Reestablishing the Commons for the Common Good

Howard Gardner

Abstract: For individuals living in a small community, the notion of “common good” seems almost nat- ural; it can be thought of simply as neighborly morality. However, in a complex modern society, it is far more challenging for individuals to de½ne and agree upon what is the common good. Nonetheless, two contemporary roles would bene½t from embracing a broader sense of the good: 1) membership in a profession; and 2) membership in a polity. Drawing on ½ndings from the GoodWork Project, I describe how the common good can become a guiding value in the professional and civic realms; discuss threats to such guiding values; and suggest some ways to promote the common good in contemporary American society.

As high-end primates, human beings in earlier eras presumably had some notion of “common good.” Parents made sacri½ces for their children, and later in life, the favor was often returned. Siblings and more distant relatives cared for one another and, perhaps, for a broader group of persons. Precisely when such solidarity transcended blood relationships will likely never be known. The work of anthropologist Robin Dunbar hints at the scope of early conceptions of the common good.1 Dunbar argues that individuals can comfortably maintain relationships with up to 150 people: the maximum HOWARD GARDNER number of individuals in a clan or small tribe who , a Fellow of see each other regularly, and whose behavior– the American Academy since 1995, is the John H. and Elisabeth A. friendly and helpful, or hostile and injurious–can Hobbs Professor of Cognition and be remembered for purposes of cooperation or Education at the Harvard Gradu- retaliation. ate School of Education, where he I have coined the phrase neighborly morality to is also the Senior Director of Har- denote this conception of the common good.2 vard Project Zero. His many publi- Here, individuals handle a manageable cognitive cations include Truth, Beauty, and load, with some capacity to solve existing problems Goodness Reframed: Educating for the Virtues in the Age of Truthiness and and to anticipate new ones. It is logical for such Twitter (2012), Leading Minds (1995), individuals to help one another from time to time, and Frames of Mind: The Theory of to work together toward goals that would be Multiple Intelligences (1983). dif½cult or impossible to achieve independently.

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Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DAED_a_00213 by guest on 01 October 2021 Reestab- Indeed, this is what happens in small set- compelled to do so; but some citizens lishing the tlements. also understood why it might be in their Commons for the Consider the Ten Commandments and interest to cooperate in such large-scale Common the Golden Rule. Traditional injunctions ventures. Whether literally religious, like Good make sense when dealing with a manage- Christianity or Islam, or better described able number of acquaintances. Honor your as spiritual, like Confucianism or Shinto, parents and desist from lying, stealing the belief systems of these civilizations from, and disrespecting your neighbors. provided rationales for pro-social behav- Moreover, sanctions that follow the break- ior, which motivated some inhabitants. ing of these codes–whether imposed by Both formal and informal educational the community or by God–reinforce the systems also represented efforts to instill desirability of the neighborly form of the such cooperative behaviors in the next common good. generation. We lack thorough histories of such My concern is not with authoritarian small human groups. Communities large or totalitarian societies–the pharaohs of and literate enough to leave written Egypt, the Qin emperors in China–or records have dwarfed the type of neigh- the fascist and communist dictators of borhood that Dunbar describes. Yet the the twentieth century. Rather, the chal- need to recognize and address the com- lenge is to understand the speci½c condi- mon good scarcely disappears with the tions under which a voluntary conscien- emergence of larger settlements, villages, tiousness emerges in nonauthoritarian cities, and states. societies. In such cases, individuals who Is there evidence of voluntarism in have the freedom to behave sel½shly working for the common good in these instead elect to devote signi½cant effort larger communities? The slaves of Egypt to bene½t the larger polity. In contrast to built pyramids, burial tombs, and mas- neighborly morality, I term this variety of sive granaries that served others, but we service the ethics of roles. The two principal have no reason to believe that their roles with regard to serving the common actions were voluntary. So, too, serfs and good are those of the worker and of the peasants in ancient and medieval times citizen. mined for precious metals and harvested The ethical citizen views the polity as crops. Indeed, much of the political theory an extension of himself and his interests. developed in Europe in the seventeenth Not only does the ethical citizen identify and eighteenth centuries was an attempt with his city, region, or state; but con- to determine whether such apparently cerned with the welfare of that entity, he selfless actions were compulsory; or is willing to contribute to it, whether or whether people joined together voluntarily not he and his kin bene½t directly. to serve what they believed was a broader Such powerful civic associations are good than that extended to kith and kin. illustrated by the Athenians’ long-honored concern with the welfare of their With the growth of states and the city. In ½fth century Athens, young adult emergence of nations, centralized pow- males swore the following oath: ers came to the fore. Inhabitants of the We will never bring disgrace on this our city great empires–Chinese, Indian, Ottoman, through an act of dishonesty or cowardice. Holy Roman–did not merely elect to pay taxes and tribute or to bear arms in a mili- We will ½ght for the ideals and Sacred Things tary expedition. At minimum they were of the city both alone and with many.

