Citizens in training: young people don't care much about government. But some groups are out to change that.

• Author: Boulard, Garry

In Barbara Dupre's seventh grade language arts class, the students have decided that it was OK for a neo-Nazi group to march through a predominantly Jewish neighborhood in Skokie, Ill., in the late 1970s.

They also decided that anti-gay demonstrators at the funeral of Matthew Sheppard, a young man who was murdered in 1998 because of his sexual orientation, was an expression of freedom of speech.

"It may have been in really bad taste," remarks student Jade Rivera-Armendarez of the funeral protestors, "but no one has the right to tell someone else they can't say what they feel."

This youthful tolerance even extends to the remarks of a World War II veteran who told one of the students that, if it were up to him, he would not allow people to protest the United States war in Iraq.

"I tried to understand his point of view," says student Kyle Mathewson. "He fought in a war and has a different perspective. Even though I disagreed with him, I thought he had a right to say what he said."

If the students at Jefferson Middle School near the University of New Mexico campus in Albuquerque seem particularly intelligent and insightful for seventh graders, it's because they are.

But if they also seem surprisingly preoccupied with the daily issues that surround freedom of speech, the Constitution and how the democratic process works, it is more than likely because they have been part of a program sponsored by the Center for Civic Education and the National Conference of State Legislatures called "We the People--Project Citizen." The program fosters experiments in how democracy works and encourages vigorous classroom discussions on topical issues.

"It's a wonderful way for them to learn not only how the process works, but to also share their thoughts and opinions with others. And everyone else might not agree with those opinions," says Dupre.

Although Dupre's class may seem unremarkable to those of us educated in the immediate decades following World War II (when all students learned about government and the Constitution), it is, in fact, part of a national effort to reintroduce civic education to the nation's youth. And to do so in a way that both grabs and keeps their attention.

NO INTEREST IN GOVERNMENT

The reason behind the movement is a simple one: Young people, according to a series of studies, don't generally care much about government, whether it's based in Washington, D.C., or any of the state capitals.

They are not fascinated by the things that dominate a lawmaker's life, such as the process: negotiations, debates and how or why a bill eventually becomes law.

More than 50 percent of the nation's youth agree with the statement: "You can't trust politicians because they are dishonest," according to a recent report published by the National Association of Secretaries of State. Nine out of 10 are certain that government in general is run "by a few big interests."

A new report, "The Civic Mission of Schools," a joint project of the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) and the Carnegie Corporation of New York, contends that young people are not interested in voting, the most minimal measure of participatory democracy.

In fact, the voter turnout rate among young Americans has fallen by some iS percent since 1972, when 18-year-olds were first given the right to vote. There's been no decline among people 25 and older. The youth vote in the presidential election year of 2000 had fallen to only 8 percent of the overall national vote--an all-time low.

If the demographers are right, the problem is only going to get worse. While 70 percent of Generation X (those born between 1964 and 1976) are registered to vote and 34 percent regularly cast ballots; only 60 percent of the DotCom generation (born after 1976) are registered. And only 24 percent vote. These figures are particularly disturbing when contrasted with the generation that came of age during World War II: 89 percent of them are registered, and 72 percent vote regularly.

ALARMING STATISTICS

For many, such statistics--and there's more from dozens of reports charting the same decline--are not only depressing, but alarming.

"I feel terrible about it," remarks Massachusetts Senate President Robert Travaglini. "When I hear about 50 percent of young people saying they would never get involved in a political campaign, all I can think of is the opportunities they are missing."

For Travaglini, who comes from a tough Boston neighborhood where politics is as much a part of life as following the Red Sox, a political campaign is "an opportunity--a chance to advance yourself, build character and make friendships that very well may prove beneficial someday down the road."

Civic education can be a formative event in a young person's life, as well, asserts Oklahoma Representative Lance Cargill. As a seventh grader, he witnessed the unfolding of the 1979-81 Iranian hostage crisis and the swearing-in of President Ronald Reagan on a large television monitored by his civics teacher.

"We talked in the classroom about all of these gigantic events," Cargill says. "And I can tell you for a fact it helped push me in the direction of public service. I found all the big...