A Self Reinforcing Cycle of Participation and Non Participation

If we accept the results of Kam and Palmer's study on the effects of education on political participation, I think we should be very worried about the future of our citizenry. Kam and Palmer find that higher education is a proxy for pre-adult influences and experiences and not a cause of political participation (the view taken by traditional literature on education). They argue that the same factors that cause people to pursue higher education also cause them to be more politically active. Among the factors they list is the fact that well-educated parents are more likely to be active in politics and are likely to pass this value on to their children. Children of parents who are educated and politically active tend to interact with other children in similar situations, thus reinforcing the values and orientations they learn from their parents. This appears to me to be a very exclusive cycle whereby those who are more likely to go to college and be politically active are encourage to do these things and those who are less likely to do the above are not encouraged to do either.

Kam and Palmer suggest breaking this cycle by focusing on "external agents of mobilization, such as parties, interest groups, and particularly nonpartisan organizations" to get citizens who aren't predisposed to attaining higher education and being politically active more involved in politics. While this sounds like a decent solution, I question what will motivate people to get involved in these types of groups. According to Kam and Palmer, parental factors are very important in shaping a person's values; so what catalysts are there for people without these pre-adult values to get involved in political organizations?

Can these people be forced from a young age to participate in political parties, interest groups, or nonpartisan organizations by their schools? Its possible that requiring participation with such organizations would take away from their effectiveness. Students would be participating in politics for a grade which is an immediate and personal benefit, whereas for real political participation it is necessary to have a sense of civic duty and conceive of long term and less well defined benefits.

It is doubtful that people who who lack the values needed for the desire to pursue higher education would voluntarily participate in "external agents of mobilization" for the same reasons. We appear to be stuck with a self reinforcing cycle. I think that the only way to solve this dilemma is to encourage children of college educated parents to interact with children of non college educated parents through after school activities. This challenge is greatest for communities that are more geographically divided based on the college educated and those without a college degree.