Engagement for Democracy
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University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons GSE Faculty Research Graduate School of Education 2012 Engagement for Democracy Matthew Hartley Graduate School of Education, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/gse_pubs Part of the Higher Education Administration Commons Recommended Citation Hartley, M. (2012). Engagement for Democracy. Civic Provocations, 51-53. Retrieved from https://repository.upenn.edu/gse_pubs/390 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/gse_pubs/390 For more information, please contact [email protected]. Engagement for Democracy Disciplines Higher Education Administration This book chapter is available at ScholarlyCommons: https://repository.upenn.edu/gse_pubs/390 THE Bringing Theory to Practice Monographs CIVIC SERIES Civic Provocations EDITOR: Donald W. Harward SERIES EDITOR: Barry Checkoway Civic Provocations Civic Provocations Edited by Donald W. Harward Bringing Theory to Practice Washington, DC 1818 R Street, NW, Washington, DC 20009 ©2012 by Bringing Theory to Practice All rights reserved. ISBN 978-0-9853088-0-3 Civic Provocations Informal essays, provocations, that support and deepen inclusive and intentional campus-based consideration of an institution’s own civic mission and the civic mission of higher education today EDITOR : Donald W. Harward CIVIC SERIES EDITOR : Barry Checkoway CONTENTS Acknowledgments IX Introduction and Uses of the Provocations X Perspectives from Selected Civic Seminar Participants XI PART 1 Provocations: The Nature and Current Relevance of Attending to the Civic Chapter 1 Why Now? Because This Is a Copernican Moment 3 David Scobey Chapter 2 To Democracy’s Detriment: What Is the Current Evidence, and What if We Fail to Act Now? 7 Carol Geary Schneider Chapter 3 Why Now? The Civic as a Core Part of What Higher Learning Means 13 Donald W. Harward Chapter 4 The Eudeamonic and the Civic 19 Corey Keyes PART 2 Provocations: Probing Dimensions of the Civic Chapter 5 Civic Engagement, Civic Learning, and Higher Education 25 Barry Checkoway Chapter 6 Civic Studies as an Academic Discipline 31 Peter Levine Chapter 7 Critical Civic Research 35 Michelle Fine Chapter 8 Civility In and Out of the Academy 41 Daniel M. Shea Chapter 9 Diversity and Democratic Engagement: Civic Education and the Challenge of Inclusivity 47 Matthew J. Countryman Chapter 10 An Engagement for Democracy 51 Matthew Hartley PART 3 Provocations: Implications of Considering the Civic as a Core Aspect of the Mission of Higher Education Chapter 11 Is the Civic a Culturally Dependent Concept? Are Democratic Practices ? 57 Richard Detweiler Chapter 12 What of the Civic Should Be Exported? What Should Be Imported? 63 Samuel Abrahám Chapter 13 A “National Call to Action” from the National Task Force on Civic Learning and Democratic Engagement 69 Caryn McTighe Musil PART 4 Campus Civic Seminars Chapter 14 Campus Civic Seminars: A Basic Design and Guiding Questions 77 Chapter 15 Organizing Your Civic Seminar 81 Chapter 16 How Support Available from Bringing Theory to Practice Can Make a Campus Seminar Happen and Subsequent Campus Seminar Reporting 83 Suggested Readings on Civic Learning and Democratic Engagement 85 Contributors 89 Appendix 90 Preview of Bringing Theory to Practice Civic Monograph Series 91 Bringing Theory to Practice 93 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This monograph has depended on the re - We are indebted to Julie Johnson Kidd, markable good will and profound insights president of the Christian A. Johnson En - of the community of campus educational deavor Foundation, who has generously leaders, scholars, students, and practitioners supported the BT to P Project and particu - linked to the Bringing Theory to Practice larly the full features of this civic emphasis. (BT to P) Project. They have consistently The very positive thrust of this work has offered their best in support of the Pro - been aided by her insights, her thoughtful ject’s efforts to address greater attention contributions of persons to involve, and her to the civic mission of higher education— suggestions of promising directions to take. and to support the changes needed to Sally Engelhard Pingree is both our achieve it. colleague and a wonderful source of pro - Deserving of special thanks for the fessional as well as philanthropic support. creation of the monograph and the model Her consistent counsel and encouragement of civic seminars is the BT to P core leader - over a decade have made possible BT to P’s ship: national evaluator Ashley Finley; success as one of the rare sources of support demonstration site director and civic for the learning, well-being, and civic monograph series editor Barry Checkoway; development