Engaging Non Traditional Aged Students in the Political Process

It has become increasingly expected across American higher education that colleges and universities have a duty to prepare their students to be informed participants in our democracy.  This duty is not limited to encouraging students to register and take part in voting, but extends to universities hosting programs that give students the opportunity to develop their own opinions on issues.  As a whole, college is a time for students to grow and be challenged, both in their classes as they work toward their degree requirements, and in the way that they view and interact with the world outside the classroom.

Our society’s view of college students is of someone who is eighteen to twenty-two years old but, while the majority of college students still fit within the “traditional” definition of a college student, the population of older students continues to increase.  Not only does this mean we may encounter more students who are returning to school after working full time or who may have family commitments, but it means we likely will encounter more students who think they have fully developed worldviews and opinions.

Research suggests that most people’s basic outlooks and views are set fairly early in their lives.  As a longitudinal study of women at Bennington College put it, “through late childhood and early adolescence, attitudes are relatively malleable…with the potential for dramatic change possible in late adolescence or early adulthood.  But greater stability sets in at some early point, and attitudes tend to be increasingly persistent as people age.” (Alwin et al., 64).  Note that the age with the potential for dramatic change corresponds directly with the age of traditional college students. 

So what does this mean for our thirty-two-year-old students?  Our fifty-two-year-old students?  How are we engaging them and are we challenging them to reassess their opinions and views?  Are the programs we design for our eighteen-year-old students to introduce them to the political process also helping our older students think through their potentially firmly held views?

In addition to thinking about how we engage our students who may have formed their worldview decades ago, we must also think about those students who have chosen to not take part in the political process during their life.  It’s one thing to encourage a twenty-year-old to participate in the first election they are eligible to vote in, but how do we encourage the forty-year-old student who has purposely avoided politics for the past twenty years?

While the increasing diversity of age present on college campuses will undoubtedly require us to reassess the way we encourage voter engagement, it will remain true that no matter a student’s age, “full civic literacies cannot be garnered only by studying books; democratic knowledge and capabilities also are honed through hands-on, face-to-face, active engagement in the midst of differing perspectives about how to address common problems that affect the well-being of the nation and the world.” (The National Task Force on Civic Learning and Democratic Engagement, 3).  No matter their age or background, giving our students the opportunity to work with others in an effort to improve their campus and community will never fail in spurring them to be active, engaged citizens.

Resources:

• Alwin, Duane F., Cohen, Ronald L., and Newcomb, Theodore M. Political Attitudes Over the Life Span. The University of Wisconsin Press, 1991.
• The National Task Force on Civic Learning and Democratic Engagement. 2012. A Crucible Moment: College Learning and Democracy’s Future. Washington, DC: Association of American Colleges and Universities.