Why Should Schools and Districts Support Teaching about Elections and Voting?
There are many reasons for K-12 schools and districts to engage in high quality teaching about elections and voting, and the positive outcomes for doing so can be cross-subject and school-wide. For instance, teaching about elections and voting…
There are many reasons for K-12 schools and districts to engage in high quality teaching about elections and voting, and the positive outcomes for doing so can be cross-subject and school-wide. For instance, teaching about elections and voting…
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Builds the Likelihood of Voting and Civic Engagement Now and Into the Future
Young people who remember being taught about elections and voting were more likely to vote when they reached 18. And, the higher quality civic learning practices that youth were exposed to “marginally predicted electoral engagement and predicted informed voting in 2012.” The quality of civic education that students receive today will predict their likelihood of engagement well into the future. This can be fostered through discussing current controversial issues to boost knowledge and interest and encouraging involvement in student activities. |
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Meets Learning Goals in Many Subject Areas Through Things Like Research Skills Development, Media Literacy, and Data Literacy
High quality education about elections and voting can develop many, varied skills in many diverse subject areas. This can range from digital media and art to ELA to science to math. Achieving those outcomes requires more challenging standards and better awareness and collaboration with other disciplines. High quality civic education therefore not only prepares youth to be informed and engaged in the representative democracy, it prepares them for life outside of the classroom. |
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Reaches More Young People Than Political Parties and Campaigns Do
When k12 schools and districts create expectations and norms of deliberating on and talking about elections and voting, a wider and more diverse young people are reached than those reached by campaigns and parties. This could help close decades-long gaps in participation. By Election Day 2018, 52% of young people (ages 18-24) were contacted by a party or campaign. Those who were contacted before and after the end of September were 33 percentage points more likely to report that they voted. These contact rates varied widely, from just 35% among 18 to 20-year-olds who have never gone to college, to 52% among 18 to 20-year-olds who are currently enrolled in college full-time, and 68% among 21 to 24-year-olds who are currently enrolled in college full-time. |
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Connects Classroom Learning to Current Events and Issues Relevant to Young People’s Lives
In CIRCLE’s survey of high school social studies and government teachers, many were excited to teach about elections and voting because of how it engaged their students. Elections and voting allow for young people to talk about issues they care about, their own communities, consider their own positions and what they can do. Deliberation and current issue discussion is a promising practice with research support. Young adults were more civically engaged if they discussed underlying social and political problems in conjunction with service projects in high school. |
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Helps Young People Understand More about Modern Politics, Their Own Ideology, and How They Fit into Modern Politics
Modern representative democracy can be complicated, and teaching about elections and voting is an opportunity to support youth learning. To understand what’s happening at a state and national level requires basic information about how government revolves around political parties, what those parties stand for, and the relationship between parties and ideologies. Unfortunately, this is not often part of state social studies standards. |