James Youniss - Engaging Young People in Civic Life

Vanderbilt University Press Nashville

2009 by Vanderbilt University Press Nashville, Tennessee 37235 All rights reserved

1312111009 12345

This book is printed on acid-free paper made from 30% post-consumer recycled content. Manufactured in the United States of America

Cover design: Gary Gore Text design: Dariel Mayer

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Engaging young people in civic life / edited by James Youniss and Peter Levine ; foreword by Lee Hamilton.

p. cm . Includes bibliographical references and index . ISBN 978-0-8265-1650-3 (cloth : alk. paper ) ISBN 978-0-8265-1651-0 (pbk. : alk. paper )

YouthPolitical activity. 2. Political participation .

I. Youniss, James. II. Levine, Peter, 1967 HQ799.2.P6E54 200 323.0420835dc2 200803731

Engaging Young People in Civic Life

I can think of no task more important for the future of American democracy than teaching young people about our system of government and encouraging them to get involved in politics and community service. This has been a passion of mine for a long timeduring the 34 years I served in Congress, and continuing since I retired from the House in 1999 and established the Center on Congress at Indiana University.

When we fail to educate our children about our history and our system of representative government, we miss an opportunity to enrich their lives, and we miss an opportunity to enrich our country through their involvement. Civic education helps people reach their full potential. It challenges a young person to develop an idea, ask a question, take a stand, speak in public. Civic education can foster positive social interaction within schools and communities, teaching the skills, dispositions, and traits of character that encourage people from varied backgrounds and with different views to listen and to seek common ground. Civic education is the surest antidote to cynicism and apathy, because it shows a young person that he or she can, indeed, make a difference.

America faces challenges today that are so serious they can be downright frightening. A financial crisis, two wars, the threat of terror, and global warming are piled on top of our traditional struggles with economic inequality, access to health care and quality education, racial division, and crime. The more challenging our problems become, the more we need our younger generation to be able to work together to solve them. Human beings dont automatically obtain the skills and knowledge they need to address serious public problems. We must learn to be active citizens, and that takes guidance and experience.

Engaging Young People in Civic Life shows that civic education is much more than the traditional high school class about how a bill becomes a law important as that may be. It includes all the ways that we prepare young Americans to address our great national challenges. It means moderated discussions of controversial issues in classrooms, which can teach youth to deliberate civilly