Abstract
In response to what some see as a crisis in civic attitudes and participation, there has been a reinvigorated effort to involve high school students in school-based community activities and in less formal, volunteer community service. Yet little is known about the extent of participation or its effects. Using a nationally representative sample of 9th–12th graders from 1996, we document a high participation rate but also note that many students perform service only once or twice a year and in limited capacities. Participation rates are related to certain student, family, and school characteristics; school policies are also significant, though arranging but not requiring participation may be the key. Participation appears to stimulate greater political knowledge, more political discussions with parents, enhanced participation skills, and higher political efficacy, but not more tolerance of diversity.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Almond, Gabriel A., and Sidney Verba. (1963). The Civic Culture. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Astin, Alexander W., Sarah A. Parrott, William S. Korn, and Linda J. Sax. (1997). The American Freshman: Thirty Year Trends. Los Angeles: Higher Education Research Institute, UCLA.
Barber, Benjamin R. (1992). An Aristocracy of Everyone. New York: Ballantine.
Battistoni, Richard M. (1997). Service learning and democratic citizenship. Theory Into Practice 36: 150–156.
Battistoni, Richard M., and William E. Hudson, ed. (1997). Experiencing Citizenship: Concepts and Models for Service-Learning in Political Science. Washington, DC: American Association for Higher Education.
Bennett, Stephen Earl, and Eric W. Rademacher. (1997). The ‘Age of Indifference’ revisited: Patterns of political interest, media exposure and knowledge about Generation X. In Stephen C. Craig and Stephen Earl Bennett (eds), After the Boom: The Politics of Generation X, pp. 21–42. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
Blyth, Dale A., Rebecca Saito, and Tom Berkas. (1997). A quantitative study of the impact of service-learning programs. In Alan S. Waterman (ed.), Service-Learning: Applications from the Research, pp. 39–56. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Bobo, Lawrence, and Franklin D. Gilliam, Jr. (1990). Race, socio-political participation, and black empowerment. American Political Science Review 84: 377–393.
Boyte, Harry C., and Nancy N. Kari. (1996). Building America: The Democratic Promise of Public Work. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
Brehm, John, and Wendy Rahn. (1997). Individual-level evidence for the causes and consequences of social capital. American Journal of Political Science 41: 999–1023.
Collins, M., J. M. Brick, M. J. Nolin, N. Vaden-Kiernan, S. Gilmore, K. Chandler, and C. Chapman. (1997). National Household Education Survey of 1996 Data File User's Manual, Volumes I–V. NCES 97–421 through 97–425. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics.
Conrad, Dan, and Diane Hedin. (1991). School-based community service: What we know from research and theory. Phi Delta Kappan 72: 743–747.
Davidson, Marjorie Lynn. (1995). The influences of mandatory service learning on attitudes toward political involvement of a selected group of secondary school students. Ph.D. diss. University of Maryland.
Delli Carpini, Michael, and Scott Keeter. (1996). What Americans Know About Politics and Why It Matters. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Dewey, John. (1916). Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education. New York: Macmillan.
Dewey, John. (1938). Experience and Education. New York: Macmillan.
Dunn, A. W. (1907). The Community and the Citizen. Boston: D.C. Heath
Dunn, A. W. (1916). The Social Studies in Secondary Education: Report of the Committee on Social Studies of the Commission on the Reorganization of Secondary Education of the National Education Association. Washington, DC: Bureau of Education, Department of Interior, U.S. Government Printing Office
Furco, Andrew. (1997). School-sponsored service programs and the educational development of high school students. Ph.D. diss. University of California, Berkeley.
Gibboney, Robyn. (1996). Service learning and commitment to community: Exploring the implications of honors students’ perceptions of the process two years later. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly 25: 506–524.
Hamilton, Stephen, and Shepherd Zeldin. (1987). Learning civics in the community. Curriculum Inquiry 17: 407–420.
Hedin, Diane P. (1988). The power of community service. Proceedings of the Academy of Political Science 37: 201–213.
Hepburn, Mary A. (1976). Political field experiences in secondary social studies. National Association of Secondary School Principals Bulletin 60: 4–15.
Hepburn, Mary A. (1997). Service learning in civic education: A concept with long, sturdy roots. Theory into Practice 36: 136–142.
Hodgkinson, Virginia, A., and Murray S. Weitzman. (1996). Giving and Volunteering in the U.S. Washington, DC: Independent Sector.
Hodgkinson, Virginia A., and Murray S. Weitzman. (1997). Volunteering and Giving Among Teenagers 12 to 17 Years of Age. Washington, DC: Independent Sector.
Jennings, M. Kent, and Richard G. Niemi. (1981). Generations and Politics. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Kahne, Joseph, and Joel Westheimer. (1996). In the service of what? The politics of service learning. Phi Delta Kappan 77: 593–599.
