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Young Americans: If You Educate Them, They Will Vote

Intercollegiate Studies Institute Research Shows that College Students Educated in History, Government and Economics are More Likely to Vote

Wilmington, November 1, 2006 - Men and women ages 18 to 24 historically register and vote at lower levels than any other group of Americans, according to the US Census Bureau, and Election Day 2006 is expected to be no different.[1] Why are young Americans failing to vote? For the first time, statistically valid evidence exists to demonstrate one key factor for the low voter turnout among America's young people.

Data collected in recent years by University of Connecticut's Department of Public Policy for the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI) from a national survey of college students documents that students who learn more about America's history and essential institutions are more engaged in citizenship activities and more likely to fulfill their "civic duties," which includes voting. Conversely, students who learned little in these areas reported lower civic engagement. ISI concludes that our nation's colleges and universities are failing to effectively educate their students - and our nation's next leaders - about America's history and essential institutions and thereby are failing to contribute to greater student engagement in American political life. ISI's study reinforces what researchers have identified as the "dominant feature of nonvoting in America" ... lack of learning about our history and institutions.

"Unfortunately college students are a part of the 'disappearing electorate.' Higher education can help change this by directing students to courses where they can learn about who we are as Americans and how our political institutions work," said Mike Ratliff, senior vice president of ISI and executive director of ISI's American Civic Literacy Program. "ISI's research shows that most of our universities fail to advance students' civic knowledge and this failure discourages political participation among our future leaders."

Other election-related findings from the study include:

At the 11 schools where students took five or more courses from the relevant disciplines of American history, political science and economics, students reported significantly higher levels of both registering to vote and actually voting. These schools include Colorado State, Washington and Lee, Grove City College, George Mason and Rhodes.

Students who are enrolled at a college with a core curriculum that exposes students to courses in our history and institutions are 5.5 percent more likely to vote, other things being equal.

Women are more likely than men to register and vote by a margin of three percent.

Despite low rates of voter registration and voting, ISI's study found evidence that America's young people are engaged in the political process:

28 percent of the American college seniors have contacted a public official.

44 percent of the American college seniors surveyed have tried to influence how others vote.

27 percent of the American college seniors have worn campaign buttons or put campaign stickers on their car.

13 percent of American college seniors have given money to help a political campaign.

16.5 percent of American college seniors have worked on a political campaign.

"Today's students may be the most public spirited generation since the 'great generation' that fought and won World War II. Their record of voluntarism and community service reflects this commitment, and there is no reason those now under age 24 should not be equally involved in public life by registering and voting. If our colleges and universities were better at teaching civic engagement, rather than civic apathy, they could contribute to students' lifelong informed political engagement," said Ratliff.

Students' Scores Paint a Bleak Picture for America

This research by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute comes on top of a report they issued in September documenting the failure of American colleges and universities to teach students about American history, our economic and political institutions, and America's place in the world. According to that report, The Coming Crisis in Citizenship, most of the 50 schools in ISI's study fail to effectively teach their students about America's history and institutions. The average score for seniors on a 60 multiple choice questionnaire in the subjects of American history, political science and economics was 53.2 percent correct. The average freshmen score was 51.7 percent correct. The gain in knowledge in the subjects key to good citizenship was a trivial 1.5%. ISI ranked the schools by the knowledge gained by students during the baccalaureate. The top five schools were Rhodes, Colorado State University, Calvin College, Grove City and the University Colorado, Boulder. The bottom five ranked schools were Johns Hopkins, University of California, Berkeley, Cornell, Brown and Duke.

The Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI) was founded in 1953 to further in successive generations of American college youth a better understanding of the economic, political, and ethical values that sustain a free and humane society. With ISI's volunteer representatives at over 900 colleges, and with more than 50,000 ISI student and faculty members on virtually every campus in the country, ISI directs tens of thousands of young people each year to a wide array of educational programs that deepen their understanding of the American ideal of ordered liberty.

ISI annually conducts more than 300 educational programs around the country, including lectures, debates, student conferences, and summer schools. ISI also offers graduate fellowships for aspiring college teachers and distributes more than three million copies of ISI books, journals, and affiliated student newspapers on college and university campuses across the country. These programs work at different levels and in different ways to nurture in the rising generations an appreciation of our nation's founding principles-limited government, individual liberty, private property, a free market economy, personal responsibility, and ethical standards.

In 2002, ISI launched a new initiative, the American Civic Literacy Program, designed to study and strengthen the teaching of America's history and institutions at the college level. During the fall of 2005, ISI contracted with the University of Connecticut's Department of Public Policy to conduct an annual national survey to learn to what extent colleges and universities are teaching America's history

and institutions to undergraduate students. For more information about ISI's American Civic Literacy Program, please visit www.americancivicliteracy.org.

The University of Connecticut's Department of Public Policy (UConnDPP), a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, is a nationally and internationally recognized leader in the field of public policy and public opinion research. The scope of the Department's projects ranges from national and international studies of public opinion and public policy to local community-based surveys. The Department is an outgrowth of the tremendous success of original survey research conducted under the aegis of the Roper Center/Institute for Social Inquiry formed in 1979.

During the past two years alone, UConnDPP has conducted more than 70 national, regional, and local surveys. Clients include the United States Department of Education, the United States Department of Homeland Security, the American Council of Trustees and Alumni, the First Amendment Center, and the Connecticut Attorney General's Office.

alan@newsblaze.com

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