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Good civic engagement requires civic literacy
This morning, both The Chronicle of Higher Education and Inside Higher Ed report on a new study by the Association of American Colleges and Universities that says colleges are doing a lousy job, as IHE puts it, of "encouraging civic engagement and promoting good citizenship." ACTA agrees, and we are grateful that the AAC&U is putting a further spotlight on this problem. With that said, there is a crucial element missing from the discussion so far: civic literacy.
Most of the solutions proposed by the various experts quoted (the report itself is not available online) revolve around behaviors. But as ACTA's college-guide website, WhatWillTheyLearn.com, makes crystal clear, there is a knowledge issue here: Only 18 of the more than 125 colleges and universities on WhatWillTheyLearn.com require their students to take a survey course in U.S. government or history. Not surprisingly, college students regularly flunk basic surveys on these topics. Is it any surprise, then, that people who can't identify the three branches of government seldom vote -- or that those who have little awareness of the history that binds their nation together often do not feel called to serve their fellow citizens?
Those of us who want our colleges and universities to prepare informed citizens need to make sure we don't put the cart before the horse. Yes, behaviors such as voting and community service are important. But they must be undergirded by knowledge -- and ensuring a solid foundation of civic knowledge is a fundamental area in which our best-known colleges are, generally speaking, letting us down.
Posted by Charles Mitchell on September 30, 2009 at September 30, 2009 11:42 AM
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