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Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DAED_a_00213 by guest on 01 October 2021 We will revere and obey the city’s laws, and the greater good can be discerned in the Howard will do our best to incite a like reverence emergence of labor unions in Europe and Gardner and respect in those above us who are the Americas. prone to annul them or set them at naught. The ethical worker emerged with the development of the professions, some- We will strive increasingly to quicken the times called the learned professions. Paral- public’s sense of civic duty. leling the oath of the Athenian citizen is Thus, in all these ways we will transmit this the Hippocratic Oath, which is generally city, not only not less, but greater and more considered the ½rst example of a profes- beautiful that it was transmitted to us.3 sional oath and is still commonly taken today in one or another form. By taking In Western civilization since the height the oath, the physician pledges to come of Athens, there have been both periods to the aid of those who are sick, to do so of active ethical citizenship and periods without regard to the patient’s ability to when the role of the ethical citizen was pay, to avoid any form of bribery, to pass quiescent or even absent. Some periods on the trade to the next generation, and of ethical citizenship coincided with reli- to respect the patient’s privacy. While the gious agendas: for example, participation oath may protect the special status of the in the Crusades on behalf of Christen- profession, it also represents a pioneering dom seems to have been voluntary on the effort to stipulate what it means to serve part of many. Other periods coincided the larger community–the common good. with political revolution–be it the Amer- In the early 1960s Dædalus devoted an ican Revolution, the French Revolution, entire issue to the American professions. the founding of the modern Chinese The professions were then at their heights: state, or the Russian Revolution of the “Everywhere in American life, the profes- early twentieth century. It is also possible sions are triumphant,” remarked editor to evaluate and rank polities in terms of Kenneth Lynn.4 Professionals had pres- civic concern for the common good. tige, status, and adequate compensation. Contemporary Scandinavian and other They were viewed as individuals, and Northern European countries, for exam- because they had mastered their material, ple, stand out for embracing a voluntary were current in knowledge, and had been form of the common good. East Asian endorsed by the masters of their chosen countries also demonstrate a concern guild, they were granted considerable with the common good, though it may be autonomy. They were perceived as author- somewhat less volitional on the part of ities, capable of rendering disinterested their citizens. judgments in the face of complexity and The role of the ethical worker comple- uncertainty. Soon additional sectors of ments that of the ethical citizen, and its society, from business to journalism, history is no less complex. Early instances emulated the “gold standards” of medi- of the ethical worker include the emer- cine, law, and the professoriate with regard gence of trades and guilds in the late Mid- to credentialing, service, and objectivity. dle Ages. Certainly, trades and guilds ex- The concept of “disinterestedness” is hibited sel½sh and secretive behaviors. crucial to the roles of both the professional But within the guilds there was also an and the citizen.5 Of course, the ethical awareness of which actions and which worker and citizen does not ignore his or ideals served the good of the budding her own needs. Nevertheless, society ben- profession and, perhaps, of the broader e½ts when those wielding power and society as well. The guild’s concern for

