Citizenship and the Future of Democracy

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Citizenship and the Future of Democracy Central
Missouri State University September 29, 2005
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The Challenge of our Times Threats to American
Democracy Shrinking levels of knowledge of
democracy Rising levels of partisanship
Growing separation of society Pervasive Change
in Public Higher Education Diminishing levels
of state support Increasing levels of
competition Rising expectations for
accountability
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The Key Question How do we strengthen democracy
and simultaneously strengthen our public
institutions? One Solution Focus on preparing
citizens, a public purpose for public
institutions.
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Thesis Democracy in the United States is
threatened. So, too, is public higher
education. The strategy for strengthening
democracy also strengthens our public colleges
and universities.
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Threats to American Democracy

• Decline in social and economic capital
• Increasing inequality
• Atomization of interests, news sources and the
  pervasive focus on entertainment
• Money and politics
• Lack of civic understanding and civics education
  in K-12 grades
• Decline in political participation, esp. among
  the youngest adults

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A Decline in Social Capital
Declining Social Capital Trends over the last 25
years Attending Club Meetings Down by
58 Family dinners Down by 33 Having friends
over Down by 45 Factors Contributing to
Declining Social Capital Commuting (Each 10
minutes 10 reduced participation) Television Tw
o parents working Less Social Capital (esp.
bridging social capital) Less
Democracy Studies in the United States and
Italy Robert Putnam Bowling Alone
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Increasing inequality

• Disparities of income, wealth, and access to
  opportunity are growing more sharply in the
• U. S. than in many other nations
• Gaps between races and ethnic groups persist
• Progress toward American ideals of democracy may
  have stalled, and in some arenas reversed.
• American Democracy in an Age of Rising
  Inequality, Task Force on Inequality and American
  Democracy, American Political Science
  Association, 2004, www.apsanet.org

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• Atomization of Interests, News Sources and the
  Pervasive Focus on Entertainment
• The number of registered lobbyists in Washington
  has more than doubled since 2000, from 16,342 to
  34,750
• More television channels, more talk radio,
  internet, blogs, etc.
• 40 million watched American Idol finale 37
  million watched 2nd Bush/Gore debate. Average
  age of viewer of network news 60

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Money and Politics 2000 Bush 193 Gore
134 million. 2004 Bush 293 Kerry 252
million House Speaker Hastert 2005-2006
Receipts 1,249,534 (40 by PACs) House
Minority Leader Pelosi 2005-2006 Receipts
237,252 (95 by PACs) As of Aug 18 .09 of
population gives at least 1,000 to political
campaigns, 55 of funds raised ¼ of Congress are
millionaires 1 of U.S.
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91 of 2004 congressional primary candidates who
raised the most money won their races. Winning
Congressional candidates raised 50 more in 2004
than in 2002. 63 of primary candidates money
came from .08 of the voting age
population. The sad thing is that in America
today if its going to take 2 million to win,
then normal people cant run anymore. You either
have to be very, very wealthy or very, very
bought. Janice Bowling, Republican Nominee
for Tennessees 4th District
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Washington Post, September 12, 2005 Frederick
Webber 30 years as lobbyist in Washington
President of Alliance of Automobile
Manufacturers Political fundraising in this
town has gotten out of control What are the
priorities here? This thing has gotten away
from us
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• Lack of Civic Understanding
• John S. and James L. Knight Foundation Survey
  112,003 high school students in 2004 36
  believe that newspapers should get government
  approval of stories before publishing
• Fewer than half of persons 15-26 years old think
  that communicating with elected officials,
  volunteering, or donating money to help others
  are qualities of a good citizen
• On NAEP 1998 Civics, 23 of 4th graders, 23 of
  8th graders, and 26 of 12th graders scored at or
  above proficient

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• 25.5 know that Philadelphia is the city where
  the Constitution was written 75.2 know what
  city zip code 90210 is.
• 21.2 know how many senators serve in the U.S.
  Senate 81.2 know how many members in the music
  group Hanson.
• 9 know the landmark case Brown v. Board of
  Education 87 know the name of the football
  player found not guilty of murdering his wife
• 25 of respondents know that the Fifth Amendment
  protects against double jeopardy/self
  incrimination, etc. 63.7 know that The Club
  protects against car theft.
• 41.2 know the names of the three branches of
  government 59.2 know the names of the three
  stooges.
• 32 know the Speaker of the House 89 know the
  father in Home Improvement
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  Survey of 600 students age 13-17, National
  Constitution Center, 1998

