The Impact of Education on Civic Engagement in the United States

• In Event: Roundtable Session (Wednesday II)
  In Refereed Round-Table Session: Education for underserved populations around the world

Proposal

Education plays a crucial role in civic engagement in the global context, which has been used to justify government expenditures on education. It provides individual skills, information, trust, tolerance, and the consciousness of political participation that are critical components of civic engagement. Education has become a key mechanism to make diverse populations more engaged in social and civic life, particularly in rapidly diversifying populations such as the U.S. In this paper the function of education in creating civic engagement will be explored from the aspects of political participation, tolerance, and trust within the case of the United States. It will be concluded with the importance of investments in education to increase civic engagement.
The role of education in political participation is not limited to providing individuals with the necessary skills to evaluate the political system and voting process; it also promotes the social status of individuals in a society. From the social theory of political participation framework, Rolfe (2012) claims that education determines individuals' social status through a variety of job opportunities and higher income resulting in strong political networks and a higher stake in outcomes of politics in the US.
The civic education theory is one of the most dominant discourses to describe the relationship between education and political participation. This theory is based on the function of education that ensures citizens necessary skills to get involved in political processes and to comprehend and adopt democratic tenets. The civic education theory claims that extra years of schooling provides citizens additional political information that alleviates the cost of political participation (Galston, 2001) since well-educated citizens have become capable of dealing with registration requirements and voting process. Furthermore, according to the study conducted by Gallego (2010), an individual with a high school diploma is more likely to participate in elections than those without a high school degree in the US. He also concluded that higher education holders are three times more likely to vote than secondary education holders. While civic education theory addresses the function of education in identifying the probability of voting, the rise in the average level of education has not resulted in a higher number of politically engaged citizens within the youth of society. Zukin (2006) argues that young American individuals have less knowledge about the political process, elections, and candidates compared to older individuals and participate in the election less frequently than older American citizens.
Education is also a critical driver of social trust. By earning an education, individuals are more likely to become economically and socially better off. The availability of social and economic resources leads well-educated individuals to become more confident to deal with the problems and challenges both for themselves and for the good of society, resulting in earning others’ trust. Social trust has been valued in educated and democratic societies. Some studies show that higher levels of social trust are correlated to more significant social and civic outcomes. Once individuals trust each other, the stability of democracy is enhanced, economic growth is boosted, society becomes open to diversity, and the senses of self-belonging and well-being are increased in American culture (Knack and Zak, 2002).
As for tolerance, some studies have indicated that higher education plays a crucial role in creating tolerance. Individuals with high levels of educational attainment are more likely to be eager to expand civil and political freedoms to marginalized groups than those with less educational attainment (Borgonovi, 2012). Vogt (1986) identifies the function of courses and cognitive sophistication to explain how education has become an effective mechanism in creating tolerance. Education serves students concepts and facts that are influential in their behaviors and attitudes about other people. This situation makes students more respectful and tolerant of human diversity in the US.
The political attitudes and behaviors of American minority groups can be explained by civic education theory. The study conducted by Fraga (2015) shows that while the number of voters of color has increased sharply over decades, voting rates in minority groups are not moving up simultaneously. The voter turnout among these groups has been left behind of white voters. This differential in the rate of voting between whites and minority groups may be attributed to educational differences.
Education can stimulate political behavior and participation in voting through an excellent educational environment in which individuals have an opportunity to discuss political and social affairs, and to exercise some civic activities. Education also stimulates some other civic activities like participation in community groups. Some studies indicate that civic activities in secondary schools promote the possibility of higher education graduation, which is a critical instrument in increasing civic and social engagement. That possibility is even higher in minority groups (Kam and Palmer, 2008). It means that an additional year of schooling can help to close the racial gap in social and civic engagement.
From all those impacts of education on civic and social engagement, the conclusion of my paper is schooling plays a crucial role in creating public trust, tolerance, voting participation, and a healthy democracy in American society. All those benefits of education along with civic education and political participation theories in creating civic and social engagement justify the investments and expenditures on education. Therefore, it should urge the diverse countries to invest more in education to promote civic engagement in society, which brings democracy, economic growth, and overall well-being with together. The data from the Pew Research Center where the surveys relating political participation, trust, and tolerance are conducted along with the data from NCES regarding the trajectory of educational expenditures on education will be embedded in this paper to show the effect of educational expenditures on civic engagement.

Author

• Nahide Gelgec, State University of New York at Albany