An Alternative View about the Role of the Secondary School in Political Socialization: A Field-Experimental Study of the Development of Civil Liberties Attitudes

Recent writing on political socialization claims that the American secondary school is an ineffective “agent” of socialization. However, this is far from surprising given the avoidance of controversy in most high schools. A more interesting question is under what conditions can secondary curricula have an impact on students' political attitudes? Field-experimental data presented here demonstrate a very noticeable impact on students' attitudes regarding civil liberties. This is so particularly when the interaction of the experimental treatment and student perceptions with regard to teacher credibility is considered. Indeed, there is evidence to show how the school can help to fill a void in an area of attitude objects that generally are of low salience in adolescents' interactions with their parents and peers.