Kim, Simon, Sue Parks, and Marvin Beckerman. (1996). Effects of participatory learning programs in middle and high school civic education. The Social Studies 87: 171–76.
Ladd, Everett Carll. (1999). The Ladd Report. New York: Free Press.
Marks, Helen M. (1994). The effect of participation in school-sponsored community service programs on student attitudes toward social responsibility. Ph.D. diss. University of Michigan.
Melchior, Alan. (1997). National Evaluation of Learn and Serve America School and Community-Based Programs: Interim Report. Waltham, MA: Brandeis University, Center for Human Resources and Abt Associates.
Myers-Lipton, Scott James. (1994). The effects of service-learning on college students’ attitudes toward civic responsibility, international understanding, and racial prejudice. Ph.D. diss. University of Colorado.
National Commission on Civic Renewal. (1998). A Nation of Spectators. Washington, DC: National Commission on Civic Renewal.
Newmann, Fred. (1975). Education for Citizen Action. Berkeley, CA: McCutchan.
Newmann, Fred, and Robert A. Rutter. (1983). The Effects of High School and Community Service Programs on Students’ Social Development. Madison: Wisconsin Center for Education Research.
Niemi, Richard G., and Chris Chapman. (1999). The Civic Development of 9th-Through 12th-Grade Students in the United States: 1996. NCES 1999–131. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics.
Niemi, Richard G., and Jane Junn. (1998). Civic Education: What Makes Students Learn. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Nolin, Mary Jo, Bradford Chaney, Chris Chapman, and Kathryn Chandler. (1997). Student Participation in Community Service Activity. NCES 97–331. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics.
Putnam, Robert. (1995). Bowling alone. Journal of Democracy 9: 65–78.
Rahn, Wendy. (1997). The decline of American national identity among young Americans: Diffuse emotion, commitment, and social trust. Unpublished paper, University of Minnesota.
Raskoff, Sally, and Richard A. Sundeen. (1998). Youth socialization and civic participation: The role of secondary schools in promoting community service in southern California. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly 27: 66–87.
Reese, Judy. (1997). The impact of school-based community service on ninth-grade students’ self-esteem and sense of civic inclusion. Ph.D. diss. Rutgers University.
Rosenstone, Steven J., and John Mark Hansen. (1993). Mobilization, Participation, and Democracy in America. New York: Macmillan.
Rutter, Robert A., and Fred M. Newmann. (1989). The potential of community service to enhance civic responsibility. Social Education 53: 371–374.
Sax, L. J., A. W. Astin, W. S. Korn, and K. M. Mahoney. (1997). The American Freshman: National Norms for Fall 1997. Los Angeles: Higher Education Research Institute, UCLA.
Schlozman, Kay Lehman, Sidney Verba, Henry Brady, and Jennifer Erkulwater. (1998). Why can't they be like we were? Understanding the generation gap in participation. Unpublished paper. Boston College.
Seigel, Susan, and Virginia Rockwood. (1993). Democratic education, student empowerment, and community service: Theory and practice. Equity and Excellence in Education 26: 65–70.
Serow, R.C. (1991). Students and voluntarism: Looking into the motives of community service participants. American Educational Research Journal 28: 543–56.
Shumer, Robert. (1994). Community-based learning: Humanizing education. Journal of Adolescence 17: 357–367.
Shumer, Robert, and Brad Belbas. (1996). What we know about service learning. Education and Urban Society 28: 208–223.
Task Force on Civic Education. (1997). PS: Political Science and Politics 30: 744–745.
Verba, Sidney, and Norman H. Nie. (1972). Participation in America. New York: Harper & Row.
Verba, Sidney, Kay Lehman Schlozman, and Henry E. Brady. (1995). Voice and Equality: Civic Voluntarism in American Politics. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Wade, R., and D. W. Saxe. (1996). Community service-learning in the social studies: Historical roots, empirical evidence, critical issues. Theory and Research in Social Education 24: 331–359.
Weiss, Kenneth K. (1999). Governor asks colleges to require community service. Los Angeles Times, July 16.
Wirthlin Group. (1995). Prudential Spirit of Community Youth Survey: A Survey of High School Students on Community Involvement. Newark, NJ: Prudential Insurance Company of America.
Youniss, James, and Miranda Yates. (1997). Community Service and Social Responsibility in Youth. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Zuckerman, Alan. (1998). First steps into politics: The political bases of decisions by young persons to engage in political participation. Unpublished paper, Brown University.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Niemi, R.G., Hepburn, M.A. & Chapman, C. Community Service by High School Students: A Cure for Civic Ills?. Political Behavior 22, 45–69 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006690417623
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006690417623