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Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DAED_a_00213 by guest on 01 October 2021 Reestab- influence–in professional of½ces, in the documented the dif½culty of maintain- lishing the voting booth, in the public sphere–are ing professionalism in the ½nancial sec- Commons for the able to transcend narrow self-interest. tor in the face of rapid change and the Common Professionals follow the precepts of the opportunity to make enormous sums of Good guild just as citizens follow their oath of money when willing to cut corners.) citizenship. Thus, their understanding of To understand and address this move- personal gain is viewed within the con- ment away from the honored professional, text of the greater good over an extended we founded the GoodWork Project. period of time. Active today, the GoodWork Project is concerned with what it means to be a So why is a professor of cognition and professional in the modern world. We education writing an essay on the ethical explore the question of how professions professional and the ethical citizen? I can survive when conditions are chang- grew up in the 1950s and 1960s, when the ing rapidly, when our sense of time and professional in America was highly space has been radically altered by tech- esteemed. Certainly, the professions were nology, when markets are very powerful, not without flaws: women and minori- and when few if any counterforces can ties were often barred from entering a mediate or moderate the forces of the profession, never mind ascending to the market. To answer these questions, we top ranks (a challenge that still remains interviewed more than 1,200 profession- in many sectors). Yet without romanti- als drawn from nine different realms of cizing the era, I feel reasonably con½dent work, and we launched a series of sibling that American professionals in the mid- and offspring research projects. Our twentieth century cultivated a sense of ½ndings are detailed in a dozen books the common good, and this framework and numerous articles, and described at guided them in their work. And flawed our website www.thegoodproject.org.6 though they were, American citizens and Why has the role of the professional in public servants of the era viewed them- America been undermined in such a selves as servants of this same common short period of time? Indeed, the percep- good, not servants of just their immedi- tion of the American professional has so ate needs, neighbors, or constituencies. shifted that many young persons assume By 1995, my colleagues in psychology, that a professional is simply a business- Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and William man who does not make as much money Damon, and I sensed that the era of the as a successful entrepreneur, trader, or honored professional was already on the consultant. wane. We could see that law was becom- A multitude of factors has contributed ing overwhelmingly corporate; that the to the diminution of the role of the pro- practice of medicine was taking place in fessional, and more speci½cally, of its large, non-professionally-led health main- ethical core. Among the contributing fac- tenance organizations, often for-pro½t; tors is the opening of the profession to and that print and broadcast journalism groups that were hitherto not welcome. had dif½culty covering important news Without question, this access has on bal- in a thorough and dispassionate way. (We ance been a healthy and needed trend, were then unaware of the parallel pres- echoing George Bernard Shaw’s renowned sures put on ½nancial professionals– quip that “all professions are conspira- auditors, bankers, credit raters–but the cies against the laity.” However, this events of the past decade have amply democratization has also often entailed

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Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DAED_a_00213 by guest on 01 October 2021 an anti-elite, anti-expert sentiment. A dif½cult to reverse on an individual or Howard heightened belief in the genius of the societal level. Gardner market, which is believed to be the opti- GoodWork Project researchers are often mal regulator of society and its institu- asked how we know that professionals tions, has also lessened the value placed are less ethical than they once were. on professionals. In Ronald Reagan’s Admittedly, we could not prove this claim United States and Margaret Thatcher’s to a skeptic, though much research with United Kingdom, there was little sympa- young people suggests an attenuation of thy for professionals who sought protec- the ethical muscle. But regardless of its tion of their status: “There is no such thing standing in relation to the past, the ethi- as society,” Thatcher famously declared. cal level of professions inarguably needs And with cost-free access to copious nurturing today. technical information, the digital revolu- And what of the role of the ethical citi- tion has sometimes engendered unrealis- zen? The research of political scientist tic expectations of expertise on the part Robert Putnam documents the decline of of professionals and placed unexpected civic communitarian groups, the weak- pressures on those who, in earlier times, ening of civic trust in increasingly diverse had been assumed to “know best.” societies, and the growing politicization Though it has largely been a hidden of religion; not one of these developments trend, the special status of the profes- favors the common good.7 Voting per- sional has been gradually worn down by centages may fluctuate, but public trust the tide of market and value changes. in governmental institutions and prac- One single event did not suddenly under- tices has dropped steadily, if not precipi- mine the professional; rather, between tously. Considerable evidence from the 1970 and 2010, the once-esteemed profes- digital world documents both the igno- sional came to be viewed with increased rance of citizens about basic constitu- skepticism and distrust. And while dim- tional and historical concepts and the inution of status does not necessarily increased tendency of citizens to associ- entail a diminution of ethical ½ber, it is ate principally with those who share their more dif½cult for the professional to political views. The hope that the Inter- serve the common good when society no net would usher in an era of cosmopoli- longer elevates and empowers him. tanism, empathy, and/or generosity has The relatively positive milieu of the not–or at least not yet–been realized. mid-twentieth century has been replaced by an atmosphere of fear and greed Given the dystopic trends in contem- among many citizens and professionals: porary American society, it is necessary fear on the part of those who feel that to search broadly for encouraging mod- they are losing their place in society; and els. It is poignant that many formerly greed on the part of those whose lives are totalitarian states–in Eastern Europe driven by a desire for ever more posses- and East Asia, for example–look to the sions and ever-advancing status all too United States for models of how to devel- often yoked to the level of compensation, op an independent legal system, a politi- even in the not-for-pro½t sector. Concern cal process, a faculty governance, or a for the common good cannot survive in journalistic ethos, at a time when the the face of these two virulent forces. ethics of the professions in the United More worrisome, fear and greed combine States are being intensely challenged. to form a vicious cycle that is extremely Revealingly, a preliminary ½nding from

