The Civic Case for Liberal Education

DRAFT
Prepared for the Presidents’ Trust
by
Carol Schneider, Association of American College & Universities
The Civic Case for
Liberal Education

“Some men see things as they are
and say why? I dream things that
never were and say, why not?”
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
Quoting George Bernard Shaw

Overview
1. The Challenges We Face
2. Liberal Education and Civic
Capacity
3. Liberal Education in Historical and
Contemporary Perspective
4. Taking the Lead in Educating for
Personal and Social Responsibility
5. But, We’re Only Half-Way There
6. What Next?

The Challenges Americans
Face Are Daunting
Within Our Borders,
And in the Global Community

Challenges Within Our Borders
Cultures – Multiple and Multiplying
Economy – In the Midst of Painful
Dislocations and Volatility
Society – Riven Over Immigration
and Other “Social Questions”
Politics – Contentious, Fractured,
Declining Confidence in Public
Sector

The Communications and Technology
Revolutions...And Their Effects in All
Sectors
Education and Equity: Generations of
Children Still Left Behind
Social Mobility, the Environment, an
Aging Population
A Decaying Infrastructure...and More
Within Our Borders...

Global Challenges
 Poverty, War, Suffering...
Sustenance and Human Dignity
Illiteracy and Its Effects...
Education and Opportunity
Energy and the Environment...
Research and Innovation
Terrorism and Fear...
Law, Justice, Democracy, Freedom

Global Challenges (Cont.)
The United States’ Historic Role in
Global Leadership
And as a Voice and Force for
Democratic Values and Democratic
Self-Determination

The Issues at Home and
Abroad Are Immense
Rising to These Challenges Will
Require Civic Will, Capacity, and
Commitment – the Determination to
Tackle Hard Questions – in All
Their Complexity

While the Societal Challenges
We Face Are Great...
Higher Education Is Now Poised
to Bring New Civic Capacity to
Help Meet These Challenges

College 2010 and Beyond
In Unprecedented Numbers, Americans
of All Ages Are Flocking to College
Including 70% of Recent High School
Graduates
And, It Is Now a National Goal for At Least
60% of All Americans to Complete a
College Degree

Will We Seize This Opportunity
to Build New Civic Capacity to
Solve Societal Problems —Or
Not?
Our Civic Choices Will
Shape Our Future

Fostering Civic Capacity
Many Americans Think Citizenship
Begins and Ends with Voting.
But Voting—While Important—IS
Only the Bare Minimum.
A Vibrant Democracy Needs and
Must Foster Broad Civic Capacity.

Ben Barber on Education and
Citizenship
“The fundamental task of education in a
democracy is the apprenticeship of liberty—
learning to be free... The literacy required to
live in civil society, the competence to
participate in democratic communities, the
ability to think critically and act deliberately in
a pluralistic world, the empathy that permits
us to hear and thus accommodate others, all
involve skills that must be acquired
(emphasis added)...”
An Aristocracy of Everyone, 1992

Ben Barber on Education and
Citizenship
“Democracy is not a natural form...; it is an
extraordinary and rare contrivance of
cultivated imagination... [E]ndow the
uneducated with a right to make collective
decisions and what results is not democracy
but...the government of private prejudice and
the tyranny of opinion...”
An Aristocracy of Everyone, 1992

Civic Learning and the Schools
“In recent years, the schools have stopped
teaching [civics education]….Half the states no
longer make it a requirement to get out of high
school, if you can believe it. And it's -- it's really
a remarkable withdrawal from the very purpose
we had originally for public schools.”
Former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor,
Interview on The News Hour, October 13, 2010

Civic Capacity Requires
Critical Inquiry and Knowledge
Commitment and Active
Engagement Across Difference of
Many Kinds
Deliberative Dialogues and
Collaborative Problem-Solving

Civic Capacity Also Requires
A Developed Sense of Civic Identity
The Recognition that WE Are
Responsible – We the People
The Determination and the
Commitment to Stay the Course, Do
the Hard Work – And, Together, to
Create a Better Tomorrow

