Spring Break
Students uninformed, not apathetic
Sarah Brubeck
Issue date: 11/16/07 Section: News
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(U-WIRE) BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Today's college students are more interested in politics than other young people, but they don't know how to become involved, according to a study released earlier this month.
The study, "Millennials Talk Politics: A Study of College Student Political Engagement," was conducted by the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement. The Harwood Group did a similar study in the early '90s, and the idea was to compare results.
"The results were not similar to the '90s," said Abby Kiesa, youth director for CIRCLE. "(Students) were saying they don't like the partisanship of today. They do a lot of hands-on activities, and they don't write off political studies like they did in the '90s. They don't necessarily know how to get involved, but they want to."
The study found that many college students resort to community service because they are informed about politics and care about the issues, but aren't sure how to become involved.
"I think it will make people step back for a minute to ask 'What is our campus doing to facilitate political engagement?' or 'What (are they) not doing?'" Kiesa said. "I also think this notion of college students being apathetic isn't always true. Students want to get involved, but they don't know how."
About 400 students participated in the study at 12 four-year universities. Researchers attempted to use many of the same schools used in the previous study.
"We were really committed to the fact that every college has a different atmosphere," Kiesa said. "We worked with a team of students and faculty at each school who helped us pick students."
Researchers held a total of 47 focus groups within the 12 universities between October 2006 and July 2007.
At no point in the proposal were students told they would be discussing politics.
The idea was to a find a diversity of students interested in incentives, not students necessarily interested in discussing politics.
The study, "Millennials Talk Politics: A Study of College Student Political Engagement," was conducted by the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement. The Harwood Group did a similar study in the early '90s, and the idea was to compare results.
"The results were not similar to the '90s," said Abby Kiesa, youth director for CIRCLE. "(Students) were saying they don't like the partisanship of today. They do a lot of hands-on activities, and they don't write off political studies like they did in the '90s. They don't necessarily know how to get involved, but they want to."
The study found that many college students resort to community service because they are informed about politics and care about the issues, but aren't sure how to become involved.
"I think it will make people step back for a minute to ask 'What is our campus doing to facilitate political engagement?' or 'What (are they) not doing?'" Kiesa said. "I also think this notion of college students being apathetic isn't always true. Students want to get involved, but they don't know how."
About 400 students participated in the study at 12 four-year universities. Researchers attempted to use many of the same schools used in the previous study.
"We were really committed to the fact that every college has a different atmosphere," Kiesa said. "We worked with a team of students and faculty at each school who helped us pick students."
Researchers held a total of 47 focus groups within the 12 universities between October 2006 and July 2007.
At no point in the proposal were students told they would be discussing politics.
The idea was to a find a diversity of students interested in incentives, not students necessarily interested in discussing politics.
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