Improving verbal learning in schools can increase political engagement and encourage voting later in life.

Can education policymakers close achievements gaps in core subjects, and at the same time improve civic education and participation? In new research, Meghan Condon argues that they can; students who gain greater verbal skills in school, and who then do better academically, are also more likely to vote and volunteer as adults. She argues that students who are from disadvantaged social backgrounds get fewer verbal learning opportunities in school, which in turn further hurts their chances of being represented in the political process.