The Effect of an Illinois Wesleyan Education on Political Ideology :: Politics Education Essays

The Effect of an Illinois Methodist Education on Political Ideology Political commentators often try American students not as swelleds or conservatives, but simply as apathetic citizens unconcerned with semi governmental issues. The number of students venturing to the polls continues to be depress to any advocate of a democratic form of government. Outside of political science classrooms, few students seem to be knowledgeable of simple political events and personalities. Has this apathy always plagued universities in the United States? There existed in the mid-sixties a movement in American students that awakened a propagation of political activists. The rise of the student movement in opposition to the Vietnam struggle gained national attention as teach-ins and other forms of protest became a mundane occurrence on campuses. The beginning of the student-based civil rights movement only render this activism. As the media looked on, the students of A merica gained a reputation as a radical, left hand population. The nation has seen a rebirth of many of the Vietnam-era values in at presents students. Protests, mostly in opposition to the war in Iraq, arouse become frequent events on college campuses. Student organizations advocating equal rights for women, racial minorities and the festive community have made their voice heard in enunciate and federal legislatures. Perhaps there is some truth to the view that college students be a very liberal group that bunks to become more liberal as they approach graduation. Many scholars chance that the university environment nurtures this liberalization in the student body. There seems to be a general acceptance of sociable and economic liberal ideas both in and out of the classroom. Some feel that professors have a large effect on students political development. Others mull that the material studied by students awakens new views that tend to push them to the left. sleek over others believe that it is the effect of peers and the general college environment that has the biggest impact. Whatever the source, it seems as if college students tend to cross the graduation platform more liberal than they arrive. This research bequeath look at the political views of students at