Election Day

What to Know: It’s Election Day, and millions of Texans will exercise (or have already exercised) their right to vote. But many young people won’t show up at the polls, and a new study says this is linked to a decline in civics education.

“These troubling voting rates follow decades of declining civics education,” The Atlantic reports. “Starting in the 1960s, robust civics instruction, which usually took place through three standard high-school courses, started to atrophy. It’s likely not a coincidence, then, given evidence suggesting a link between civics education and voter participation, that the 1960s coincided with a slump in the rate of young adults who cast ballots. “

The TPPF Take: As TPPF’s Texas Prosperity Promise points out, we must improve civics education.

“The blame for our knowledge deficit must be laid at the feet of American higher education, which for nearly a half-century now has largely abandoned its commitment to providing the civic education needed for our young people to go on to become informed, effective citizens,” says TPPF’s Tom Lindsay. “For this reason, TPPF is working to advance measures to restore civic education, both in college and K-12. The future of American democracy requires a renaissance in civic education at all levels.”

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