Kathleen McGrory is an education reporter for The Miami Herald. She asked this of Sen. Bob Graham, who has written ``America, The Owner's Manual: Making Government Work for You'' (CQ Press, $16.95):

Q: Your book encourages young people to engage in the political system. In what ways has the Internet, and in particular, social media, had an impact on civic participation among young people?

A: According to the national Civic Health Index, young people who use social networking cites for civic purposes are more likely to engage in their own communities.

Many people feel it is the use of isolated forms of communication -- sitting behind a computer instead of face-to-face communication -- that has contributed to civic isolation. But the statistics indicate that social networking increases young people's interest in civic life and their willingness to get directly involved.

I find that encouraging.

The question now is whether the Obama phenomenon of 2008 was a blip or if Millennials are going to turn the 40-year tide of decline in citizenship into a more activist period.

Q: Do you think Millennials will be able to turn that tide?

A: I hope so.

Q: How do you think public schools are doing in the teaching of civics?

A: Over the past 40 years, the amount of civics being taught in public schools has dramatically dropped. When I graduated from Miami High in 1955, I had taken three one-year courses in civics from the seventh grade through the 12th grade. When my oldest granddaughter graduated from Leon High School in Tallahassee last spring, she had taken one semester of civics. What's left is called spectator civics, where you learn how to watch the game of democracy, but you don't learn how to play it.

Teachers need to teach civics they way they would teach chemistry or the piano. . There has to be an experimental step, where students read a case study or do a community service project, and apply it in broader terms. They need to discuss what they learned by working on a house for Habitat for Humanity, or by helping clean up Biscayne Bay.

• 1:30 p.m. Saturday, Room 3208.