Long regarded by the vanguard of America's universities as antiquated and even dangerous, civic education is suddenly fashionable again. With the publication of "A Crucible Moment," a long battle in the culture wars appears to be winding down. It appears that everyone supports civic education today. For the past three decades, the ideal of civic…

Citizenship education, defined as learning to live together, requires agreement on certain common principles. One central purpose of a state education system is the transmission of common normative standards such as the human rights and fundamental freedoms that underpin liberal democratic societies. The paper identifies the conceptual roots of…

This article presents the author's critique on a new report titled "A Crucible Moment: College Learning and Democracy's Future", and focuses on civic education and civic engagement. The Obama administration's new report confronts a genuine problem in American education. The decline of civic education and knowledge in America is one of the few…

A "civic recession" is as worrisome as an economic recession. "A Crucible Moment: College Learning & Democracy's Future" (The National Task Force on Civic Learning and Democratic Engagement, 2012) should be praised for acknowledging the peril and seeking to rebuild the "depleted civic capital." Welcome, too, is the report's conviction that…

Is the idea that the self-determination of all citizens influences progress towards democracy not merely a dream that breaks itself against the hard historical reality of political societies? Is not the same fate reserved for all pedagogical innovations in democratic education that depend on this great dream? It is commonplace to assert this logic…

In this article, the author talks about the report "A Crucible Moment: College Learning & Democracy's Future," which provides a blueprint of what higher education ought "not" to do. The document was produced by the Association of American Colleges & Universities (AAC&U), an organization with a long history not only of demanding the advancement of…

The basic question of why schools exist can be addressed by two prevailing answers: to create workers and to develop citizens. The sorting and segregating and elimination of students who do not meet standardized expectations are a result of the belief that education should just produce workers. When creating workers is the focus of schools, the…

As the title of this book suggests, how one understands, perceives and experiences democracy may have a significant effect on how he/she actually engages in, and with, democracy. Within the educational context, this is a key concern, and forms the basis of the research presented in this volume within a critical, comparative analysis. The Global…

In this review essay, Robert Rhoads and Shannon Calderone consider how liberalism, as a guiding principle for school practices and educational policy making, reinforces heteronormativity through a doctrine of professed neutrality that circumscribes sexual expression and subjectivity. Through an analysis of Carol Vincent's "Social Justice,…

This article reviews: (1) the establishment and functioning of EU citizenship: (2) the resulting perception of education for European active citizenship; and (3) the question of its adequacy for enhancing democratic values and practices within the Union. Key policy documents produced by the EU help to unfold the basic assumptions on which…

This volume begins with an essay by Noelle McAfee, a contributor who is familiar to readers of Higher Education Exchange (HEX). She reiterates Mathews' argument regarding the disconnect between higher education's sense of engagement and the public's sense of engagement, and suggests a way around the epistemological conundrum of "knowledge…

"Higher Education Exchange" publishes case studies, analyses, news, and ideas about efforts within higher education to develop more democratic societies. Contributors to this issue of the "Higher Education Exchange" examine whether institutions of higher learning are doing anything to increase the capacity of citizens to shape…

Against the backdrop of growing conflicts in Israeli society and concerns about its democratic character, the current curriculum guidelines and official textbook for civic education in Israel were set to offer a more inclusive civic education that would stress ideas such as pluralistic and democratic citizenship. However, this curriculum does not…

This article revisits the underlying principles of the citizenship curriculum in England to address reports of communication breakdowns between schools and students and to consider whether the curriculum can do anything other than prescribe what democratic participation should be. Although the focus is on the curriculum in England, it has…

This paper uses three examples of educational innovation emerging in the contemporary context of market-liberal reform as a focus for exploring the patterns and possibilities of civic formation. The first part of the paper contextualises contemporary civic formation within the long historic struggle between capitalism and democracy, highlighting…