Nurturing democracy, citizenship and civic virtue: The Kids Voting program revisited

Journal of Social Studies Research, Spring 1998 by Simon, James, Merrill, Bruce D, Alozie, Nicholas O

Abstract

The authors, who evaluated Kids Voting in 1990 when it was used by 675,000 students in Arizona (JSSR, 18:1, 1994), revisit the civic education program after its use by 45 million students in 40 states in 1996. This study provides a detailed overview of the research done in the past 10 years on the program, which is designed to increase student awareness and interst in elections, increase the chances they will vote as adults, and also boost the turnout of their parents. It also presents new findings on the 1996 KV program, based on interviews in five states with both voters who had children in the program and those who did not. Awareness of KV in 1996 was found to be very high and the program received high evaluations in all five states. Seventy percent of parents with children involved in Kids Voting said they took their children to vote with them; five percent said Kids Voting was one reason they voted in the presidential election. The program was associated with significant increases in turnout of younger voters and those with less education. The evidence of a small increase in turnout is consistent with studies conducted on Kids Voting 1988, 1990, 1992 and 1994.

Three decades ago, in what has become the most memorable inaugural address in American history, President John F. Kennedy acknowledged that a torch of leadership had been passed on to a new generation of Americans. He admonished them in his now immortal words: "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country." Kennedy's call summoned young Americans to civic duty at a level unprecedented in peacetime.

If Kennedy were alive today and had the same speech to write, he might have to lower his sights. More than half of all registered voters failed to perform the most basic civic duty in 1996-casting a ballot in the presidential electionmuch less performing the kind of expanded service to the country that the young president had requested. If Kennedy had the chance to address young people today, he might temper the tenor of his evocation, use the vernacular and borrow a line from Nike:

Just do it! Vote!

Yet slogans and presidential calls-to-arms are not enough. How to increase public participation in elections has become one of the pivotal questions facing American democracy. Governments at all levels continue to discuss what can be done from the top-down, with options ranging from the "motor/voter" registration approach to sanction/ rewards for voting. This study focuses on an alternative method that deals with the problem from a grassroots,bottomup philosophy. The Kids Voting USA program, used in 1996 by 4.5 million students in 40 states and the District of Columbia, is designed to increase political awareness and activity among public, private and in-home school students - and their parents. The program is designed to bridge the family, school, community and news media as political socialization agents, and to increase voting both now and in the future.

This study uses interviews with 1,750 voters in five states in 1996 to report on their awareness and opinion of Kids Voting. It examines whether KV boosted the interest of students in the election, and estimates what impact - if any - the program had on increasing the turnout of the parents of these students. It examines what types of voters are most likely to be attracted to the polls due to Kids Voting, and whether differences in the program's effectiveness might aid one political party or the other. Finally, an over-sample of parents with children in schools is used to pinpoint differences between parents with KV children and parents whose children were not involved in the program.

The significance of this study rests in its evaluation of a unique civics education program that has been used by millions of students. Has the program succeeded, where so many others have failed, in boosting the short-term interest of jaded students in elections?

Political Socialization and the Schools

For more than 30 years, researchers have explored the role of the school as a socializing agent for children as they prepare to become future participants in a democracy (Banks & Roker, 1994; Greenstein, 1965; Hess & Torney, 1967; Jennings, 1993; Langton, 1967). While family and home environment are often viewed as the primary agents of socialization, schools are widely viewed as a significant secondary actor, along with mass media exposure (Atkin, 1981; Bronstein,1993) and the political context of the times (Niemi, 1974.

In their seminal research, Hess and Torney (1967) conclude that "the public school is the most important and effective instrument of political socialization in the United States" (p. 221). While some research questions the role of schools (e.g., Easton & Dennis, 1969), many others acknowledge the role of schools in inculcating both formal and informal civic virtue (Dawson & Prewitt,1969; Palonsky, 1987).

The inculcation of political attitudes begins well before high school (Hess & Torney, 1967; Moore, Lare & Wagner, 1985). Greenstein notes that "during the last five years of elementary school, children move from near-but not complete-ignorance of adult politics to awareness of most of the conspicuous features of the adult political arena" (1965, p. 1). At the very earliest grade levels, students begin forming supportive, uncritical opinions toward the abstract political community (Moore, Lare & Wagner, 1985). Children in grades 2 and 3 can relate to government in terms of the president, while those in grades 4 to 8 are increasingly able to use voting and congress as a way to explain government (Easton & Dennis, 1973). At about age 7 many children experience a "cognitive revolution" that continues to about age 13 when they enter the final stages of cognitive development (Easton & Dennis, 1973).