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Decline in Political Participation
The youngest generation of voters has the
greatest distrust of others
Source The Civic and Political Health of the
Nation, A Generational Portrait, 2002.
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The youngest voters have the lowest participation
in presidential elections
Source Current Population Survey (CPS),
November Supplement, calculated using CIRCLE
method.
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Dewey reminded us
The troubleis that we have taken our democracy
for granted we have thought and acted as if our
forefathers had founded it once and for all. We
have forgotten that it has to be enacted anew in
every generation.
John Dewey
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Pervasive Change in Public Higher Education
(This is not a new story) Old As percentage
of state spending, higher education funding is
dropping, in some states now as little as 13.
Prisons, medicaid, and K-12 schools tax cuts,
etc. New The willingness to fund higher
education by significantly raising tuition. But
competition is rising University of Phoenix,
founded in 1976, now 160,000 undergraduates. Accr
editation groups and states increasingly want
greater accountability, including evidence of
student learning outcomes.
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1. Is it possible that focusing on preparing
future citizens can be understood as valuable
civic work? 2. Is preparing citizens a viable
public purpose for public higher education? If
the answers to these questions are yes, then how
does the work of civic engagement in universities
get accomplished?
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A Focus on Institutional Intentionality
How Do Campus Leaders Organize and Align the
Campus and its Resources to Achieve an
Institutional Focus on Civic Engagement Outcomes?
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What does it take to create civically-engaged
graduates?
3 Critical Features

• Institutional Intention
• (leadership, culture, policies)
• Programs and Activities
• (curriculum,co-curriculum)
• Measuring Results
• (institutional and course/ program results,
  using NSSE, Carnegie, HERI tools)

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• Institutional Intentionality

• Leadership at lots of levels
• Culture reflecting widely-shared beliefs
• Statements Mission statements,
• Accreditation documents, promotional
• Materials, etc.
• Policies
• Administrative structures
• Budget
• Rewards and recognition

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2. Civic Engagement in the Curriculum and
Co-Curriculum Knowledge Teaching democratic
values, traditions, history of democracies, U.S.
history Skills Teaching communications,
critical thinking, collective decision-making,
organizational skills, etc. Experiences
Designing campus and community experiences for
knowledge and application Reflection
Creating explicit connections between experiences
and civic obligations

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Where is it found in the curriculum? In first
year programs In capstone courses In the general
education curriculum In majors and minors Where
is it found in the co-curriculum? In student
government In student organizations In residence
halls In joint academic affairs/student affairs
programs
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Skills
Communications writing, speaking,
etc. Critical thinking analyzing, evaluating,
synthesizing, etc. Collective decision-making
deliberating, listening, working as a team,
making collective decisions, compromising,
identifying and solving public problems Organizat
ion organizing, planning projects, influencing
policy decisions, implementing policy decisions,
taking collective actions
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• Hypothesized Skill Acquisition Sequence
• Collective decision making sequence
• Write and speak
• Understand, explain and take positions
• Organize tasks and acquire resources
• Express own preferences/Opinions
• Identify constructive ways to improve
  complex Situations
• Understand others preferences
• Compromise (if necessary) for collective good
•  
• Communication Organization Critical
  Thinking Collective Decision Making

Adapted from Kirlin, Mary 2003. Acquiring Civic
Skills Towards a Developmental Model of Civic
Skill Acquisition in Adolescents. International
Conference on Civic Education Research, November
16-18, 2003 New Orleans, LA
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Another view of skills What makes something a
problem, not a situation? What makes it a public
problem? What is the agreement/disagreement
about underlying values? What is the degree of
certainty about the facts? How can alternative
policy solutions be identified? What are the
opportunities and obstacles? Adapted from Dave
Robertson, University of Missouri-St. Louis,
personal correspondence
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• Measuring Results
• NSSE and ADP Consortium
• Three questions-13,000 students

• What do you care about and how much (education,
  healthcare, environment, national security, etc?
• What activities did you do and why (fund-raise,
  sign a petition, participate in a boycott, run
  for office, vote)?
• Where do you get information about news,
  volunteering, etc?

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What was found in that survey?

