3
participatory norms seems to be most precipitous amongst the youngest age cohort
(Bennett and Bennett 1990; Rahn and Transue 1998).
Focus group studies and other qualitative research mirror this quantitative data
(Lake, Snell, Perry and Associates 2000; Braungart and Braungart 1995; The Harwood
Group 1993). Many students in focus group discussions reveal a sense of disconnect and
disinterest in the political system. Students see politics as unimportant to their lives and
tend to adopt what has been called "the politics of pessimism" (The Harwood Group
1993, p.3). As opposed to older generations who exhibit a sense of obligation as citizens,
students have thin conceptions of citizenship focusing largely on the rights of citizenship
as opposed to the obligations and failing to see the connection between good citizenship
and politics (Bennett and Bennett 1990). One student in the Harwood Group focus group
studies said "Being a citizen is your God-given right. Politics doesn’t have anything to do
with being a citizen" (42). Bennett and Bennett (1990) argue that young people’s sense
of civic duty has been replaced with a sense of entitlement and greater demands for
government protections and services. Few young people exhibit an interest in seeking or
holding a public office (Lake Snell Perry and Associates 2000).
In qualitative studies, students report that they have no opportunity to learn the art
of politics by practicing it in their schools. In part, this seems to be because students are
not taking advantage of the opportunities offered to them. Indeed, the national data
collected by the Higher Education Research Institute support this contention with the
finding that the number of students over the past thirty-one years reporting that they have
participated in student elections by voting has declined very significantly -- from an all-
time high in 1968 of 76.9% of students reporting that they had participated in student
Convention