US civics education isn’t boosting youth voting or volunteerism
after the insurrection, the impeachment, the trial and ongoing partisanship in 2021, many americans are looking to civics education as a source of hope, according to George Washington University’s center on education Policy.
The report states that “nearly all Americans [97 percent] agree that public schools should be teaching civics.”
Civics classes, as defined by the Center for American Progress, teach students about how the US government works, history about how it was designed and information about how to participate, including voting. Thus, it seems reasonable to expect that students who take those courses should be voting more and engaging in community service.
But my research shows that states that require civics courses do not necessarily have better test scores, more youth voting or young people volunteering at higher rates than other states. And there may be a connection to Qanon support as well.
I’m a political science professor who also teaches government, history, geography and economics classes to college students who major in education. I strongly believe that civics education is a good thing.
Unfortunately, though, my research has found that civics education isn’t making the grade. I analyzed data from the latest study by the Center for American Progress, which provides information on which states require a civics test, as well as the voting rates for 18-to-24-year-olds and the volunteer rates for 16-to-24-year-olds.
In states that require students to take a civics course, young voters have slightly lower average voting rates (29.9 percent) than states without such a requirement (31.9 percent).
Meanwhile, Washington, D.C., and 39 states—including California—have a civics class requirement. It turns out that these places have lower percentages of youth volunteer rates (22.7 percent on average) than states without such a civics course requirement (23.5 percent). These states include
New Jersey, Kentucky and Nebraska.
Passing a civics exam
Nineteen states require passage of a civics exam for graduation, including Kentucky, which does not have a specific course requirement. But that doesn’t seem to make a difference in boosting youth civic engagement or knowledge.
States with the requirement have roughly similar youth voting rates (30 percent) as states that do not require passage of a civics exam (30.6 percent). States demanding a civics exam be passed before receiving a highschool diploma also have average test scores on AP exams related to civics or government (2.80) similar to those states without such a requirement (2.75).
There is one bright spot, though: States with a civics exam have higher volunteer rates among younger people (22.2 percent on average) than those states that do not (17.5 percent).
Countering Qanon?
FAILURE to provide an adequate civics education doesn’t just mean lower numbers of young people voting, volunteering and scoring a little lower on AP test scores. It could also open the door for Qanon, a wide-ranging conspiracy theory that claims former President Donald trump is helping the late John F. Kennedy Jr. battle a secret cabal of cannibalistic pedophiles.
States with lower levels of youth volunteering, youth voting and youth civics test scores are also more likely to have Qanon sympathizers active in politics, or politicians who oppose criticism of Qanon. to determine this, I looked at states which had a congressional candidate who openly espoused some or all of the Qanon philosophy. I also examined which states had a representative who voted against a congressional resolution denouncing Qanon.
The 24 states with Qanon-supporting politicians had lower average youth voting rates (38.5 percent) than states without them (42.4 percent). They also had lower average youth volunteering rates (21.8 percent) than states without major politicians supporting Qanon (24 percent).
There was no significant difference in AP test scores between the two groups of states.
America’s civics education may not help solve the nation’s current political crises. But reform efforts touted by the Center for American Progress are under way in several states to help replace memorizing facts and figures with active learning designed to engage students in real-life problems in and out of the classroom. The Conversation
“States that require civics courses do not necessarily have more youth voting or young people volunteering at higher rates. And there may be a connection to Qanon support as well.”
ON THE COVER: Image from pexels.com