For example, the more knowledge citizens have, the less likely they are to fear new immigrants and their impact on the United States. The more knowledgeable citizens are about civic affairs, the less likely they are to express a generalized mistrust of, or alienation from, public life. Ignorance is the father of fear, and knowledge is the mother of trust. Civic knowledge promotes support for democratic values. For example, the more knowledge citizens possess about political principles and institutions, the more likely they are to display tolerance for unpopular minorities.
Civic knowledge promotes political engagement.
All other things being equal, the more knowledge citizens have, the more likely they are to participate in public life. T he role of civic education . We have compelling reasons to believe that civic knowledge affects civic competence, character, and conduct. For three decades the scholarly consensus has been that formal classroom-based civic education has no significant effect on civic knowledge. Recent research findings challenge this consensus.