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An Argument for Teaching Deliberative Collective Action Skills in the Political Science Classroom

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 September 2006

J. Cherie Strachan
J. Cherie Strachan
Affiliation:
Central Michigan University
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Extract

The roots of the political science discipline are intertwined with developing the skills required for democratic citizenship. Teaching and research efforts in this admirable tradition are still a prominent focal point of our academic tradition, as evidenced by the work of the APSA Task Force on Civic Education, reoccurring arguments about the most effective pedagogy for promoting participation, and works assessing the effects of civic education interventions. Moreover, this tradition has become increasingly relevant as political participation in the United States, especially among young people, continues to decline. Panel studies of college freshmen indicate that young people's participation in an array of political indicators—including thinking that keeping up with politics is important, discussing politics with friends, and acquiring political knowledge—have all declined by about half since the 1960s (Sax et al. 2003). Far more young people voted in 2004 than in the past, as turnout by 18–24 year-olds increased from 36% in 2000 to 42%, but younger citizens' appearance at the polls still lagged behind prior cohorts of young Americans, as well as their current elders (CIRCLE 2005). Educators and policy makers have come to the conclusion that intervention through formal civic education is necessary (Carnegie Corporation of New York and CIRCLE 2003; Galston 2003). Spurred on by works such as Educating Citizens (Colby, Ehrlich, Beaumont, and Stephens 2003) and Civic Responsibility in Higher Education (Ehrlich 2000), many colleges and universities have reinvigorated their mission of grooming students for civic leadership. Most of the skills identified as essential to such efforts could be labeled as deliberative communication skills. As the Colby et al. (2003) note:

Type
THE TEACHER
Information
PS: Political Science & Politics , Volume 39 , Issue 4 , October 2006 , pp. 911 - 916
Copyright
© 2006 The American Political Science Association

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