Engaging Students Politically Goes Beyond the Voting Booth

by Elizabeth Beaumont, in Carnegie Perspectives (October 2004)

In an editorial written before the November elections, Elizabeth Beaumont, a research scholar at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, speculates on what a high youth turnout would mean for efforts to promote civic engagement among young people. Would such efforts "lose their justification and fade away" if the youth vote skyrocketed? Beaumont contends that the answer to this question must clearly be "no"—and her explanation of why civic engagement should go "beyond the voting booth" is particularly relevant in light of exit poll results indicating that the youth vote did increase this year (see this month's Facts & Figures for more information).

One reason for sustaining the push for civic engagement is to ensure that the number of young voters continues to grow: "rather than resting on our laurels," Beaumont says, "any upswing in voting among young adults should encourage further work, particularly outreach to youth from groups that tend to feel shut out of the political process." But at the same time, she stresses that "voting rates are only one key vital sign in the more complex picture of democratic health." Civic engagement efforts, she argues, also need to foster a democratic culture, developing in students the "political skills, knowledge, and motivations" upon which the quality of American democracy depends.

The full text of Elizabeth Beaumont's editorial can be read on the Carnegie Foundation's Web site.