Will the Real Civic Education Please Stand up?
People Aren't Quite Sure What This All Means
A few weeks ago, I attended and spoke at the Civic Thought and Practice Conference, which was hosted by Johns Hopkins and the American Enterprise Institute. The major issue was to talk about the emerging, or remerging field, of civic education, which is now appearing in various centers and schools. Here, I’ll document one observation I had during the conference - no one really knows what civic education is. I’ll list three versions of civic education and I’ll like to hear what people think of them.
First, there are a bunch of people who think civic thought and education is an academic practice where you reflect on civics based on readings of ancient classics and modern political and social theory texts. Thus, civics education is a form of Great Books, or Western Civilization, or political theory education.
Second, another bunch of people see civic thought as an inroad for intellectual diversity. In their view, conservative intellectuals might have more of a presence in academia if they can teach and publish in niches that are less woke, or highlight issues that conservatives would have a comparative advantage in teaching or writing.
Third, many folks say civic thought and education as a sort of more sophisticated extension of high school civics. The phrase is “how to be a citizen.” Not only would it be education about the mechanisms of government, but people would learn about how to have a respectful debate, how to promote your interests in the political spheres, and so forth.
I don’t think that there was any convergence in opinion around this issue, but it reflects a few trends in modern higher education: political diversity, the need to make higher ed more relevant to others, and the push for reviving Great Books. So tell me what you think about this? What is civic education? What should it be?
Bottom Line: When a new game comes to town, everyone wants to play.
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Buy these books!
Sociology and Classical Liberalism (Open access/free)
Grad Skool Rulz - cheap ($5) advice manual for grad students
Obama and the antiwar movement
Very interesting discussion. Are you familiar with Bildung? https://www.globalbildung.net/