Study Shows Private School Students Are Better Equipped to be Civic-Minded
As the Australian Government undertakes a study into civics education, as outlined in our recent Briefing, a recent study published in the United States is timely.
The study shows that private schools are more effective than public schools in cultivating positive civic outcomes in students. The report analysed data from 57 studies from around the world and examined the data in four general areas: political tolerance, political participation, civic knowledge and skills, and voluntarism and social capital. Titled “The Public Purposes of Private Education: a Civic Outcomes Meta-Analysis,” the report is authored by a team of researchers and scholars from the University of Buckingham in the United Kingdom and the University of Arkansas.
Lead author M. Danish Shakeel from the University of Buckingham noted, “Since public schools were often established specifically to prepare children for citizenship, one might assume that they’re superior to private schools at that function. Our research shows that is not the case. Private schooling does not threaten democracy. In fact, it may strengthen it.”
Interestingly, the study also found that “religious schooling appears to increase civic outcomes in comparison to its secular counterpart, whether public or private.” The authors specifically noted that “even for the outcome of political tolerance, which arguably, is the toughest test for religious schooling effects on civics,” the results indicated that there is no negative effect from religious education in this area.