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Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DAED_a_00213 by guest on 01 October 2021 Reestab- one of our studies suggests that immi- therefore is not accepted as part of the lishing the grant youth are no more trusting of insti- nation, then notions of the common Commons for the tutions and public ½gures than are Amer- good become truncated. The same issues Common ican-born youth; however, the immigrant arise in East Asia, where minorities in Good youth at least trust the processes in areas China or Japan have not been easily inte- such as law or investigative reporting. grated into the majority culture. Coun- Scandinavia (particularly Sweden and tries with greater diversity and estab- Denmark) and certain other pockets of lished histories of integrating ethnic Western Europe are probably the strongest minorities may have an easier time em- bastions of ethical citizens and ethical bracing an ecumenical notion of the professionals today. For many years, I common good. Recent social and politi- have visited Reggio Emilia, a small city in cal movements in the United States, northeastern Italy, celebrated for its Brazil, and India, however, demonstrate remarkable preschool educational insti- the constant pressures placed on ethni- tutions. Not coincidentally, Reggio Emilia cally diverse societies to limit the scope is in the region of Italy that, according to of what constitutes “we.” Robert Putnam, founded institutions of civic democracy as early as the twelfth In addition to documenting threats to century!8 Not only have I observed an ex- the common good, the GoodWork Proj- emplary concern for the common good ect research group has sought to identify in Reggio Emilia, but this Italian commu- features that are most likely to engender a nity represents a model learning organi- broader sense of community among pro- zation, with leaders working tirelessly to fessionals and citizens. Many of the pro- learn from other sites as well as from fessionals with whom we spoke cited their own experiments and mistakes.9 early religious education or experiences However, it is not clear either in Scan- as a principal contributor to their ethical dinavia or in other parts of Europe that sense. Though many participants iden- the ethics of roles can endure in the face ti½ed their religious upbringing as a major of these three factors: 1) pressures of the influence on their adult understanding of market and of globalization; 2) ready ethics, most no longer actively practiced access of the general population to knowl- their birth religion, nor did God or their edge and expertise, both genuine and religion otherwise come up in our lengthy feigned, ushered in by the digital revolu- interviews. In fact, for only one interview tion; and 3) the large-scale movement of group did religion continue to loom large: immigrants into once homogeneous so- namely, subjects who had been nominated cieties. From what I have observed, coun- as “good businessmen or businesswom- tries like Sweden and the Netherlands en.” Note, however, that our interviews make great efforts to integrate immi- took place largely on the two coasts of the grants. Yet, particularly at times of ½nan- United States; if our sample had been cial pressure, it is easy to scapegoat immi- more heavily skewed toward the South or grants and thereby narrow the scope of the Midwest, religion might have been dis- what is “common.” cussed more frequently. Speci½cally, in Scandinavia and parts of Beyond the familial and religious Northern and Western Europe, the com- milieus of early life, three factors prove mon good is seen as the good of the influential in developing an ethical sense: whole nation. But if a signi½cant part of Vertical Support. Mentorship and other the population is not integrated, and forms of institutional support are crucial

