showed positive gains well into their adulthood in terms of education and socioeconomic levels, even when adjusting the impact in regards to parent/guardian education and socioeconomic standings. Simply put - voting is good for our youth.
Even the United Nations recognizes the importance of increasing youth participation in our nation building as a means to increase human and social capital. The concept is that as students grow into adulthood, they are able to transform their communities with new ideas, and drive the nation forward.
Youth inspiration isn’t something new, but their input is missing in recent decades. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was just 26 years old when he became a Global Leader in our Nation’s Civil Rights fight. Alexander Hamilton was only 17 when his writings inspired the creation of the United States. The more we provide avenues to engage our youth in our civic duties, the further we will be able to equally progress.
Schools: Civic Deserts or Oases?
When we take a look at areas to improve civic engagement for youth, one glaring area where the opportunity is significantly lacking is in schools. Tufts’ CIRCLE center highlights the school as a ‘Civic Desert’ - defined as an area in a community where opportunities for civic engagement are lacking or missing. The perceived notion is that our nation’s schools actually decrease opportunities for civic engagement, especially in less affluent areas, rural or urban. A defeatist sentiment of “it is what it is” runs rampant in these schools, and students feel like they don’t have areas to congregate, let alone let ideas flow. According to an in-depth article series in Education Week, schools perpetuate this feeling by diminishing innovative thinking as well, further creating a vacuum for any civic opportunity.
We must transform schools from being Civic Deserts to becoming Civic Oases to help nurture our citizenry. School, for the most part, is one of the largest shared experiences collectively of our society. Currently, the shared experience of school is one where they “tell you what to do.” Building discipline isn’t a bad thing over all, and is important for personal growth, but when discourse and engagement is missing from the entire community, it is amplified further in schools. This results in schools being places to follow others, and not always as places to engage.
To transform our schools to Civic Oases, we must increase ways for students to connect with others, and practice the responsibility of using their voice. We can create multiple shared experiences for our society moving forward. School experiences would be able to go beyond just test-taking and attendance awards, to now include shared experiences of voting, curriculum, successes and failures, discourse, and collaboration.
Cultivating Civic Engagement in Schools
The framework we propose is three-fold, beginning in Kindergarten. We first encourage elementary school students to use their voice, and practice voting. The concept of voting is practiced through curriculum units, or lessons that are upcoming in the school year. The students, through voting, are able to create living, relatable syllabus, designed by them with guidance and choice provided by teachers and curriculum designers.
As students move to Middle School, we support the students in running campaigns for what unit or lesson they want to learn. We support discourse and dialogue in the classroom, and students experience voting and campaigns as important to them, as elections are to democracy. Student Government organizations can be influential in building this experience as well, and by starting with middle school, encourage students to build a community early on.
Transitioning to High School, we inspire students to propose new lessons, and reasons why they should be added to the curriculum. The generation, reflection, and adoption of new ideas is practiced, all through the curriculum in order for students to understand their voice and impact, directly to how they learn. By the time students turn 18, they have practiced responsibility, understood their voice and vote, and how that can translate to their wider community needs. It leads to meaningful civic engagement right at the voting age, and reaping the benefits of youth participation throughout.
The framework above can be implemented at any stage. Tools to adopt and add into schools to help transform them to Civic Oases also include adding curriculum focused on civic discourse from organizations like Young Voices for the Planet, and Resilient Educator. Bringing in a standard, simple platform to practice student voting on curriculum/lesson units, like Student Soapbox, can help tie in student engagement and voting frameworks, along with the digital infrastructure needed to implement a successful living syllabus. Additionally, building partnerships with organizations focused on Civic Engagement for adults can help schools focus on driving youth vote and volunteer activities. Groups such as Vote Save America, Democracy Now, The Andrew Goodman Foundation and many others can be great initial partners.
Our youth will become the cornerstone of the next generation of American democracy. We must equip them with the necessary tools, applied with a solid framework, to ensure we set them up for success.