Civic Education and Political Participation

The author acknowledges the substantial evidence of declining levels of civic engagement among youth and young adults. But he remains optimistic about the promise and possibilities of civic education to reverse this trend. Although conventional wisdom for decades has been that civic education is largely ineffective, recent studies show promising results. Galston argues that "we are not obliged to agree on a single conception of civic education." The decentralized nature of education policy in the United States provides sufficient flexibility to implement a range of programs. (Westheimer)