Does Civic Education Improve Ethnic Tolerance?

While current research shows that civic education improves multiple political outcomes, its impact on ethnic tolerance remains uncertain. Civic education may foster outgroup tolerance by teaching respect for diversity and promoting a shared national identity, but it may be counterproductive if it emphasizes ethnic nationalism. I investigate this question by analyzing (1) a reform in Singapore that quasi-randomly assigned students to a new civic education course and (2) the International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS) data. Both studies reveal no improvement in ethnic tolerance from civic education. One potential explanation is that the effectiveness of civic education depends on classroom openness. A reexamination of the Singapore case and ICCS data supports this conjecture: civic education improves ethnic tolerance in open classroom settings, while its effects are negligible in restrictive environments. These results underscore the pivotal role of pedagogy in amplifying the positive impact of civic education on ethnic tolerance.