At colleges and universities, thinking one's own thoughts is at the heart of all the other activity that, together, constitutes a liberal education. Self-examination and reflection enable people to make sense of the world and their places in it. Each individual can experience the mind as it grasps its own dynamics and spawns deep and unique…

"A Crucible Moment: College Learning and Democracy's Future," commissioned by the U.S. Department of Education, was published by the Association of American Colleges and Universities in 2012. Representing the work of the National Task Force on Civic Learning and Democratic Engagement (2012), the report builds a strong case for higher…

Civic learning, and education's vital purpose to cultivate engaged and effective citizens, is a national imperative. Civic education is consistent with President Obama's goal of regaining competitiveness in the global marketplace, and it is consistent with the goal of increasing student achievement and closing achievement gaps. There's much more…

Recognition of the importance of outcomes related to moral and ethical development, other dimensions of personal development, and civic engagement is a result of decades of educational reform. But have colleges and universities succeeded in helping students achieve these outcomes? In this article, the author shares his personal reflections on…

It is difficult, perhaps unnecessary, to distinguish between the requirements for educating a community and educating the civic self, since the civic entity is the public. It is important to assess what the public enterprise and civic order require of the liberal arts. (Author/MSE)

Technology has altered the nature of politics and the understanding of citizenship in some fundamental ways, including the balance of knowledge and power. It is time to accept technology as part of the historical condition and to humanize it. (Author/MSE)

Service learning has moved into the mainstream of American higher education as an effective pedagogical approach to improving the teaching and learning of course content, but it has not sufficiently addressed the civic dimensions of the disciplines. The next phase of service learning's development must focus on the achievement of civic learning…

Outcries about the decline of civic institutions have initiated a return to civism, with partnerships forming between business, civic, and political leaders to work on civic problems, and a trend toward less government and more governance. This calls for civic education as a lifelong process, not just within the baccalaureate curriculum.…

Three educators discuss the role of the university in engaging with society, focusing on these issues: student service and service learning; the university as an agent of public service; building capacities for service within the community; faculty engagement in the community; and responding to community needs with the same vigor as responding to…

The call for excellence in education must be made together with a commitment to a just distribution of opportunity for education that prepares individuals to participate in a just society. (MSE)

The real intention of liberal education is the development of right intellectual reasoning about human experience, of which justice is the result. (MSE)

Throughout most of Western history, the liberal arts and civic arts were inseparable concepts, but have since become misunderstood. The university must affirm its responsibility to be critical, act on principle rather than simply examine it, and nurture the civic imagination or vision. (Author/MSE)

Liberal arts colleges are seen as engaged in moral education. Three moral lessons that a college teaches are described as (1) love for the truth, (2) learning is a human good, and (3) learning requires intellectual rigor or "discipline." Colleges are seen as places of hope. (MLW)