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Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DAED_a_00213 by guest on 01 October 2021 to the individual’s development of an high ethical standards. The remarkable Howard ethical stance. An admired mentor pos- young entrepreneurs who have recently Gardner sessing a strong ethical compass may be a founded organizations in education, citi- hugely influential model to a developing zenship, justice, and the environment have citizen. The same holds true of the work- much to teach us about the pursuit of the place milieu: do leaders and supervisors common good. Alas, as John Gardner– value a high ethical standard, and not just the embodiment of the good citizen in an as a talking point? earlier era–has pointed out, their efforts Less predictably, our research subjects can pale in the event that necessary and frequently mentioned individuals who far-reaching legislation is not enacted. served as negative role models–we called Periodic Wake-up Calls. Even when at- these anti-mentors or tor-mentors. Our sub- tempting to serve the common good, jects often explained: “He (or she) epito- workers and citizens can regress, acting mized what I did NOT want to be.” Of either foolishly or sel½shly. At such course, many ethically compromised times, an unexpected event can be salu- workers lacked mentors, or had mentors tary. The event is often a negative one– who were themselves ethically de½cient. malpractice on the part of an individual Distance from a mentor with a negative or group that threatens the viability of influence may be required for a profes- the overall enterprise. Such a wake-up sional to realize that his or her mentor is call occurred at The New York Times early not worthy of emulation. in the twenty-½rst century. Within a Horizontal Support. In the contemporary short time frame, two key events unfold- United States, particularly with the rise ed: 1) the Times discovered that staff of social media, the role of peer groups reporter Jayson Blair had plagiarized and has taken on greater importance. With fabricated news stories; and 2) the na- mentors scarce and senior individuals tional news division published the unsub- often moving from one institution to stantiated claim that Saddam Hussein another, the influence of age-mates can was hiding weapons of mass destruction be enormous. And as the GoodWork in Iraq. Such wake-up calls may compel Project has documented, many young individuals to revisit the core values of professionals perceive their peers to be their profession and redetermine how extremely ambitious, often willing to cut best to embody them. The wake-up call is corners to gain advancement. (We were therefore ultimately a positive event that not in a position to determine whether can help workers entrenched in a profes- these perceptions were accurate.) Our sion appreciate how their role can serve subjects explained to us that they were the broader good. That was the case in not willing to hurt their odds of profes- 1971, when The New York Times and The sional success by being more ethical than Washington Post risked judicial proceed- their peers. A low or inconsistent set of ings and ½nancial ruin by publishing the standards among peers–whether gen- Pentagon Papers. uine or perceived–can confound one’s These forces are not limited to the pro- ethical orientation. fessional realm, but operate in civic life as Peer influence need not be destructive. well. Young people are heavily influenced It is certainly possible for peers to band by the models of parents and teachers; together, to attempt to better the ethical indeed, the best predictor of interest in milieu of their organization, or even to civics is growing up in a home where start a new institution that embodies members of the family regularly discuss

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Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DAED_a_00213 by guest on 01 October 2021 Reestab- and debate the news. Peers exert potent nized around a series of lessons, the par- lishing the influence as well: it matters whether a ticipants tackle questions such as: What Commons for the child’s peers discuss participants and work is admired, and why? Can work be Common events in the political and economic both engaging and ethical? Is it appropri- Good worlds, or if they restrict their discourse ate to cut corners when your colleagues to gossip about celebrities. And once engage in such compromises? The Toolkit again, the occurrence of a major event– can be used in any educational setting, carnage at an elementary or secondary but is most effective when, like the travel- school, the bombing of the Twin Towers ing curriculum in journalism, all the –can serve as a civic wake-up call. stakeholders participate actively. We began the GoodWork Project with Several of us have taught courses cen- the aim of understanding current stances tered on the GoodWork themes. We have toward the common good: what is hap- also designed “reflection sessions” for pening with respect to various profes- undergraduates. In these voluntary sessions and, more generally, to the world of sions, students reflect on their goals and work; and what is happening with respect values; their current use of time and how to citizenship, among youth in particular. consistent this is with their large-scale As the data accumulated, and as we concerns; and the manner in which they reflected on their implications, we elected deal with ethical issues that have arisen to devote our efforts toward the promo- in their own lives, or ones that have been tion of good work and good citizenship. reported in the media. Inspiring individuals to focus on the Under the leadership of William Damon, common good is particularly challenging and with the collaboration of the Com- in a social climate of fear, greed, and mittee of Concerned Journalists, the uncertainty. Indeed, in one study that GoodWork Project designed a traveling included a pre- and post-test, adolescents curriculum for journalists. It is based on a exposed to GoodWork issues actually series of off-site workshops where mem- became more resistant to working for the bers of a journalistic organization can common good.10 It is unclear whether meet to discuss vexed ethical issues, such they became less generous as a means of as how to minimize bias, how to verify resolving cognitive dissonance; or whether sources while competing with blogs in a challenging the common good is, at least 24/7 news cycle, and how to undertake for some, a necessary step en route to a investigative journalism at a time of more capacious perspective. We are under intense market pressures and diminished no illusion that mere discussion of these resources. Carried out in almost two hun- issues is the same as working on them in dred newsrooms and involving approxi- our daily lives; many of us “talk” a better mately three thousand journalists, the game than we “walk.” Yet the results of traveling curriculum has been well re- our various interventions have suf½cient- ceived, and a follow-up study has indicat- ly encouraged us to continue their prac- ed that the workshops have had lasting tice and development. As a result of these value. and other activities, I have become con- With the leadership of Lynn Barendsen vinced of the power of a “common space” and Wendy Fischman, we have designed or a “commons.” Originally, of course, this the GoodWork Toolkit, which consists of phrase in English referred to public dilemmas that have been reported by grounds to which herdsmen brought subjects in our GoodWork study. Orga- their cattle and on which farmers planted