of today’s students. All of us BT to P co-founder and supporter Sally extend our profound gratitude to her. Engelhard Pingree; project scholar Jill Reich; project manager Jennifer O’Brien; and project assistant Dylan Joyce. Each played ABOUT THE EDITOR a significant role in the civic project—and Donald W. Harward is president emeritus any successes of BT to P are the results of of Bates College in Lewiston, Maine. their unflagging commitment. Since 2002, when he cofounded the David Tritelli, editor of AAC&U ’s Bringing Theory to Practice Project, he Liberal Education, provided substantial has been its director, working with more editorial guidance for the monograph text. than two hundred colleges and universities Dylan Joyce’s consistent attention to a that have been involved with or received myriad of complexities and details was a grants from the Project. He is the editor particularly key ingredient throughout of Transforming Undergraduate Education: the various seminar events and in the Theory that Compels and Practices that production of the monograph text. And Succeed (Rowman and Littlefield, 2012). it is with appreciation that we recognize Liz Clark’s professional talent in designing the monograph. IX INTRODUCTION AND USES OF THE PROVOCATIONS Each of the “Civic Provocations” was ini - held in the spring of 2011 around the tially presented at the Bringing Theory to country and abroad.) From those campus- Practice ( BT to P) National Civic Seminar, based seminars we gained significant in - November 2011, held at the Aspen Wye sights regarding how a model could be River Conference Center outside of used to support such experiences at a large Washington, DC. We are most grateful to number of colleges and universities so that, the authors who adapted their remarks to during the next two years, scores, if not create these brief written provocations. hundreds, of higher education institu tions Each piece is accessible and provides a of all types could examine the meaning and means of considering an important aspect realization of a civic mission in their own or dimension of what “centering attention context. Reports from the many participat - to the civic” at an institution, and in ing campuses will be posted online, making higher education in general, might mean real their in volvement in a truly participa - and involve. These are not research pa - tory dialogue—including the sharing of pers. They remain informal and are in - resultant action steps. tended to provoke conversations, making The Civic Provocations monograph is reference citations only where the authors designed to be used as an aid to your own and editor thought absolutely necessary. campus conversation—your own “civic The BT to P Civic Provocation Project seminar.” The implicit “provocation” is began with the planning of a series of that your campus will design and offer a scholarly seminars addressing the meanings half-day, to one-day, focused seminar (or of civic engagement, civic learning, and series of seminars) involving multiple and civic research. From those discussions diverse constituents. The monograph fea - emerged support for a model of inclusive tures suggestions for how you could (of students, faculty, administrators, and effectively do so, along with guiding ques - community members) campus-based tions that could assist those conversations “seminars.” (We called them “distributed in moving to a deeper level—and, most civic seminars”—nineteen of them were importantly, lead to institutional actions. X PERSPECTIVES FROM SELECTED CIVIC SEMINAR PARTICIPANTS Introducing the Civic Provocations mono - for determining the particular goods or graph are brief perspectives from seven of ends toward which society should be aim - the participants in the Bringing Theory to ing, and necessary for the very existence Practice National Civic Seminar. These per - of peaceful civil society. spectives, some autobiographical, suggest an This “traditional” model began to inclusive tone of inquiry and a diversity of change with the advent of the French points of view. Before examining the provo - Revolution, when the first of the above cations themselves, you will find the following as sumptions changed. Wherever the mes - brief accounts an engaging introduction. sage of the revolution went, so also went the need to prepare a responsible citizenry for self-governance. The tension between The Links among Civic Engagement the liberal values (those linked to the em - and Cultural Values powerment and freedom of the individual) Shirley Mullen and the egalitarian values (those linked to the nature of the goods that should be The link between civic responsibility and available to all) of the French Revolution education has been taken for granted has played itself out in the various countries throughout