Civic Education and the Future of American Citizenship

Contributions by John Agresto, Mark Bauerlein author of The Dumbest Gen, Peter A. Benoliel, Jeff Bergner, Bruce Cole, Dana Gioia, E. D. Hirsch, Wilfred M. McClay University of Oklahoma, Andrea Radasanu, Lisa Spiller, Jonathan Yonan Edited by Elizabeth Kaufer Busch, Jonathan W. White author of Midnight in Ame

Publication date:

08 November 2012

Length of book:

174 pages

Publisher

Lexington Books

Dimensions:

235x160mm
6x9"

ISBN-13: 9780739170564

The Founders of this nation believed that the government they were creating required a civically educated populace. Such an education aimed to cultivate enlightened, informed, and vigilant citizens who could perpetuate and improve the nation. Unfortunately, America’s contemporary youth seem to lack adequate opportunities, if not also the ability or will, to critically examine the foundations of this nation. An even larger problem is an increasing ambivalence toward education in general. Stepping into this void is a diverse group of educators, intellectuals, and businesspeople, brought together in Civic Education and the Future of American Citizenship to grapple with the issue of civic illiteracy and its consequences. The essays, edited by Elizabeth Kaufer Busch and Jonathan W. White, force us to not only reexamine the goals of civic education in America but also those of liberal education more broadly.

Introduction
Elizabeth Kaufer Busch and Jonathan W. White
Part I: Foundations of Civic and Liberal Education
Chapter 1: The Inspiring Idea of the Common School
E. D. Hirsch
Chapter 2: Memory and Sacrifice in the Formation of Civic Consciousness
Wilfred M. McClay
Chapter 3: Polishing Barbarous Mores: Montesquieu on Liberalism and Civic Education
Andrea Radasanu
Part II: The Changing Landscape of American Civic Life
Chapter 4: American Amnesia
Bruce Cole
Chapter 5: The Peer Bubble
Mark Bauerlein
Chapter 6: Voter Beware: Responsible Voting in an Age of Political Marketing
Jeff Bergner and Lisa Spiller
Part III: On the Ends of Liberal Education
Chapter 7: Majoring in Servitude: The Liberal Arts and the Formation of Citizens
Jonathan Yonan
Chapter 8: Education To What End—Vocation or Virtue?
Peter A. Benoliel
Chapter 9: “Reflection and Choice”: The Liberal Arts and the Foundation of the American Experiment
John Agresto
Afterword: The Impoverishment of American Culture
Dana Gioia

This superb collection of essays explores the topic of civic education in its broadest light. These issues are treated by a range of impressive authors from different fields possessing different life experiences. The result is a fresh set of analyses in which there is a healthy divergence of views, but in which the greatest benefit is the opening of new and thought-provoking perspectives. Great credit goes to the two editors, Elizabeth Kaufer Busch and Jonathan W. White, for this timely contribution to promoting better understanding of one of the most important problems facing American education today.