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Carnegie Foundation Challenges U.S. Colleges and Universities
to Address Students' Moral and Civic Development
Menlo Park, CA, March 5, 2003— In today's climate of international crises, business scandals, and difficult moral decisions, ordinary citizens as well as public leaders need tested moral compasses and strong civic consciences that are connected to careful reasoning. They need the understanding, the skills, and the motivation to be morally responsible and civically engaged.
A new book by scholars at The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching challenges U.S. colleges and universities to make moral and civic learning an integral part of the undergraduate experience. Educating Citizens: Preparing America's Undergraduates for Lives of Moral and Civic Responsibility provides concrete counsel on how campuses can meet this challenge.
"Students' moral and civic development is not a high priority in American higher education," said Senior Scholar Anne Colby, one of the authors. "We have been struck again and again by the many lost opportunities for moral and civic growth in curricular and extra-curricular programs on most campuses."
The authors found that on the campuses where significant attention is given, moral and civic learning is thoroughly integrated into students' academic work, and extracurricular activities are employed as powerful sites of moral and civic growth.
"The preparation of students for lives that provide personal meaning and contribute to the common good does not rest on the arbitrary endorsement of values that academic leaders just happen to find appealing," the authors said.
They argue that despite the pluralism of American values, there are some values that are essential to academic life and American democracy, such as intellectual integrity and concern for truth, open-mindedness and impartiality, mutual respect and tolerance for others, recognition that each individual is part of the larger social fabric, and respect for civic liberties and other key elements of our democracy. "Colleges and universities ought to place these values at the center of their work if they are committed to graduating engaged and responsible citizens," said Senior Scholar Tom Ehrlich, another of the book's authors.
The authors reviewed the practices of moral and civic education at more than 100 colleges and universities throughout the country and conducted detailed studies of a smaller number, including extensive fieldwork at 12 campuses that place moral and civic development at the center of their educational programs. They offer specific recommendations for educators who believe that higher education has a critical role to play in the health of American democracy through the preparation of thoughtful, committed, socially responsible and civic-minded graduates.
Foremost among their recommendations are strategies by which faculty, administrators, and student affairs personnel working at different types of institutions can foster moral and civic understanding, motivation, and skills. These strategies include creating a campus culture and climate that highlight core moral and civic values, integrating moral and civic issues thoroughly into the curriculum, using a wide range of teaching approaches that actively engage students with their communities, and taking full advantage of extracurricular activities such as political and service clubs and leadership-development program.
Educating Citizens was written by Carnegie Senior Scholars Anne Colby and Tom Ehrlich, Research Associate Elizabeth Beaumont, and Research Assistant Jason Stephens.
The three-year project upon which the book is based was funded by The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching; The Surdna Foundation, Inc.; The Walter and Elise Haas Fund; The Flora Family Foundation; The James Irvine Foundation; and The John Templeton Foundation.
Founded by Andrew Carnegie in 1905 and chartered in 1906 by an act of Congress, The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching is an independent policy and research center with a primary mission "to do and perform all things necessary to encourage, uphold, and dignify the profession of the teacher and the cause of higher education." The improvement of teaching and learning is central to all of the work of the Foundation. The Foundation is located in Stanford, Calif.
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