High School Students and Their Political Views
William Benedict Russell III
The University of Mississippi
Anthony Pellegrino
The Florida State University
Jeff Byford
Valdosta State University
Introduction
Developing and understanding one’s political ideology is not an easy task, and usually does not occur overnight. For many high school students, that development may vary often and change with his or her environment, teachers and friends. Furthermore, developing a political ideology is not the most important goal for many high school students. Many high school students believe political awareness and being politically active as an adult duty. High school students, who often have these feelings, are unaware of their own personal political beliefs. Thus, many high school students tend to accept the views of their parents/guardians and/or close relatives as their own. Often times with out giving any real or meaningful thought to the political issues at hand. This ineffective process often concludes in a high school student registering and labeling himself with one political party, while completely supporting views of another.
Accepting the political views of someone else, as one’s own without thought is a major concern for social studies teachers, since a main objective of social studies teaches is to help create effective citizens and engage them in effective deliberation regarding beliefs and values. Amy Gutmann (1987) indicates the choices educators feel in the following passage:
Either we must educate children so that they are free to choose among the widest range of lives (given the constraints of cultural coherence) because freedom of choice is the paramount good, or we must educate children so that they will choose the (italics in original)life that we believe is best because leading a virtuous life is the paramount good. Let children define their own identity or define it for them. Give children liberty or give them virtue. Neither alternative is acceptable: we legitimately value education not just for the liberty but also for the virtue that it bestows on children; and the virtue that we value includes the ability to deliberate among competing conceptions of the good. (p.36)
Additionally, the National Council for the Social Studies set forth the National Social Studies Standards, which require that students understand the following:
NSS-C.9-12.5
“What are the Roles of the Citizen in American Democracy?
- What is citizenship?
- What are the rights of citizens?
- What the responsibilities of citizens?
- What civic dispositions or traits of private and public character are important to the preservation and improvement of American constitutional democracy?
- How can citizens take part in civic life?” (National Standards For Social Studies Teachers, www.socialstudies.org).
The National Council for the Social Studies created the aforementioned standards to guide students in becoming effective citizens. Although social studies teachers often foster an environment that enables students to create a personal political belief system, the process of getting students to understand the importance of political awareness and the importance of developing their own political views is extremely taxing on both the student and teacher.
Research suggests that there are many factors that influence a student’s political disposition. Borock and Pfretzschner (1979) examined the attitudes of secondary Irish students and found that a parent/guardian’s political disposition had an important influence on a student’s political disposition.
McLeod, Eveland, and Horowitz (1998) found that a student’s political disposition could be influenced by the views of his or her parents/guardians and family. Plus, institutions like schools could also influence a student’s political disposition.
McDevitt, Kiousis, Wu, Losch, and Ripley (2003) studied 559 students and parents from across the United States of America. The study encouraged students to be politically aware and found that when students become more interested in political issues their parents also became more politically active.
Purpose of Study
The purpose of this study is to answer the following research questions:
- Do high school students share the same political views as their parents/guardians?
- Do high school students affiliate themselves with the views of one political party, while completely supporting views of another?
Hypotheses
Hypothesis 1
H1: High school students’ political beliefs match the political beliefs of his/her parents/guardians.
Hypothesis 2
H1: High school students’ political beliefs do not support the political party with which they affiliate themselves.
All hypotheses postulated in this study assume the null form of no significant difference.
Sample Selection and Method
A total of forty-seven high school students and one parent from each student’s family participated in this research study. The participants were selected using non-probability sampling as described by Creswell (2005). The following list of steps was used to conduct the research. First, each high school student wrote down his or her respective political party affiliation. Second, one parent from each student’s family wrote down his or her respective political party affiliation. Third, after each participant provided the researchers with his or her political party affiliation, the high school students then completed the online questionnaire that determined what political party affiliation best fit with their personal political beliefs. The instrument that was used was the nationally known online questionnaire titled, Party Match Quiz of Party Platforms (On the Issues, 2004).
Instrument/Questionnaire
The Party Match Quiz is sponsored by On The Issues organization. On the Issues is a non-profit, non-partisan organization devoted to providing information to voters, so publicly nominated officials will be voted into office based on their stances toward specific issues and not by popularity.
“The Party Match Quiz offers detailed explanations for the different stances on a particular issue. Each question that is asked has a link to the explanation of the four different stances, which are Strongly Support, Support, Oppose, and Strongly Oppose” (Russell, 2004). For example, a high school student completing the online questionnaire who does not understand what a question is asking or does not know were he/she stands on the issue can click on the question and receive an detailed explanation of each stance.
