Highlights From A Crucible Moment: College Learning and Democracy’s Future

A report from the National Task Force on Civic Learning and Democratic Engagement

In response to widespread concern about the nation’s anemic civic health, A Crucible Moment: College
Learning and Democracy’s Future calls for investing in higher education’s capacity to make civic learning
and democratic engagement widely shared national priorities. The report calls on higher education and
many partners in education, government, and public life to advance a 21st century conception of civic
learning and democratic engagement as an expected part of every student’s college education.

A New Vision for Civic Learning in Higher Education

An earlier definition of civic education stressed familiarity with the various branches of government and
acquaintance with basic information about U.S. history. This is still essential but no longer nearly
enough. Americans still need to understand how their political system works and how to influence it.
But they also need to understand the cultural and global contexts in which democracy is both deeply
valued and deeply contested. Moreover, the competencies basic to democracy cannot be learned only
by studying books; democratic knowledge and capabilities are honed through hands‐on, face‐to‐face,
active engagement in the midst of differing perspectives about how to address common problems that
affect the well‐being of the nation and the world.

Civic learning that includes knowledge, skills, values, and the capacity to work with others on civic and
societal challenges can help increase the number of informed, thoughtful, and public‐minded citizens
well prepared to contribute in the context of the diverse, dynamic, globally connected United States.
Civic learning should prepare students with knowledge and for action in our communities.

Components of 21st century civic learning should include:

     Knowledge of U.S. history, political structures, and core democratic principles and founding
     documents; and debates—US and global—about their meaning and application;

     Knowledge of the political systems that frame constitutional democracies and of political levers for
     affecting change;

     Knowledge of diverse cultures and religions in the US and around the world;

     Critical inquiry and reasoning capacities;

     Deliberation and bridge‐building across differences;

     Collaborative decision‐making skills;

     Open‐mindedness and capacity to engage different points of view and cultures;

     Civic problem‐solving skills and experience

     Civility, ethical integrity, and mutual respect.

Recommendations – The National Task Force urges Americans to:

1. Reclaim and reinvest in the fundamental civic and democratic mission of schools and of all
sectors within higher education

2. Enlarge the current national narrative that erases civic aims and civic literacy as educational
priorities contributing to social, intellectual, and economic capital

3. Advance a contemporary, comprehensive framework for civic learning—embracing US and
global interdependence—that includes historic and modern understandings of democratic
values, capacities to engage diverse perspectives and people, and commitment to collective civic
problem‐solving

4. Capitalize upon the interdependent responsibilities of K‐12 and higher education to foster
progressively higher levels of civic knowledge, skills, examined values, and action as
expectations for every student

5. Expand the number of robust, generative civic partnerships and alliances locally, nationally,
and globally to address common problems, empower people to act, strengthen communities
and nations, and generate new frontiers of knowledge

A Crucible Moment provides specific campus examples illustrating how to move from “partial
transformation to pervasive civic and democratic learning and practices.”

See www.aacu.org/civic_learning/crucible for full report; see Chapter 3 for full set of recommendations.

“Ten Indicators of Anemic US Civic Health”

1. US ranked 139th in voter participation of 172 world democracies in 2007.

2. Only 10 percent of US citizens contacted a public official in 2009‐10.

3. Only 24 percent of graduating high school seniors scored at the proficient or advanced level in
civics in 2010, fewer than in 2006 or 1998.

4. Less than one‐half of 12th graders reported studying international topics as part of a civic
education.

5. Half of US states no longer require civics education for high school graduation.

6. Among 14,000 college seniors tested in 2006 and 2007, the average score on a civic literacy
exam was just over 50 percent, an “F.”

7. Opportunities to develop civic skills in high school through community service, school
government, or service clubs are available disproportionately to wealthier students.

8. Just over one‐third of college faculty surveyed in 2007 strongly agreed that their campus actively
promotes awareness of US or global social, political, and economic issues.

9. A similar percentage (35.8 percent) of college students surveyed strongly agreed that faculty
publicly advocate the need for students to become active and involved citizens.

10. One‐third of college students surveyed strongly agreed that their college education resulted in
increased civic capacities.

Sources for this data appear in the final report, A Crucible Moment: College Learning & Democracy’s
Future, see: http://www.aacu.org/civic_learning/crucible/