Kam and Palmer celebrate the idea that "higher education is a proxy for preadult experiences and influences, not a cause of political participation". They place importance on the role of parents as reliable sources to encourage their children to "mimic" their lifestyle and become politically active in the future by exposing them to an active environment where newspapers and discussion of politics become essential in the household. Parents also have the ability to "transmit to their children basic postures toward life which the children carry with them at least until the development of their own critical faculties". This seems plausible but does not completely convince me. Parents do become role models but not to the extent that they describe it as. They place too much importance on the parents and forget that universities and other environments also encourage children to become involved in politics by simply informing them about what is going on around the world. Education allows them to become open-minded and to listen to different opinions and to understand why different people think differently.
The aim of education is to create good citizens meaning educating them and placing them in an environment where they can be exposed to different opinions and arguments. This stimulates debate about different issues with many different people. Parents also can create debate but does not expand their understanding on issues because they usually see the opinion of their parents. Education is important and it does encourage political participation.
I agree with your opinion. I think that education is the most powerfull way to lead youngs towards political participation.
ReplyDeleteI think that if your parents try to educate you in order to participate in political life, it can work, but it also can fail. I have some friends whose parents are really engaged in civic life, and they got disgusted of this civic life. They got sick of hearing their parents talking about politics all the time. On the opposite side, I think that even if parents can encourage children to participate, you can be interested in civic life even if your parents never talked with you about civic participation values. Indeed, education is for me the best way to help students to participate in civic life. Moreover, thanks to education, you can choose your political views without the influence of your parents, as we know that children often adopt their parents' ideas.