Research Findings
A total of forty-seven high school students and one parent/guardian from each family participated in this research study. Each student and one parent/guardian provided his or her political party affiliation. Thirty students self-labeled as Republicans, thirteen as Democrats, and four as Independents. Twenty-one parents described themselves as Republicans, twenty-three as Democrats, and three as Independents.
The results of each hypothesis will be reported separately.
Hypothesis 1
H1: High school students’ political beliefs match the political beliefs of his or her parents/guardians.
Based on the data collected forty-five of the forty-seven students’ political views (based on the results of the questionnaire) matched their parent/guardians political views (95.75%). (SEE TABLE 1)
Hypothesis 2
H1: High school students’ political beliefs do not support the political party with which they affiliate themselves.
Based on the data collected, only twenty of the forty-seven students’ political views (based on the results of the questionnaire) matched what the political party with which they originally affiliated themselves (42.5%). (SEE TABLE 2)
Limitations
Since this research was designed and conducted using a quantitative method, a qualitative and/or mixed methods study on a larger magnitude should be encouraged since interviews could perhaps provide a deeper probe into various beliefs held by individual students. Although the researchers are comfortable with the facts and findings, the limitations of quantitative methods are recognized. A broad qualitative and/or mixed methods survey may further contribute to the understanding of students’ development of a political ideology.
Additionally, the instrument used has a few limitations that the researchers would like to recognize. Students are able to move through the questionnaire at their own pace, and could easily select random answers, this is also known as “Christmas Treeing.” To prevent this from occurring, the researchers monitored the students closely. Furthermore, although the questionnaire covered many of the political parties and philosophies, a few of the minor third parties where not included. However, although a few of the minor third parties were not included, the researchers feel confident and comfortable with the overall results since the questions asked of the respondents did allow for less definite responses, thereby permitting views espoused by third parties.
Conclusion and Discussion
Based on the data it is clear that parents/guardians clearly influence their child’s political views.
It is also important for teachers to understand that most often student’s political views will be heavily influenced by his or her parents/guardians political views. However, that does not mean teachers should not maintain a high level objectivity and strive to educate students in various political ideologies. Although teachers long for students to develop political beliefs based on research, this study concludes that most will follow in their parents/guardians foot steps.
Not only should teachers remain objective, but hopefully this study will help encourage and motivate teachers to offer effective lessons dealing with developing political beliefs and decision making. Teachers who understand the importance of teaching students to examine political issues from all sides and making decision by one’s self will mold students into effective citizens who are engaged in our pluralistic democracy.
Furthermore, the researchers are aware of the influence a parent/guardian has on a child and are in no way discouraging parental influence. However, the researchers would like to emphasize the importance of students having the ability and skills necessary to make their own decisions. Engle (1960; 2003) stressed decision-making as the heart of social studies education. Building on Engle’s monumental statement, the researchers feel teachers need to recognize and understand the importance of teaching decision making skills. Teachers also need to foster an environment conducive to student learning and understanding of decision-making skills.
References
Brocock, D. & Pfretzschner, P. (1979). Irish students and the political parties. International Journal of Political Education,
2(1), P. 15-46.
Creswell, J. (2005) Educational research: planning, conducting, and evaluating quantitative and qualitative research.
Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc…
Engle, S.H. (2003). Decision-making: The heart of social studies instruction. The Social Studies, 94(1): 7-10 (Reprinted
with permission from Social Education, 27(4), November. P. 301-304.)
Gutmann, A. (1987). Democratic Education. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
McDevitt, M., Kiousis, S., Wu, X., Losch, M., & Ripley, T. (2003). The civic bonding of school and family: How kids voting
students enliven the domestic sphere. Retrieved January 6, from the World Wide Web: www.civicyouth.org
McLeod, J., Eveland, W., & Horowitz, E. (1998). “Going beyond adults and voter turnout: Evaluating a socialization program
involving schools, family, and media.” In T.J. Johnson, C.E. Hays, & S.P. Hays (Eds.), Engaging the public: How government
and the media can reinvigorate American democracy (pp. 217-234). Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield.
National Council for the Social Studies. (1997). National Standards for Social Studies Teachers. Retrieved November 16,
2005, from the World Wide Web: www.socialstudies.org
One The Issues. (2004). Party Match Quiz of Party Platforms. Retrieved November 16, 2005, from the World Wide Web:
www.govote.com.
Russell, W. (2004). Virtual ideology: Using online political party quizzes, to help students develop a personal political ideology.
Learning and Leading with Technology, 32(3), 18-21.
Table 1
Table 2
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