Current Discussion Question

Contributors:

James A. Barry
Visiting Associate Professor
New Century College

Frank Blechman
Clinical Faculty
MS Program Coordinator
Institute for Conflict Analysis & Resolution

Joel Clark
Public and International Affairs

Joel Garreau
Senior Fellow & George Cook Distinguished Fellow
The School of Public Policy

Margaret R. Yocom
Associate Professor
Department of English

Teresa Michals
Director
The Mason Topics Program

Printable Text of Article

Discussion Question
for Spring 2001

Civic Engagement: The Citizenship 2000 Experience

The "Civics Gap"
There is growing concern about student involvement in the political process. According to a recent poll, students are less likely to vote than the population at large. More than four in ten (43%) of eligible students did not vote in the 1996 election of 1996 and only one-third voted in 1998. Only 27% of students say that they follow politics "most of the time" and a similar low percentage discusses politics at least three times a week (The Mellman Group, 2000).

Responding to this concern, faculty and staff at George Mason organized a project during the 2000-2001 academic year to evaluate the effectiveness of civic education programs and to identify and celebrate successful efforts to engage students as active citizens. The project, "Citizenship 2000," included lectures, panel discussions, and fine arts displays focused on the concept of "Student as Citizen."

Findings from Citizenship 2000
Citizenship 2000 confirmed two important findings. First, there is a real "civics gap," characterized by declining participation in the democratic process among young people. Second, institutions of higher education can help to reverse this decline, and many have begun to do so. Nation-wide initiatives such as the "Engaged Campus" and "Campus Compact" have done much to raise awareness about the importance of civic education. Some colleges and universities have made civic education a priority. Tufts University, for example, recently established a school of public service. Non-profit organizations are emerging to provide training programs for citizens. Faculty members and academic units at secondary schools and higher education institutions are developing new ways to involve students in political life.

The civic education initiatives have not yet reached a critical mass in Virginia, however. A survey conducted for Citizenship 2000 indicated that all but two of 15 public four-year colleges and universities in Virginia include citizenship as an element of their mission statements. Twelve of the institutions have service-learning programs and 13 have leadership development programs. None of the public institutions, however, mandate a course in government or political science as part of their general education courses and only four require a course in American history. The pattern is similar among private institutions.

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