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Earlier this year, a poll revealed only agree that 鈥渄emocracy is 鈥榙efinitely the best鈥� form of government for America.鈥� Despite world events and the loud headlines of the past few months, this continues to buzz in the back of my mind.

As the United States approaches its 250th birthday, over half of young adults have doubts about the one idea that has defined our nation since its founding 鈥� that democracy matters.

This is what happens when schools woefully under-educate our students about our government, our history, our culture. Certainly, the polarization and political violence, inequality and culture wars of the past decade have taken their toll on democracy鈥檚 luster, especially on new voters.   

But schools invest between five and fifty cents per student in civics education. By comparison, STEM education receives about $50 a student. This tiny investment in civics has yielded proportional returns: As of 2022,聽 scored proficient in U.S. History, and 22% scored the same in civics. Finally, about turned out to the polls in 2024, 13 points below the next lowest cohort, millennials.

The solution isn鈥檛 additional worksheets and pop quizzes. It鈥檚 more lived experience. Enter experiential civics.

Imagine if schools saw preparation for citizenship not just as sets of facts to learn and lessons to endure, but as a complex combination of social and psychological muscles to be developed in the classroom and beyond it.

Much in the same way teachers send a history class to the archives, or a science class to the lab, they ought to push emerging adults, who are also new voters, toward experiences that get them excited about their country, its form of government, and, most of all, the people whom the government serves. And those experiences must inspire empathy, curiosity, and teach the social skills needed for citizenship in a large, diverse democratic republic.

In 2019, I cofounded an organization called the , and we operate one such experience. For the past five summers, our organization has been sending recently graduated high school seniors on free exchanges to American hometowns radically different from their own.

We鈥檝e sent students from Dodge City to Palo Alto; Baltimore to Kilgore, Texas; in all, we鈥檝e sent 1,500 students on over 200 exchanges, and almost to a person, they come home raving about the experience. In short, it鈥檚 domestic study abroad, and the experience fosters understanding and friendship across social, cultural, and geographic boundaries. 

One of my favorite examples comes from a student we sent from the Bronx to Gloucester, Massachusetts. When I asked what he thought about the small coastal city, he said he couldn鈥檛 believe there were people there. He said, 鈥淚 thought the world was New York, and then some stuff in Connecticut, and then the rest was just trees.鈥�

Many of our students have never seen a mountain or the ocean or cows or a subway. Some say, with a chuckle, they鈥檙e surprised to find people not commuting on horses in Texas. And it鈥檚 not their fault. Today鈥檚 students are too often subjected to the same attitudes, perspectives, and lifestyles over and over in their schools and at home.

We鈥檝e found most students don鈥檛 have negative thoughts of where we鈥檝e sent them so much as no thoughts at all. They鈥檝e not run into people who are different enough from them. As a consequence, those cranial muscles that help them navigate nuance, venture out of their comfort zones and connect with people who might disagree with them are unexercised within too many teens.

Another pair of students I met hardly spoke to one another in school and came from different sides of the political spectrum. After a week hosting travelers from across the country in their hometown of Arvada, Colorado, they found themselves up until two in the morning discussing due process and immigration with new friends from Maine and Alaska. And they all walked away from the conversation smiling.

Americans don鈥檛 know one another well enough. A by the Public Religion Research Institute found 75% of white Americans don鈥檛 have a friend who鈥檚 not white, and in 2022, AgriPulse reported 40% of Americans have never even met a farmer. Meanwhile, of new marriages cross the political divide, making a literal union between a Democrat and Republican the taboo relationship of the day.

Relationships that cut across lines of difference, known as bridged social capital, are valuable for the civic well-being of our society. They allow people to see the humanity, dynamism, and honest, unfiltered characteristics of 鈥渢he other.鈥� And that kind of perspective can defuse the partisan, prejudice-infused rhetoric heard too often in the news, on social media, and in the halls of government.

These social skills and perspectives are critical for an emerging adult, and this moral understanding fuels engaged and empathetic citizenship. Volunteering, productive debate, voting, understanding context, the discernment of reliable information, and an ability to think on multiple sides of an issue, are other critical areas in need of nurturing.

Certainly, any strong civic education starts with a full picture of our nation鈥檚 double-voiced history, and a deep examination of the design and inner workings of our government. This is the core of civics. From to to the, organizations doing this kind of work exist and are eager to expand. Reach out.

It鈥檚 no wonder too many of today鈥檚 high school seniors are at best apathetic about democracy. But anyone can feel the tingle of that highest form of patriotism while standing inside the Lincoln Memorial, or gazing west from the St. Louis Arch or sharing a campfire with new friends in Rocky Mountain National Park. As schools reimagine how to prepare this next generation for engaged citizenship, let鈥檚 start by giving students these types of experiences, experiences that inspire civic awe.

If we as a nation want young Americans to believe in democracy, we must let them live it. Let鈥檚 make experiential civics as common as algebra, so that this next generation, and every one after it, is ready to carry forward this nation鈥檚 promise.

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