The Importance Of Civic Engagement

Words: 1560
Pages: 7

Theorist who look at civic engagement can establish reasons why it is important in society. Civic engagement is defined as, “citizens (who) participate in the life of a community in order to improve conditions for others or to help shape the community’s future.” (Adler 2005:236) The purpose of civic engagement is to build and create new ethics that can be important for future success. Not only is civic engagement involvement in the community but also being politically active. When thinking of future success higher education students are brought up. Higher education promotes the future through classroom engagement and other opportunities. It can be hard for any student under the stress of classwork and careers to find time to be active in …show more content…
Civic engagement can be a launching port into the real world of hard work and establishes goals and ideas for the future. Looking back at the article, having the students be required to do community service there was an amazing response, as the students described their experiences. One student responded by saying, "you can help make changes in the community" (Kruempel et al. 2006:59). Because of these findings, it’s proven that students will be more likely to engage in civic duties after experiencing it a single time. Even though fourteen percent of students were unsure or didn’t want to take part again, that left a staggering eighty-six percent willing to be involved again (Kruempel et al. 2006). This research brought great success and showed the willingness of higher education students in their political and civic …show more content…
“Today we are living in the information age, the digital age, a period in which digital communications are the backbone of the economy and society.” (Mandarano, Meenar and Steins. 2010:125). In the study by Mandarano in 2010, it’s stated that, “nearly any new technology can be potentially used to increase citizen participation.” (Mandarano et al. 2010). Technology can catapult the younger generations into civic engagement just by flipping on their phones or opening their computers. This new technology is in the early stages called a planning practice and is still being examined as a new way of bringing civic engagement to younger generations (Mandarano et al. 2010). The new digital age discussed in the study, describes how society has become closer with a click of the button and how there is a death of distance present in today’s society. Humans can now communicate across oceans and even on the moon according to the lunar landing in 1969. With technology changing and adapting, generations of adolescents are doing the same by becoming more intertwined in the digital age. This would bring new horizons to civic engagement and would help young adults become more engaged, “for twenty-two-year-olds such virtual networks can encourage greater civic engagement, which was measured as participating in a club or other extracurricular activity.” (Mandarano et al. 2010:125).