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NewsvineAmid ongoing criticism of our generation’s political apathy, a new book — co-authored by Josh Corngold, a doctoral candidate in education — offers hope. His book, “Preparing Undergraduates for Responsible Political Engagement,” written alongside Anne Colby, Thomas Ehrlich, and Elizabeth Beaumont, demonstrates that there has been an increase in voter turnout among young people.
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Corngold said that a number of factors have led to this increase in student political participation.
“There are a lot of issues that affect young people,” he said. “The Iraq War is something that young people care a lot about and are interested in. The past few national elections have been extremely close and that in general generates a lot of interest.”
His book gauges the effectiveness of college programs working to increase student political engagement.
But despite these increases in political participation, Corngold said that overall, students’ attitudes toward politics remain bleak.
“A lot of the survey data reflects that in the past thirty to forty years, there’s been a sharp downturn in political participation,” he said. “A lot of this has to do with cynicism about politics, feeling like politicians are dishonest, that government can’t be trusted and that it’s ineffective at solving problems. So it’s not just youth who have shied away from politics; the population as a whole is less engaged, although youth are particularly disengaged.”
The book explored methods by which colleges across the nation have tried to increase political participation.
“We looked at community colleges, small liberal arts institutions, and some large universities,” he said. “There was one program at the University of Maryland where students who were interested in politics came together and lived in the same dorm. From there, they would learn together, do service projects together, or invite speakers in their dorm.”
Corngold said the book narrowed down five different approaches that teachers, faculty, and professors could take in the classroom to get their students interested and involved in politics.
“The five ‘pedagogies’ are: first, political discussion and deliberation; second, political actions and research processes; third, speaker invitations; fourth, internships or placements which typically goes by the name of service learning; and fifth, structured reflection, that is keeping journals and reflecting on internships and readings,” he said.
The book also defines three central goals of political education: civic and political knowledge and understanding, political motivation, and practical skills of democratic participation.
In the past few years, mainstream media corporations such as YouTube and MTV have initiated campaigns aimed at increasing political activity among youth. Corngold said that while incorporating media and the internet in the political process may be effective, blogs and chat rooms can never replace face-to-face interaction between politicians and voters.
As for political activism here at Stanford, Corngold said, “Stanford is in better shape than many campuses, but political activity is still low. There’s a lot that the campus can do institutionally to get students more involved in politics.”