Do Colleges Produce Informed and Engaged Citizens?

There was a time when American colleges and universities placed a great deal of emphasis on training leaders to shape communities and to influence the political landscape.

But a recent study seems to show that students who graduate from college are no more likely than their peers to be actively engaged in the political process, beyond simply voting.

The findings are found in the Enlightened Citizenship: How Civic Knowledge Trumps a College Degree in Promoting Active Civic Engagement. The study is part of the fifth annual National Civic Literacy Report conducted by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, a nonprofit, nonpartisan educational organization.

The question at the heart of the study is: Do colleges produce informed and engaged citizens?

According to the findings of the study, attending college does not make individuals more likely to donate money to a political campaign, strive to influence others about how to vote, attend political meetings, work on political campaigns, contact elected officials, sign petitions or write letters to the editor.

Some factors that do seem to positively influence civic engagement include being a teacher or college professor, having a higher income level, frequently attending religious services and watching TV news.

One negative influence on political engagement? Playing video games frequently.

Leaders with an educational and social justice orientation have to question what these findings mean. Why are college graduates not more likely to get involved in politics? Is it the responsibility of college level educators to change that focus?

Is it possible that colleges – and the students who attend them – have become so focused on the economic benefits of attending college that they have ceased to emphasize the importance of civic leadership?

Could it be, also, that attending college makes people overly cynical and therefore less likely to believe that their involvement matters? Also, if college graduates are opting out of political involvement, what does that mean for leadership? Who is going to fill the gap left when college graduates opt out of civic engagement?

And finally, how can we, as leaders for educational and social justice, encourage the young people and college graduates in our lives to get involved? How do we model that involvement for them?