The real challenge to youth civic participation, Part 1

It's been ten months! Guess it's time for another post. 

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When we in the U.S. speak of civic education we usually focus on preparing young people to participate. The assumption is that if we provide young people with the right knowledge and skills, they will go out and participate.

There are some problems with this assumption, most of which have to do with applying skills and knowledge in the real world. For example:

1. Schools and community-based youth programs don’t generally spend much time on local government and helping students understand how to influence local policy, such as decisions made by the school board, and they don't really encourage young people to get involved or provide clear direction on how to do so.
2. Although we try to teach young people skills we believe are universally useful (e.g., persuasive writing, public speaking, conducting research, etc.), we rarely teach them how to combine these skills in a civic context, such as identifying a local problem, researching the causes and potential solutions, building support, and offering recommendations to the city council.
3. Schools don't teach young people about collective action—working with others to solve real problems.

Clearly we need to do a better job of preparing young people to participate in politics and civic affairs, and many groups and individuals are working on this. But there's a bigger problem.

Performance-based learning and youth civic engagement

In recent years there has been a movement in K-12 education in the U.S. toward what is known, variously, as “performance-based learning,” “competency-based learning” and “proficiency-based learning.” What these three terms all describe is an educational approach that values outcomes rather than inputs.

If you work in K-12 education you have undoubtedly heard the term “factory model.” This refers to the fact that American schools use essentially the same approach to instruction and learning that they did during the Industrial Revolution. Students are assigned to grades based on their ages rather than what they know. They spend most of their time in classrooms with some thirty same-aged peers while one teacher transmits his or her knowledge to them. Students advance through the system by accumulating credits, or Carnegie units, which they earn for completing required courses. All students without some sort of disability are expected to learn at the same pace.

Public K-12 education is primarily the responsibility of states and local school districts. Most states maintain policies mandating that students complete a certain number of hours to receive credit for courses. These rules are known as “seat-time” policies.

Seat-time and Carnegie units are inputs. They prescribe what students must do, not what they learn. Of course, most states have academic standards that prescribe what students should learn at each grade level, along with the relevant learning objectives. But most state standards also prescribe a sequence of learning based on age. Seat-time rules and Carnegie units reinforce a rigid approach to learning that does not allow for differences in student abilities and interests. This results in many students who do not “fit” the system either being passed along while falling further and further behind, or simply dropping out.

An educational approach tailored to individual students’ needs, one that does not force students to proceed in the same way and at the same pace, would also help reduce inequality and facilitate the development of more engaged citizens. Many students learn better through hands-on activities either in school or in the community. Some might prefer to spend their time in a traditional classroom. Others might do better with online instruction. Most would probably benefit from all three.

Guardians and Pathways

By interesting coincidence, a couple of reports relating to civic participation were released on September 15 in different parts of the world. First, a collaborative in the United Kingdom called Pathways through Participation released a report called “Pathways through Participation: What creates and sustains active citizenship?” A few hours later, as part of the 2011 National Conference on Citizenship (NCoC) in Philadelphia, “Guardian of Democracy: The Civic Mission of Schools” was released by a partnership that included NCoC, The Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools and CIRCLE, the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement.

Authentic Youth Civic Engagement: A Guide for Municipal Leaders

This resource is not exactly new--it came out in 2010. But it is an excellent guide for city leaders seeking to engage young people in the United States. The primary author is Cindy Carlson, who has directed Hampton, Virginia's Coalition for Youth. Hampton is probably the most well-known example in the U.S. of successful integration of youth into city and community decision-making. The guide is designed to assist local officials in taking four key steps to successfully engage young people:

• Develop a climate that is welcoming and inviting to youth;
• Develop an infrastructure that supports meaningful youth participation;
• Create a range of meaningful opportunities for young people to participate in local government; and
• Build youth-adult partnerships to support youth participation.

The guide contains a number of tools local leaders can use to begin and enhance their efforts at meaningful youth civic participation.

Authentic Youth Civic Engagement: A Guide for Municipal Leaders

Youth participation digest for December 2, 2010

UN-HABITAT Launches Global Youth Help Desk

The United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT), Partners and Youth Branch, in collaboration with partners, have developed a Global Youth Help Desk (GYHD). The aim of the site is to enable youth, youth practitioners and researchers to share and access information and tools needed to resolve social and economic problems at their work or within their community, or to improve or take developmental initiatives. This site will be user driven, meaning the users will be responsible for updating and adding to the information to the site. The GYHD will be a place to share best practices, participate in discussion, and ask questions. Youth, researchers, community projects, and NGOs worldwide are encouraged to contribute to the GYHD. A pilot site is currently set up and the final site will be launched in early 2011.

Generation Dialogue

Generation Dialogue is a new Facebook page which will host a weekly online conversation with decision makers and leaders. Guests will answer questions submitted by users. The organizer indicates that in the first few rounds he will host heads of state, media directors, economic leaders and many more. A recent guest was May Boeve, Global Policy Coordinator for 350.org.

Youth Civic Participation in Action

Innovations in Civic Participation (ICP) recently released a new publication providing brief snapshots of youth civic participation programs and policies in 101 countries across six continents. Based on research conducted and information received from previous participants of the IANYS 8th Global Conference and other ICP projects, Youth Civic Participation in Action: Meeting Community and Youth Development Needs highlights the growing momentum for youth civic participation worldwide as more countries develop programs to provide opportunities for young people to build skills for success while also addressing critical community needs. Each snapshot provides a brief glimpse into the status of youth civic participation in the countries included.

15th Annual THIMUN Youth Assembly

The THIMUN Youth Network (TYN) will be celebrating its ten-year anniversary and hosting the 15th annual session of its Youth Assembly in the Hague, the Netherlands from January 23-28. The THIMUN Youth Assembly is an international think tank that aims to bring young people (16 to 25) together to discuss the most pressing issues facing today's world. The network strives to strengthen youth participation by having participants research and develop achievable and sustainable projects in their own communities.