Dr. Patrick Wolf, a distinguished professor of education policy at the University of Arkansas, contributed to "The Public Purposes of Private Education: a Civic Outcomes Meta-Analysis," the study revealing this.
"We found that, on average, students who attended private schools had somewhat higher levels of political tolerance, political knowledge and skills, and engagement in their communities through volunteer activities and social capital," he relays.
Without the specific mechanism to explain this unexpected finding, his best hypothesis is that private schools, especially religious ones, actually engage students in debates about controversial issues and build that into some of their educational programs.
"A lot of public schools try to avoid any controversy," Dr. Wolf notes. "Students don't get that experience of engaging their peers in discussion, debate, and kind of civil argument that is essential to our responsibilities as democratic citizens."
For him, the biggest surprise from this study is the fact that religious private schools are the ones driving that advantage in civic formation – which debunks the general concern that religious schools are generating intolerance.
"We suspect that these are values-rich educational environments and that the values extend beyond just the religion of the school," the professor submits.
That also includes civic formation and respecting the dignity of other people, which Dr. Wolf says is central to self-government as well.
The Christian Post notes that the research did not examine religious private schools’ impact on all civic outcomes.
