“Civic Education and Political Participation” by William A. Galston, in PS (April 2004), American Political Science Assn., 1527 New Hampshire Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036–1206.

We all know that the younger generation is falling down on the job of citizenship: not voting, not reading newspapers, not caring what the government does. What slackers—so unlike us! Yet there’s another side to the story, writes Galston, a professor of civic engagement at the University of Maryland, College Park.

“Today’s young people are patriotic, tolerant, and compassionate. They believe in America’s principles and in the American dream. They adeptly navigate our nation’s increasing diversity.” Volunteering for community service is on the rise (though it drops off when youths get paying jobs in their mid-twenties). But the volunteering doesn’t seem to lead to a broader civic engagement. The young tend to see volunteering as an alternative to political participation, which they distrust. One reason for this is simple ignorance. “They understand why it matters to feed a hungry person at a soup kitchen; they do not understand why it matters where government sets eligibility levels for food stamps,” says Galston.

He faults the schools. A 1998 national test showed that 35 percent of high school seniors had virtually no civic knowledge, and 39 percent met only a “basic” standard. “Most high school civic education today comprises only a single government course, compared [with] the three courses in civics, democracy, and government that were common until the 1960s.” Only half the states have “even partially specified a required core of civic knowledge.”

Recent research indicates that thoughtfully designed civic education efforts in schools can be effective. The big obstacle to their succeeding may be that adults disagree about “the kind of citizenship they want our schools to foster.” Should education emphasize loyalty to existing institutions or criticism of them, national unity or demographic and ideological diversity? Galston is hopeful that there’s enough flexibility in Amer­ica’s radically decentralized education system to accommodate a variety of views.