Last month, our country lost a “peerless trailblazer” in former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, the first female justice in the court’s 191-year history. President Joe Biden called her “gracious and wise, civil and principled.” Chief Justice John Roberts remembers Clarence Thomas calling O’Connor a “glue” that bound the justices together.
After serving nearly a quarter of a century, in retirement O’Connor created the Sandra Day O’Connor Institute, a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization to continue her “distinguished legacy and lifetime work to advance American democracy through multigenerational civil discourse, civic engagement and civics education.”
“Multigenerational” effects were reported by this institute only a few months before O’Connor’s death. Civic education and engagement, it turns out, have both trickle-down and trickle-up effects.
Trickle-down effects include the important role that families — and particularly mothers — play in shaping a child’s political behavior. When parents have strong civic habits — following the news, voting and talking about politics at home — their children are also likely to prioritize civic engagement. Children whose mothers voted in the previous presidential election were 20.3% more likely to vote in their own first election (a 64% increase). Children whose mothers vote are 24% more likely to register to vote (the first step in this important civic responsibility). This trickle-down political socialization is most pronounced for white, economically advantaged students.
Interestingly, there is a trickle-up effect as well. And it is particularly weighty for non-white students and those who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. For example, having an adult child who votes in their first age-eligible election is associated with a 5.3% increase in the probability that the mother votes in the next presidential election.
One exciting program that illustrates this trickle-up effect is Kids Voting USA, a nonpartisan, grassroots-driven, voter-education program “committed to creating lifelong voting habits in children, increasing family communication about citizenship and encouraging greater adult-voter turnout.” The curriculum combines family exercises with a Kids Voting day in which children participate in a mock election. Communities involved in Kids Voting have experienced increases in adult turnout at elections by as much as 5%. The positive influence trickles up!
But voter turnout is not the only way this program affects civic engagement. Surveys indicate that 60–70% of students in the program go home and talk to their parents about the upcoming election and about politics in general. Even more report watching political news broadcasts, or reading political articles in magazines and newspapers, stimulating family conversations and increased levels of political participation. These activities energize democracy and bond families and schools in a mutual civic mission. Anecdotally, we at the Center for Constitutional Studies often hear from parents whose children participate in another simulation, the We the People program, that they feel inspired to engage civically in their communities.
2024 is a presidential election year. What civic behaviors (good or bad) will we be modeling for our children? And what can we learn from our children?
Consider family and school activities that expand civic understanding and engagement, including civic knowledge, skills, dispositions and virtues. (iCivics was also founded by O’Connor. It has child-friendly resources for families and educators.)
Civic knowledge is necessary for being civically well-informed, having an understanding of our history, government, institutions and current affairs from multiple media sources and diverse perspectives. Do we educate ourselves on issues, news and candidates, reading laterally to understand different viewpoints?
Civic skills are needed to participate as active and responsible citizens in democracy. These include speaking, listening, collaborating, community organizing, public advocacy and the ability to think critically about information (Guardian of Democracy). Can we use our skills in helping others — perhaps a new, first-time voter — to participate as well?
Civic dispositions help us maintain our compound constitutional republic in which we follow democratic procedures to make decisions and manage conflict. Do we put constitutional protections and the rule of law above partisan aims?
Civic virtues, as the Bill of Rights Institute explains, “promote self-government and help guarantee that communities orient themselves towards advancing the spirit of common purpose.” They include public spiritedness, civic charity, civility, courage, integrity, prudence and justice, and are vital to the health of our civic society.
Focusing on civics reminds us that democracy isn’t just about isolated individuals governing themselves. Researchers have noted: “Democracy is about people interacting together to collectively shape the communities in which they aspire to live in the future.”
O’Connor argued likewise but with more vivid imagery: “We don’t accomplish anything in this world alone,” she said. “Whatever happens is the result of the whole tapestry of one’s life and all the weavings of individual threads from one to another that creates something.”
Just as Justice Sandra Day O’Connor’s life’s work and legacy will be felt for years to come, our own civic awareness requires us to consider how our unique strands will strengthen others’ threads woven into the fabric of our community, state and nation. What civic contributions will you create and cultivate in your family this year?
Lisa R. Halverson is a Civics Education Fellow at Utah Valley University’s Center for Constitutional Studies.