America’s Best Hope
Civic Capacity is Developed Through
Education – and Liberal Education is the
Crucial Key Both to New Civic Capacity
And to Meeting the Challenges We Face
at Home and Abroad

Liberal Education and
Civic Capacity

Traditionally and Today,
the Only College
Curriculum that Focuses on
Nurturing Civic Capacity is
Liberal Education

Liberal Education – By Design –
Builds Both Capacity
(rich knowledge, high level skills;
social imagination)
AND the Commitment
(an examined sense of ethical and
civic responsibility)
To Create and Test Responsible
Solutions – and to Learn with and
for Others – Not Just Ourselves

The Aims & Outcomes of
Liberal Education
1. Rich Knowledge – of Human Cultures
and the Physical and Natural Worlds
 Knowledge that can be applied to big societal,
scientific, and global challenges; knowledge of
the diverse peoples who must work together to
solve our problems of health, human dignity, and
sustainable communities
1. Intellectual and Practical Skills
 Especially the capacity to deliberate and reason
together, across differences of many kinds
 Testing solutions, and discovering “what works”

The Aims & Outcomes of
Liberal Education (cont.)
3. Personal and Social Responsibility
 Ethical reasoning and action
 Intercultural knowledge and engagement
 Perspective taking and the capacity to work with
people and communities different from one’s own
 Democratic values – including a strong respect for
human dignity and active citizenship
3. Integrative and Applied Learning
 The demonstrated ability to apply knowledge,
skills, AND a developed sense of responsibility to
complex problems and new challenges

But in Higher Education Today,
Not Every Student Actually
Gets a Liberal Education
Many Are Steered to Narrow,
Technical Training, Largely Devoid
of the Studies—in the Sciences, the
Humanities, the Social Sciences
and the Arts—that Build Civic
Vision, Understanding, Creativity,
and Leadership

First-Generation Students
Frequently Miss Out on
Liberal Education
First-generation students take fewer
courses than others in mathematics,
science, social studies, humanities,
history, foreign languages, or
computer science.
From National Center for Education Statistics, First-Generation Students in Postsecondary
Education: A Look at Their College Transcripts. (Washington, DC: U.S. Department of
Education, 2005).

First-Generation Students Are
Over-Represented in So-Called
“Career and Technical Programs”
and in For-Profit Institutions that
Never Were Designed to Foster
Either Broad Knowledge or
Civic Capacity

Prominent Policy Leaders Are
Vigorously Promoting Short-Term
Technical Certificates for
First-Generation Students –
Faster, Less Costly, Directly Attuned
to Workforce Priorities
Such programs typically include NO studies
in the humanities or social sciences

Is It Possible to Be Civically
and Globally Prepared Without
Any Study of:
World histories?
Global cultures?
Political, economic, and social systems
and challenges?
The ideas and institutions that support
constitutional democracy?
The great religious and philosophical
traditions?

What We Need – Today – from the
Higher Education Community, Is the
Civic Commitment to Ensure that
Every Student Gets a Liberal
Education While in College
We Have Made that Commitment at X
Institution, and We Are Proud to Be a Leader
in Making Civic and Democratic Learning—at
Home and Abroad—a Top Priority for Our
Students, Our Faculty, Our Staff—and through
Their Efforts—an Important Resource for Our
Community

Here Is What
Our Campus Is Doing
Mission
Learning Outcomes
Signature Programs
Community Partnerships

Liberal Education in
Historical Perspective

Liberal Education and Citizenship in
Historical Perspective
In connecting “liberal education to citizenship,
we are...drawing on Socrates’ concept of the
‘examined life,’ on Aristotle’s notions of
reflective citizenship, and above all on Greek
and Roman Stoic notions of an education that is
‘liberal’ in that it liberates the mind from
bondage of habit and custom, producing people
who can function with sensitivity and alertness
as citizens of the whole world.”
Martha Nussbaum
Cultivating Humanity: A Classical Defense of Reform in Liberal Education, 1998

Liberal Education and Citizenship
in Historical Perspective (cont.)
“Liber” = Latin for “Free Person”
Thomas Jefferson and other
revolutionary leaders saw the close ties
between liberal education and the
sustainability of our republic.

