Turnout for What? Do Colleges Prepare Informed Voters?

2021 ◽  
pp. 0013189X2110459
Author(s):  
Frank Fernandez
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Community College ◽  
College Student ◽  
Civic Engagement ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Voter Turnout ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Voter Registration ◽  
Social Benefits ◽  
College Course

One of the traditional aims of higher education is to prepare informed citizens who are civically engaged. Although many voters are underinformed, there are multiple social benefits to having an informed electorate. Therefore, colleges should aspire to not only increase student voter turnout but to prepare informed voters. In this article, I use matching procedures to account for precollege civic engagement and estimate treatment effects of taking at least one community college course. I find that taking political science influences college student voter registration, voter turnout, and ability to correctly answer questions about the roles of U.S. political institutions.

A Compass During the Storm: Offering Students Critical Rigor for Polarizing Times

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-5
Author(s):  
Andrew M. Wender ◽  
Valerie J. D’Erman
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Civic Engagement ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Critical Thinking Skills ◽  
Learning Objective ◽  
First Year

ABSTRACT Teaching and learning in higher education is occurring, unavoidably, within the broader civic context of today’s extraordinarily polarizing political times. We seek to help students situate themselves with respect to and, above all, thoughtfully assess others’ as well as their own perspectives on issues of profound contention, without contributing to exacerbated polarization ourselves. Specifically, we offer students in our first-year exploratory political science course a vital tool—critical rigor—for navigating but not being inundated by the storm. This article discusses our experiences in teaching the course titled, “The Worlds of Politics,” as we attempt to help students deeply engage in cognitive processes of critical thinking and analysis, without undue infringement from their own—and least of all our own—personal political biases. Our focal learning objective is the cultivation of critical-thinking skills that promote students’ drawing of distinctions between advocacy and analysis, as well as their discerning civic engagement.

scholarly journals Political Science and the Democratic Method: How Higher Education Can Strengthen Democracy at Scale

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Titus Alexander
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Civic Engagement ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Civic Education ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Democratic Governance ◽  
Trial And Error ◽  
Form Of Government ◽  
The World ◽  
Levels Of Support

This paper proposes a theoretical, methodological and practical approach for political science to improve the effectiveness of democratic governance through civic education and engagement. Every state can be seen as an experiment in political science and a working model of how to govern, developed through trial and error, and peer reviewed by citizens in democratic societies. This insight provides a basis for scholars to help citizens address democratic deficits and improve pluralistic politics as a method for solving problems. Treating institutions as experiments also gives scholars new ways to increase effectiveness of research and civic engagement. The paper provides examples from across the world to illustrate seven levels of support for civic engagement that can be developed to strengthen pluralistic democracy. It concludes with three strategies for a large-scale experimental programme to close democratic deficits and improve democracy as a form of government.

scholarly journals 2020 Teacher Candidate Voter Turnout: Implications for K-12 and Higher Education

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 52-77
Author(s):  
Hannah Jeffries ◽  
William McCorkle
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
South Carolina ◽  
Civic Engagement ◽  
Civic Education ◽  
Voter Turnout ◽  
Teacher Candidates ◽  
Low Levels ◽  
K 12 ◽  
National Trends ◽  
Nature Of Teaching

This study centers on low youth voter (18-24) turnout nationally by examining a study of teacher candidates at a South Carolina public university. The study is useful to understanding the civic engagement of two important demographics: youth voters and future educators. As teacher candidates, the students tended to have weak civic education backgrounds and a lack of understanding of the inherently political nature of teaching. Paralleling national trends for youth, candidates showed low levels of voter turnout, a disconnect between accessing political information and making informed decisions, and a general cynicism towards electoral politics. The study was able to explore multiple important demographic differences in attitudes towards voting. The study also explored attitudes of practicing teachers towards civic engagement and the implications of these attitudes for K-12 and higher education.

Political science and digital society: some issues of modern education in higher education (experience of the EU countries)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elena Stepanovna Ustinovich
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Deep Understanding ◽  
The Political ◽  
Federal Republic Of Germany ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Political Processes ◽  
Modern Development ◽  
The Impact

The course of political science in higher education is often read, to a large extent, as a theoretical course and affects the study of issues and problems of the formation and development of political institutions, processes and technologies. The focus is usually on the history of politics, the state as the central institution of the political system, political parties, political consciousness, culture, political relations, etc. However, it is very important that, when studying a course in political science, listeners understand the current political processes taking place around them. Some of them are well established, democratic processes, such as the electoral process. Others are associated with the impact of modern innovation processes on the political sphere of society. And in this case, political science as a science once again demonstrates its value in an applied format. For a deep understanding of this kind of political processes, additional aggregated information is needed, knowledge that should differ in such characteristics as relevance, novelty, compliance with modern development. In the modern digital era, it is necessary to additionally acquire knowledge about the digital transformation of political institutions, processes and technologies, including types of state policy, the most important of which is social. And it's not just the digital economy. This, first of all, digitalization of public administration (State-web) — Big Date management, blockchain, etc., as well as digitalization of business — the emergence and development of digital enterprises, etc. It is obvious that the use of digital technologies will become possible for the development of predictive political science. This article is largely a translation of German publications by scientists dealing with the development of modern political science education in the countries of the European Union, in particular, in the Federal Republic of Germany. The focus is on the impact of digitalization on the teaching of theoretical and applied political science.

Having Their Say, Leaving Their Mark

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 141-153
Author(s):  
Adolphus G. Belk ◽  
Robert C. Smith ◽  
Sherri L. Wallace
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Civic Engagement ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Black People ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Political ◽  
Historical Documents ◽  
Adverse Conditions ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Independent Organization

In general, the founders of the National Conference of Black Political Scientists were “movement people.” Powerful agents of socialization such as the uprisings of the 1960s molded them into scholars with tremendous resolve to tackle systemic inequalities in the political science discipline. In forming NCOBPS as an independent organization, many sought to develop a Black perspective in political science to push the boundaries of knowledge and to use that scholarship to ameliorate the adverse conditions confronting Black people in the United States and around the globe. This paper utilizes historical documents, speeches, interviews, and other scholarly works to detail the lasting contributions of the founders and Black political scientists to the discipline, paying particular attention to their scholarship, teaching, mentoring, and civic engagement. It finds that while political science is much improved as a result of their efforts, there is still work to do if their goals are to be achieved.

Bankers and politicians: mutual interests and contradictions (the historical experience of different countries)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ирина Юдина ◽  
Irina Yudina
Keyword(s):  
Political Science ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Economic History ◽  
Banking System ◽  
Main Idea ◽  
The Political ◽  
Historical Experience ◽  
Banking Systems ◽  
Analysis Tools ◽  
Political Game

This work is an attempt to explain the political roots from which banking systems have evolved in different countries and how they have evolved at different times. For this purpose, materials and analysis tools from three different disciplines were used: economic history, political science and Economics. The main idea that is set out in this paper is the statement that the strength and weakness of the banking system is a consequence of the Great political game and that the rules of this game are written by the main political institutions.

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