Renewing Democracy in Young America

Abstract

This book suggests that youth civic development should be promoted by providing young people with opportunities to participate in community life. make four arguments. The first of these is that youth can be part of the solution to the problems of contemporary American democracy. The book then summarizes what political scientists say about contemporary politics and the systemic ills that have allowed ideological polarization to stymie the democratic process. Civic education must be located in the political context in which it occurs. This is because citizen participation reflects the political system and is not a consequence of citizens’ immutable characteristics. We must supply young people with opportunities. Our second argument is that civic development and civic education will not be improved by more of what we are already doing. There is scant evidence that schools successfully inculcate civic knowledge in students. There is also little evidence of the efficacy of state-mandated community service as a requirement for high school graduation. The third argument is that improving civic development will require new opportunities for youth participation in the community and in the electorate. We propose that civic education be enriched by science-based, community-oriented environmental engagement and by lowering the voting age for municipal elections to 16. Finally, we argue that now is the time to take steps to facilitate civic development. The problems of youth engagement will neither resolve on their own nor be cured by foreseeable changes in social media technologies, federal politics, or generational change.