“Those persons, whom nature has endowed
with genius and virtue, should be rendered
by liberal education worthy to receive, and
able to guard the sacred deposit of the rights
and liberties of their fellow citizens; and ...
they should be called to that charge without
regard to wealth, birth or other accidental
condition or circumstance.”
Thomas Jefferson, 1779
(emphasis added)

“Knowledge is, in every country, the surest
basis of public happiness.”
George Washington, 1790
“A flourishing state of the arts and sciences
contributes to national prosperity and
reputation.”
George Washington, 1796

The Purpose of the Land Grant Colleges:
“...to promote the liberal and practical
education of the industrial classes in the
several pursuits and professions in life.”
The Morrill Act of 1862

The Report of the Truman Commission
on Higher Education – 1947, Vol. 1
The “principal goals” of higher education are
“to bring to all the people of the Nation:
Education for a fuller realization of democracy
in every phase of living;
Education directly and explicitly for
international understanding and
cooperation
Education for the application of creative
imagination and trained intelligence to the
solution of social problems. ...”

The Truman Commission Report (cont.)
 “Present college programs are not
contributing adequately to….students’ adult
lives either as workers or as citizens. This
is…because the unity of liberal education
has been splintered….
General education undertakes to redefine
liberal education in terms of life’s problems…
[and] the service of democracy.
It extends to all men the benefits of an
education that liberates.” (emphasis added)

Liberal Education in
Contemporary Perspective

In earlier eras, only a few
people went to college, and
the task of building civic
knowledge and commitment
was assigned primarily to the
public schools.

in Contemporary Perspective
Today, with college becoming
expected rather than optional, we
have a new opportunity to turn
Jefferson’s “natural aristocracy” of
the very few into what democracy
scholar Benjamin Barber calls:
An Aristocracy
of Everyone (New York,
1992)

“The object of education is the
freedom of mind which can only be
achieved through the path of
freedom – though freedom has its
risk and responsibility as life itself
has.”
Rabindranath Tagore, “My School”

AAC&U on Preparing Students for a
Diverse Democracy
“Today, the United States is in a new period of
societal negotiation... This period...begs for
elucidation, for intelligent dialogue, for historical
perspective, for willingness to hear all parts of our
communities as we consider the American future.
Where better to set and model higher standards for
these explorations than our campuses, communities
dedicated by mission to the quest of knowledge,
wisdom, and the expansion of human capacity?”
Frank Wong et al.
The Drama of Diversity and Democracy, (AAC&U,1995)

Diversity and Democracy
“...[F]or this society actually to achieve its full
potential ...we need to make citizenship matter. We
need to move beyond mere tolerance to joint action.
The thing to celebrate is not diversity per se, but what
we do with diversity…. Public education, national
service and other shared civic experiences matter
because they enable diverse Americans to work side
by side, step into each other’s shoes, develop a
capacity for empathy, and create deeper a basis for
common national identity.”
Eric Liu and Nick Hanauer
The True Patriot, 2007

Taking the Lead in
Educating for Personal and
Social Responsibility

Today, Higher Education
Is Poised and Ready to
Provide New National
Leadership in Educating
Citizens for the
Challenges We Face,
at Home and Abroad

National Initiatives to Connect
College Learning & Civic Challenges
Campus Compact
The American Democracy Project
AAC&U’s LEAP Initiative
including the Shared Futures and Core
Commitments projects
Bringing Theory to Practice
Project Pericles
And Many Others...

Today, Hundreds of Colleges
and Universities Are Placing
New Emphasis Both on the
Broad Aims of Liberal
Education AND on
Developing Students’ Personal
and Social Responsibility –
Their Civic Capacities.

