Attention Facebookers: taboo as it may be, it might be time to change that political status option to "Apathetic."
While many college students may self-proclaim a definitive political stance and cite the growing number of clubs and courses dedicated to civic engagement, students may not be as civically savvy as they say they are.
According to an intercollegiate study administered by the University of Connecticut's Department of Public Policy and released in September by the National Civic Literacy Board, American colleges are largely failing to teach students important knowledge about America's history, government, and economy.
The study, which surveyed over 14,000 students at a variety of universities, found that freshman averaged 51.7 percent on a civic knowledge test, and seniors averaged 53.2 percent.
That difference, of just 1.5 percent, suggests students experienced virtually no increase in their civic knowledge over their four years at college. More importantly, the study points out, the scores of both freshmen and seniors on the exam would be considered failing by most academic standards.
At Tufts, students say the situation is similar.
When fifteen random Tufts students were asked to name the current Supreme Court Chief Justice, however, just four could name John Roberts, who was appointed by President Bush last year. When asked about the current senate minority leader, only a single student could name minority leader Harry Reid, Democratic senator from Nevada.
"I agree that campus is kind of like a bubble," senior and political science major Jamil Ludd said when expressing his sense of disconnect from America's current state of affairs.
Tufts' home page currently features an election story with the headline, "From the campaign trail to the classroom, members of the Tufts community are getting political."
When their political literacy lags, some Tufts students say they feel pressure to hide any civic ignorance they might have. Senior Francis Dahl admitted that he is "not that much" into politics, which can sometimes be socially unacceptable.
"I play [political knowledge] up, obviously, because I mean, the more you know about it, the better it looks," Dahl said. "I think if you want, it's pretty easy to just get wrapped up in the college bubble and have no idea what's going on outside."
But according to Assistant Professor of Political Science Deborah Schildkraut, the lack of political knowledge some students display does not reflect a lack of emphasis or resources from the University.
"Students here have an embarrassment of riches when it comes to opportunities to improve their civic literacy," Schildkraut said.
Political science professor Jeffrey Berry agreed, saying Tufts students don't fit into the same mold as many of their peers.
"No one knows enough history; everyone has gaps in knowledge," Berry said, "but Tufts students come here pretty well prepared compared to most students their age."
Freshman Abby Marion said that, from her experiences, not all students are lacking in civic literacy.
"In my American Politics class, the knowledge is polarized," Marion said. "There are the kids who know everything and express it loudly and there are the kids who don't know anything."
Berry, however, acknowledged that there are areas that need improvement.
"Take the simple act of casting a vote. There's a theory that young people don't vote at a high rate because they simply don't know the mechanics of the voting process and don't have the self-confidence. They don't want to go out there and make fools of themselves," he said.
Gaps in students' political literacy exist in surprising places. While they were slow to recall knowledge of current officials, eleven of the fifteen Tufts students surveyed could recite the second amendment.
This trend makes sense according to Schildkraut, who said emphasis is placed on the teaching of less recent historical facts as opposed to knowledge of current events.
"In general, students are weakest in the area that I call 'the black hole.' The black hole is the time period of one's youth ... it's not covered by history classes, but students were too young to have firsthand memories," she said. "So for students in college today, this black hole would be the late 1980s, early 1990s."
"Students could also be stronger in their understanding of federalism - the relationship between state governments and the federal government," she added. "To their credit, it's a complicated aspect of our political system."
According to Schildkraut, the ability to place issues in historical context is an important aspect to improving civic engagement.
"It is definitely important to be able to place current issues in context, for several reasons," she said. "Many issues we confront today are not new ... if a citizen wants to influence political outcomes, he or she needs to understand the process and the points of access. So civic literacy is important for being able to navigate the political world."
Berry agreed. "Activism is correlated with knowledge," he said.
While some students may not be up to the political par set by their professors and classmates, Schildkraut said it's clear that the desire to acquire knowledge exists. With politically-charged international relations still being Tufts most popular major, courses offered in history and political science are numerous and deeply varied.
"Civic engagement motivates Tufts courses across the curriculum," Schildkraut said. "All [students] need to do is decide that they want to improve their civic literacy and figure out which issues or parts of the world interest them most. Once they get that far, they'll most likely be able to find something each semester that suits them."
Ludd said this can be easier than it sounds.
"We have cable here," he said. "You can live in C-Span or CNN if you want to. We do live in a bubble, but it's a bubble that can easily be broken out of."
