Reconceptualizing Political Knowledge for Diverse Political Realities

• In Event: CRT, Racism, and Diversity: Challenges and Opportunities in Education Governance

Abstract

Political knowledge is a key indicator of political engagement, and civic education is often the primary formal opportunity young people encounter to develop knowledge of politics. However, business-as-usual civics curricula and assessments are inadequate and ultimately unjust because they center knowledge that reflects a narrow set of national political facts largely irrelevant to the political lives of many young people, particularly students from race-class subjugated (Soss and Weaver 2017) communities who experience politics in distinct ways from their white, more resourced peers. Focus groups with 42 Philadelphia students who identify as marginalized youth highlight they want to learn more about their local political and policy environment, and to do so in problem-based learning classrooms that emphasize student voice in democratically run classrooms. Additional focus groups with students from across the purple state of Pennsylvania reveal both similarities and differences among young people along lines of race, class, and urbanicity. This research underscores the need to center youth voices in reconceptualizing what political knowledge is required to navigate politics in a pluralist America.

Author

• Abigail Dym, Providence College