Privatization and Student Political Engagement

Privatization is closely linked with students' political engagement.  If it were not apparent already, the data in my first literature review determines the state of higher education to be one of the primarily political concerns of college students.  It's really no surprise since the consequences of privatization impact college students very directly.

Colligne's The Student Loan Scam: The Most Oppressive Debt in U.S. History- and How We Can Fight Back, describes the close-knit relationship between Sallie Mae and the government.  Due to privatization and crony-capitalistic tactics, Sallie Mae has been able to exponentially increase student loan interest rates while simultaneously eliminating their own risk in granting loans and guaranteeing their repayment through pushing shady legislation through Congress.  The fact that the government is in bed with these corporations is of direct concern for the students who are impacted.

This is perhaps the reason for the recent political push toward free college education from the Bernie Sanders campaign.  From what I can see, it seems to be resulting in an increasing number of students signing up to vote.

Literature Review #1: College Students and Politics: A Literature Review; Longo & Meyer

Citation:  Longo, Nicholas V. and Ross P. Meyer.  "College Students and Politics: A Literature Review."  CIRCLE 46 (May 2006): 1-20.  Print.


Key Terms and Ideas: political cynicism, individualism, civic engagement vs. community service, "Alternative Politics", alienation, systemic social change



Summary: 
       By the early 1990's a trend of declining political engagement was recognized in the college age demographic.  Longo and Meyer review and analyze research on college students' political participation that took place from the late 1990's to the early 2000's.  Their review reveals a slight increase in civic engagement, or at least a trend in increased community service, which they refer to as an "alternative politics."  Their review begins to scratch the surface in determining the political mentality of college age students of the Millennial generation.  While trends toward cynicism and apathy are identified, a rise in community service is also found.  The authors attempt to determine some of the reasons for this phenomenon.  While they mention that colleges don't only emphasize community service, but often require it for admission or graduation, the authors find that students hold strong beliefs that they can effectuate the greatest amount of positive change through service to their community rather than with their vote.  Through at least 2004 it is apparent that students have maintained a "lack of interest, trust, and knowledge about American politics, politicians, and public life-and are generally cynical about America's future" (5).
     
       However, the authors do mention that, "a vast majority of college students were active in the 2004 election" (7).  In addition, these later studies revealed a renewed trust in the government and interest in political affairs.  It is suggested this could be related to September 11th.  Moreover, students still remain more interested in serving the community directly than exercising their right to vote.  They also emphasize issues such as race relations, the state of public education, and socially responsible business practices.  And even regarding these issues, students tend to approach them through activism rather than voting.

      My only concern with this particular literature review is that it is from 2006, and the research it includes only extends to about 2004, which is 12 years ago already.  Although I do not yet have research to back up my suspicions, I believe that college aged students became more politically involved with the Obama campaign in 2008 and now, with the Bernie Sanders campaign for 2016.  Next, I will attempt to find a more recent piece to see if my suspicions are accurate.



Quotes: 
       "Alienation- a catchall term combining cynicism, distrust, low efficacy, and apathy-is the most widespread characterization of this generation (5)." [1998]

"While it might be argued that these optimistic views on government, which are much higher than for older generations, are partly due to different levels of information, they are an important indicator of the positive civic attitudes of young people (7)." [2002]

"Her questionnaires demonstrated that current students are more interested in politics (58.1 percent in 1996, to 60.8 in 2000), believed voting was a civic duty (76.3 percent in 1996, to 81.8 percent in 2000), and were less cynical and apathetic (57.2 percent believed their vote matter in 1996, to 61.2 percent in 2000) (7)."

"Years of decline in political participation coincided with an unprecedented high rate of involvement in community service among college students, and young people more generally (8)."

"Students are simply placing their energies where they feel they can make a difference (9)."

"Boyte (1991) also points out that service 'does not teach the political skills that are needed to work effectively toward solving society's problems: public judgment, the collaborative exercise of power, conflict resolution, negotiating, bargaining, and holding others accountable' (766) (9)."

"'Millennials are hard at work on a grassroots reconstruction of community, teamwork, and civic spirit...' These young people have a 'very strong sense of the common good and of collective social and civic responsibility' (231) (12)."

"But there needs to be better civic education, and higher education must to do a better job offering opportunities for public engagement (13)."

Scouting Out my Topic...

Professor Goeller's feedback sparked some realizations for me, as well as inciting some new questions.  I was also reminded to not jump to my own conclusions too quickly, or allow my biases to sway my objective analysis as I do further research.

I have seen a lot of articles (not academic/scholarly - public, main stream) that suggest college students are becoming progressively more liberal.  One such article is this Washington Post article that I came across this week, by accident.  https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/liberal-but-not-tolerant-on-the-nations-college-campuses/2016/02/11/0f79e8e8-d101-11e5-88cd-753e80cd29ad_story.html?postshare=7561455294699228&tid=ss_fb  However, in light of Professor Goeller's insight, even so-called liberal students seem concerned primarily with issues that effect them directly, not necessarily issues that focus on civic responsibility for sectors of public life that don't benefit them, like social security.

However, other articles still insist college students are apathetic to politics.  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/susan-moeller/study-college-students-sh_b_1777322.html

Over the course of the week I came across some instances of politics on campus that got me more excited about this topic.  Right here at Rutgers, a conservative group had a guest speaker, Milo Yiannopoulos which caused some tension with other, leftist groups on campus, such as BLM.  We even made national news:

http://www.breitbart.com/tech/2016/02/13/i-brought-milo-yiannopoulos-to-rutgers-and-liberals-freaked-out/

Potential Research Topic: Liberalism on College Campuses

Classical vs. Modern:  Polarized Liberalism on College Campuses

Last class, Professor Goeller mentioned that he has recognized a tendency for millennial students to gravitate towards one of two political/ideological extremes, namely Libertarianism and Progressivism.   I am interested in researching further if this is truly the case, as I believe that it is.  Is it so far fetched to believe that all of the national and international crises of the modern day- from crashing markets to terrorist attacks and endless war to trillion dollar debt, have instilled in them a desire to make these very drastic, but extraordinarily necessary changes?  Perhaps our generation has been awoken by our massive student loan debts and shaky job prospects, and finally come to realize that the moderate, neoliberal policies of the last three and a half decades are failing us all.

What I really want to discover in my research for this paper is the driving force that pushes these politically engaged students toward either Classical Liberalism, calling for further privatization and overall smaller governmental intrusion in the personal lives of citizens, or Modern Liberalism, calling for increased government instituted economic safety blankets and increased regulations to rein in detrimental corporate interests.  I'm not so interested in which side is "right."  At the end of the day, both sides are attempting to combat the same crises.  Both sides also tend to be, what is deemed by older generations, "socially liberal", agreeing on issues such as gay marriage and drug decriminalization.  But what is it that causes such a drastic divergence in the approach to solve political and economic issues?  Is it as simple as being individualistic or more civic minded?  Do demographics make a difference?  Is it their parents or their upbringing that causes them to go one way or the other?  Are there correlations with particular majors?  I think it would be interesting to interview two students, one who identifies as a Progressive Liberal and one who identifies as a Libertarian, as primary sources for my research.