AAC&U Member Institutions’ Learning
Outcomes for All Students
Outcomes that Build Civic Knowledge and Capacity
Humanities 92%
Global/World Cultures 87%
Diversity in the United States 73%
United States History 49%
Sustainability 24%
Critical Thinking 95%
Intercultural Skills 79%
Ethical Reasoning 75%
Civic Engagement 68%
Application of Learning 66%
Note: Nearly 80% of AAC&U member institutions surveyed reported that they had a common set of learning
outcomes for all students. Percentages cited are the percentage of those with campus-wide goals reporting
that this outcome is one of their learning goals for all students. For a full list of outcomes, see
www.aacu.org/leap and Learning and Assessment: Trends in Undergraduate Education (AAC&U and Hart
Research Associates, 2009)

Faculty Members Are Placing
New Emphasis on the
Personal and Social
Responsibility Outcomes that
Build Students’ Civic Capacity
and Engagement

HERI/CIRP 2007-08 Faculty Survey Findings
Faculty Goals for Undergraduate
Education
2004-05 2007-08 % Change
Teach tolerance/respect for different
beliefs
82.5
Enhance students’ knowledge of and
appreciation for other racial/ethnic groups
57.6 75.2 17.6
Engage students in civil discourse around
controversial issues
72.4
Enhance students’ self-understanding 58.4 71.8 13.4
Develop moral character 57.1 70.2 13.1
Help students develop personal values 50.8 66.1 15.3
Instill a commitment to community service 36.4 55.5 19.1
Percentage of Faculty saying that this outcome is “very important” or
“essential”

Collectively, Faculty Members
Have Created New Educational
Practices that Move Civic
Questions and Problem-
Solving to the Center

Educational Practices that Build
Civic Capacity
 First-Year Seminars and Experiences – widely adopted across the country,
these courses often focus on societal questions and intercultural learning
 Learning Communities – feature topically linked sets of courses that
examine problems like hunger, poverty, or energy from diverse disciplinary
and societal perspectives
 Common Intellectual Experiences – these programs of common study
often probe questions about the nature of a “good society” and individual
responsibilities to self and others
 Service Learning – over the past two decades, service learning has
become a top priority for connecting college learning directly with society’s
urgent problems and with community partners that are working to solve
them

Educational Practices (cont.)
 Collaborative Assignments and Projects – expected in many courses and
programs, these group assignments build capacities that are fundamental
for active citizenship and effective problem-solving
 Undergraduate Research – opportunities to work with scholars on unsolved
problems help college students learn the arts of “evidence-based
reasoning” which is fundamental to effective citizenship as well as to
scholarship
 Diversity/Global Learning – these programs build direct knowledge of
people, communities, and challenges different from one’s own; they build
civic vision and capacity
 Capstone Courses and Projects – often required in students’ majors, these
culminating experiences frequently provide opportunities for students to
apply their knowledge and skills to important problems that we face, at
home, abroad, or both.

Here Are the Signature Programs that
Build Civic Knowledge, Engagement
and Capacity at Your Institution

But Isn’t Higher Education
Really About Preparing
Students for Jobs?

“... [W]e are not forced to choose. ...
A flourishing economy requires the
same skills that support
citizenship.”
Martha Nussbaum
“The Liberal Arts Are Not Elitist”
Chronicle of Higher Education, June 10, 2010

Employers Endorse Many Outcomes
that Build Both Civic Capacity and
Work Readiness
Critical Thinking & Analytical Skills 81%
Applied Knowledge in Real-World Settings 79%
Ethical Decision Making 75%
Intercultural Competence 67%
Global Issues 67%
The Role of the U.S. in the World 57%
Cultural Diversity in the U.S. and Other Countries 57%
Civic Knowledge, Participation, and Knowledge 52%
Percentage of Employers Saying Colleges Should Place More
Emphasis on Outcomes
These findings are taken from Raising the Bar: Employers’ Views on College Learning in the Wake of
the Economic Downturn, a survey of employers conducted for AAC&U by Hart Research Associates and
published in 2010. For a full report on this survey and related employer findings, see www.aacu.org/leap.

In Building Civic Capacity,
We Also Are
Ensuring Economic Vitality

“Liberally educated people have the
wherewithal to do well and to do
good both for themselves and for
their communities and society.”
Grant Cornwell
President, The College of Wooster

The Civic Case for Liberal Education

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