This document discusses the importance of civic learning in higher education for democracy. It outlines troubling signs in US democracy like economic inequality and weak civic engagement among citizens. College students show low levels of civic knowledge and participation. The document calls on higher education to make civic learning a core part of the curriculum by fostering civic skills, literacy, inquiry and action across all fields of study and through experiential learning opportunities. This will help address civic health problems and prepare students for engaged citizenship.

1. A CRUCIBLE MOMENT:
COLLEGE LEARNING AND
DEMOCRACY’S FUTURE
Caryn McTighe Musil
Association of American Colleges and Universities
Bonner Foundation High Impact Summer Institute
June 27, 2012

2. “DEMOCRACY NEEDS TO BE BORN
ANEW EVERY GENERATION, AND
EDUCATION IS THE MIDWIFE.”
John Dewey

3. TROUBLING SIGNS IN US DEMOCRACY
• Resurgent nativism and anti-immigrant
attitudes and policies
• Reconfiguring race and racial categories
even in the midst of intensified racial
segregation
• Inflammatory, vitriolic public discourse
with little regard for accuracy or facts
• Assault on the value of government, its
agencies, and its public employees
• Dangerous and historic economic
inequalities where gap has widened

4. WHY NOW?
INDICATORS OF ANEMIC CIVIC HEALTH
• U.S. ranked 139th in voter
participation of 172 world
democracies in 2007.
• Only 24% of graduating high school
seniors scored at the proficient or
advanced level in civics in 2010.
• Less than ½ of 12th graders reported
studying international topics as part

5. MORE INDICATORS OF CIVIC MALAISE
• College seniors surveyed in 2006-07
averaged just over 50% in a civic literacy
exam.
• Just over 1/3 of college faculty surveyed
strongly agreed their campus actively
promotes awareness of US or global
social, political, and economic issues.
• Just over 1/3 of students surveyed
strongly agreed that faculty publicly
advocate the need for students to
become active and involved citizens.

6. ONE LAST INDICATOR FOR HIGHER
EDUCATION TO PONDER
• Only one-third of college students
surveyed strongly agreed that their
college education resulted in
increased civic capacities.
• Civic awareness expanded
• Skills learned to effectively change
society for the better

8. TRUMAN COMMISSION KEY
RECOMMENDATION
“The first and most essential
charge upon higher education is
that at all levels and in all fields of
specialization, it shall be the
carrier of democratic values,
ideals, and processes.”
• Higher Education for American
Democracy, 1947

9. KEY RECOMMENDATIONS FOR HIGHER
EDUCATION
1.Foster a CIVIC ETHOS across all parts
of the campus and educational culture.
2.Make CIVIC LITERACY a core
expectation for all students.
3.Practice CIVIC INQUIRY across all fields
of study.
4.Advance CIVIC ACTION through
transformative partnerships, at home
and abroad.

10. THE CHALLENGE IN ACADEMIA TO
ADVANCE CIVIC LEARNING
• From elective to expected
• From one time to progressive learning
over time
• From individually oriented civic action to
collaboratively oriented action
• From some departments, divisions, and
people to everyone all over campus
• From parallel practices and programs to
integrated ones

11. CONTEMPORARY, COMPREHENSIVE
DEFINITION OF CIVIC LEARNING
• Contestation about democratic
principles
• Diversity past, present, and future
• Being informed by multiple perspectives
• Comparative political movements for
democratic justice
• The global dimensions of local
citizenship
• Interdependence globally and locally
• New modes of collective action

12. TRENDS THAT HAVE TURNED CAMPUS
LIFE INTO A PUBLIC COMMONS
• From monocultural space to multicultural space
• From access for the very few to access for the
majority
• From an exclusionary curriculum to a more
inclusive one
• From passive pedagogies to more problem-
oriented, hands-on pedagogies
• From talking about democracy to doing democracy
• From reaching out to the community to being part
of the community
• From being sequestered from the globe to
recognizing how global issues permeate everyday
life locally

13. STUDENTS ARE URGING HIGHER
EDUCATION TO EMBRACE CIVIC
LEARNING

14. ENLARGE THE NATIONAL NARRATIVE:
COMPLETION AND CITIZENSHIP
• Correlation between civic-oriented
college activities and college
completion
academic engagement
deepening connections with faculty
higher grade point
higher retention
more likely to complete degrees
career clarification

15. THE FOUNDATION
HAS ALREADY BEEN PARTIALLY LAID
Curricular civic pathways
• Making civic literacy a core
expectation for all students in general
education programs
Tulane University, Portland State
University, St. Edward’s University
• Integrating civic inquiry into a central
field of study
California State, Monterey Bay
Wagner College, Worcester Polytechnic

16. STILL MORE FOUNDATIONS
LAID IN NEW WINGS
Advancing Collaborative, Generative
Civic Partnerships and Alliances
• Beyond traditional campus boundaries,
in local and global contexts, sustained
and generative where transformation of
knowledge, students, and communities
occur
Anchor Institutions, Syracuse
University, Allegheny College

17. THE GOOD NEWS:
THE FOUNDATION
HAS ALREADY BEEN PARTIALLY LAID
• The Bad News: It is
• Random
• Largely uncharted
• Lacking signage
• Without sufficient progression over
time
• Optional
• Available to only some students
17

18. HIGH IMPACT PRACTICES AND
CIVIC LEARNING?
• First-year seminars and experiences
• Common intellectual experiences
• Learning communities
• Writing-intensive courses
• Undergraduate research

19. MORE HIGH IMPACT PRACTICES
AND CIVIC LEARNING
• Collaborative assignments and
projects
• Diversity/Global learning
• Service learning, community-based
courses
• Experiential learning, internships,
study abroad
• Capstone courses and projects

20. • Intergroup and deliberative dialogue
University of Michigan, Sustained Dialogues,
California State, Chico
• Service Learning and Volunteer Service
• Collective civic problem solving
University of Maryland, Duke University,
Northern University
• Diversity and global learning experiences

21. KUH’S DISTINGUISHING FEATURES OF
HIGH QUALITY HIPS
• Students need to devote time and effort
to purposeful tasks
• Students need to be put in circumstances
that demand they interact with faculty and
peers about substantive matters
• HIPs need to be characterized by diversity
(contact with others who are different)
• Students need to see how what they are
learning works in different settings, on
and off campus.

22. CARYN’S CAUTIONARY REMARKS
ABOUT HIPS
• Most do not automatically lead to civic learning
and almost none to democratic engagement.
• Different HIPs produce different and partial
outcomes.
• When diversity is integrated as a component of
a HIP, the civic impact is increased.
• One is not enough and too many can depress
most valued outcomes.
• There is a huge range in quality within a given
HIP and we need to know more about what
determines a high quality HIP and produces
civic learning.

23. GAUNTLET TO YOUR BONNER PROJECT
• How can you insure that your HIPS
produce civic outcomes?
• How do the HIPS you employ expand
capacities for engagement across
differences?
• How can you refine that huge HIP called
“Diversity/Global Learning” so it is more
useful?
• How can your Bonner network produce
evidence to refine national
understanding about which HIPS
accelerate civic learning and democratic
engagement and why?

24. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, CONTACT
Caryn McTighe Musil
Senior Vice President
Association of American Colleges and Universities
musil@aacu.org www.aacu.org
To download or order A Crucible Moment, see:
http://www.aacu.org/civic_learning/crucible/index.cfm