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Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DAED_a_00213 by guest on 01 October 2021 their crops. If the community did not However, boutique examples are dif- Howard show restraint, the commons was soon ½cult to replicate, and in the meantime, Gardner exhausted–hence the famous “tragedy valuable opportunities may be lost. Ac- of the commons.” Conversely, if individ- cordingly, I endorse the promulgation of uals at the commons worked together to regulations and the implementation of serve the long-term needs of the larger laws that counter sel½shness and self- community, broader bene½ts resulted. centeredness, and that “nudge” people The same principles extend beyond a and institutions toward the common physical commons to the institutions and good. Recent Anglo-American history polities that link professionals and citizens reveals a sharp turn away from concern today.11 with the common good. It is high time to Within my own institution I have felt restore a better balance. I therefore sup- the pronounced need for such an intellec- port those processes and institutions that tual common space. At an institution as explicitly embrace the common good as large, well known, and closely monitored their mandate, as well as measures that as Harvard, ethical issues arise constant- can indicate whether they have con- ly. Some issues are large, some small, and tributed to greater common good. Just as most are gossiped about. Yet Harvard war is too important to be left to the gen- leadership is extremely reluctant to dis- erals, the common good is too precious to cuss these issues publicly, let alone reflect be left to the vagaries of human biology, on them and promulgate lessons learned. historical trends, or the appearance of the Meanwhile, bloggers speak very frankly occasional saint. Conscientious efforts about “silenced” issues, but they do so by ethical workers and ethical citizens to anonymously, leaving no way of deter- serve the common good deserve all the mining which claims have warrant and support that society and government can which do not. I hope that it may be possi- muster. ble to create a “commons” where members of the Harvard community can freely discuss consequential ethical issues, without fear of reprisal, and thereby perhaps discover new procedures that could contribute to the common good in other con- texts. I believe in voluntarism. I admire institutions and practices that begin modestly and yet prove so compelling that they “go viral” and take on a life of their own. The educational system in Reggio Emilia exempli½es this phenomenon. The edu- cators are far from proselytizers; indeed, they do not seek out partners or search for multichanneled megaphones. And yet since the time of Maria Montessori a century ago, no educational effort with young persons has had as much positive influence throughout the world as that put forth by the schools of Reggio.

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Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DAED_a_00213 by guest on 01 October 2021 Reestab- endnotes lishing the 1 Commons Robin Dunbar, How Many Friends Does One Person Need? Dunbar’s Number and Other Evolu- for the tionary Quirks (London: Faber and Faber, 2010). Common 2 Good Howard Gardner, Truth, Beauty, and Goodness Reframed: Educating for the Virtues in the Age of Truthiness and Twitter (New York: Basic Books, 2012). 3 The Essentia Book of Knowledge, “The Athenian Oath,” http://www.essentia.com/book/ history/athenian.htm. 4 Kenneth Lynn, Introduction to “The Professions,” a special issue of Dædalus 92 (4) (Fall 1963): 649. 5 Howard Gardner, “In Defense of Disinterestedness in the Digital Era,” in Transforming Citizens: Youth, New Media, and Political Participation, ed. D. S. Allen and J. Light (in preparation). 6 See also Howard Gardner, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, and William Damon, Good Work: When Excellence and Ethics Meet (New York: Basic Books, 2001); Howard Gardner, ed., Good Work: Theory and Practice, http://www.thegoodproject.org/the-goods/books/goodwork-theory -and-practice/ 7 See, for example, Robert Putnam, ed., Democracy in Flux: The Evolution of Social Capital in Con- temporary Society (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004). 8 Robert Putnam, Robert Lenardi, and Raffaella Nanetti, Making Democracy Work: Civic Tradi- tions in Modern Italy (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1993). 9 Project Zero and Reggio Children, Making Learning Visible: Children as Individual and Group Learners (Reggio Emilia, Italy: Reggio Children Pubns, 2001). 10 Scott Seider, “‘Bad Things Could Happen’: How Fear Impedes the Development of Social Responsibility in Privileged Adolescents,” Journal of Adolescent Research 23 (6) (November 2008): 647–666. 11 Elinor Ostrom, “Beyond Markets and States: Polycentric Governance of Complex Economic Systems,” Nobel Prize Lecture, December 8, 2009, http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel _prizes/economics/laureates/2009/ostrom_lecture.pdf.

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