What Drives Civic Learning? The School and the Family in Conversation

Posted in James Madison Legacy Project Expansion We the People: National Symposium on Civic Education

Donna Phillips, Center for Civic Education; David Campbell, University of Notre Dame; Lance Holbert, University of Pennsylvania

by Lance Holbert

Households and schools share a similar goal of preparing pre-suffrage youth for the rigors of citizenship. Each of these socialization agents has a unique role to play in relation to this shared goal, and it is important to better understand how the former and the latter function alongside one another. The “What Drives Civic Learning: The School and Family in Conversation” panel, led by the Center for Civic Education’s CEO Donna Phillips, touched on several important topics as more concerted attention is paid to the relational dynamics of home and school in the context of intergenerational political socialization.

Professor Dave Campbell provided quality insights concerning the school portion of this equation and highlighted the importance of community and civic groups in these processes. Campbell’s ongoing research indicates that (1) teen political interest is a necessary but not sufficient condition for generating quality democratic outcomes and (2) the civic behaviors and habits of parents create a ceiling effect for teens’ civic engagement.

Professor Lance Holbert explored how what is happening at home impacts the civic education activities enacted in America’s secondary schools. The civic education community would be well served to expand its research capacity to focus on household-school interactions in relation to how a U.S. teenager spends the critical years just before suffrage, interacting with and beginning to understand the political culture they live and function within. The “What Drives Civic Learning: The School and Family in Conversation” panel discussion provided a quality start for what needs to be a longer-term, concerted research effort from a variety of stakeholders.

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