Scourfield McLauchlan, Incorporating Internships into Undergraduate Political Science Coursework, Page 7
only students did learn a great deal about campaigns, but also they were inspired by the
experience.
Sample Comments from the Pre-Internship Surveys:
When asked about the their attitudes towards presidential campaigns in the U.S., students
focused on the importance of fundraising, the influence of special interests, and their disgust with
negative campaign tactics/negative television advertisements. Students tended to look at
elections as providing a “lesser of two evils” choice.
The impact of the 2000 presidential
election here in Florida seemed to have been to increase students’ apathy and cynicism to a
degree I did not realize was possible at such a young age. Several students mentioned the 2000
election as proof that their votes would not be counted and as evidence that our elections are “not
valid.” One made a disturbing comment about his feelings about campaigns gleaned from other
political science courses he/she had taken:
“The classes I have taken before make it very
difficult to believe that individuals can make a difference.”
When asked about their attitudes towards politicians and elected officials, students
responded that they are “somewhat able to be trusted,” “shady,” “favor wealthy corporations,”
“corrupted by lobbies and corporate interests,” “very removed from the general population, not
very plausible to get your voice heard,” “even though a candidate has a position on a topic, that
doesn’t mean that he/she will be able to change it,” and “overpaid and underworked.” Another
student lamented that “There are too few great thinkers in government today. The brilliant minds
stay away because of muckraking and corruption.” Overall, the answers in the survey provided a
grim picture of student perceptions of their “public servants.”
Convention