Youth civic engagement is a diverse field of practice, with each initiative claiming it has a unique approach. This chapter describes three initiatives, Youth-in-Government, Youth Science Center, and Public Achievement from the point-of-view of program staff. Their view is often privileged; it is the one used for official communication and public…

Young people say that participation in civic youth work provides a rich experience. From the official perspective, learning is the focus, and most programs call themselves a form of experiential education. Young people do learn something from these initiatives but not always in ways experiential education theory suggests. Data from a study of the…

Young people involved in the Youth Science Center, Youth-in-Government, and Public Achievement told interviewers about their experiences, and this allows us to make explicit contrasts between formal aims, strategies, ethos, curriculums, and activities of each initiative and what it is like to be a participating youth. The contrast is, as expected,…

Adult volunteers who work as experiential educators in Public Achievement (PA) told us about their experiences, and we contrasted these with the stated aims of Public Achievement, young peoples' experiences, and what it is like to be an adult volunteer. PA coaches reflected that there was a significant disjuncture between the official aims of PA…