• Not much difference among many types of
  institutions.
• Differences in gender and ethnicity.
• 50 of students get their news from television.
• What else is needed?
• More info on sources of information
• More info on number/duration of activities
• Information on sense of political efficacy
• Qualitative as well as quantitative info

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ACCOMPLISHMENTS FIRST TWO YEARS American
Democracy Project 200 institutions, 1.5 million
students
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Hundreds of Campus Projects

• Campus Audits
• Campus Conversations
• Voter Education/Registration Projects
• Curriculum Revision Projects
• Library Projects, Student Affairs Programs
• First Year Projects, Capstone Courses
• Fine Arts Projects, Graduation Pledges
• Speaker Series, Democracy Day
• Recognition and Award Programs

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Western Washington University _at_
www.wwu.edu/depts/adp/index.shtml
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SUNY Geneseo _at_ www.geneseo.edu/adp/
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University of Central Oklahoma _at_
http//bronze.ucok.edu/AmericanDemocracyProject/
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Fort Hays State University _at_ www.fhsu.edu/adp/
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Indiana University South Bend _at_
http//ee.iusb.edu/index.php?/adp/blog/
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Libraries
Service Learning
Teacher Education
Faculty Development
Campus Culture
Opportunities For Action
Assessment
First Year Programs
Voter Registration Education
Co-Curriculum
General Education
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A New Series Civic Engagement in Action

• 5 already launched
• Stewardship of Public Lands
• First Year
• Jury Service
• Voting
• Other Lands
• 2 under development
• Teaching Civic Engagement
• Teacher Education

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The Stewardship of Public Lands
Issue How are controversies over public lands
resolved in a democracy? Partner Yellowstone
Association Activities Presidents/CAOs meeting
in June for the Design Seminar Faculty Seminar
in August
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Civic Engagement in the First Year of College
Issue How can civic engagement be fostered and
encouraged in the first year of
college? Partner Policy Center for the First
Year of College Justice Talking Activities
Pre-Conference seminar on Thursday, June 16th in
Portland to plan activities for the 2005-2006
academic year
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Jury Service as Democratic Participation
Issue How can colleges and universities support
federal and state court systems in encouraging
jury participation? Partner American
Judicature Society, National Center for State
Courts Council for Court Excellence Activities
Pre-conference meeting with cooperating
organizations on Thursday, June 16th in Portland
to plan activities for 2005-2006 academic year
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Electoral Voice Organizing for Voting
Issue What lessons did our ADP campuses and
others learn about the best ways to provide voter
registration, voter information, and voter
participation ? Partner Indiana University,
Purdue University-Indianapolis Activities
Pre-conference meeting on Thursday June 16th in
Portland to design activities for the 2005-2006
academic year
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Civic Engagement in Other Lands
Issue How can universities in other countries
support their emerging democracies? Partner
Association of Universities for Democracy
(AUDEM) Activities Initial meeting in November
2004 in Hungary ADP campuses to be paired with
non-U.S. institutions to exchange ideas,
programs, etc.
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Teaching Political Engagement (To be launched
late 2005)
Issue How can courses and pedagogies encourage
civic and political engagement? Partner
Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of
Teaching Activities The Carnegie Foundation
will organize a group of 10-15 ADP schools that
want to pilot campus-wide dissemination efforts.
Still in development phase.
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Preparing Teachers to Teach Civic Engagement (To
be launched late 2005-early 2006)
Issue How can P-12 teachers be prepared to
teach civic engagement? Partner Public
Achievement, Center for Democracy and
Citizenship, the University of Minnesota
Activities Design and funding activities are
currently underway to develop a project that
will prepare future teachers to teach civic
engagement in P-12 settings
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So How Are We Doing As A Democracy? Heres a 6
part test.
We the People of the United States, in order to

• Form a more perfect union

2. Insure domestic tranquility
3. Establish justice
4. Provide for the common defense
5. Promote the general welfare

• Secure the blessings of liberty to
• ourselves and our posterity

do ordain and establish this Constitution for
the United States of America.
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The bad news Hurricane Katrina demonstrated
what happens when government doesnt workwhen
were not all in the same boat.
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Janadas Devan, Straits Times columnist But it
is not only government that doesn't show up when
government is starved of resources and leached of
all its meaning. Community doesn't show up
either, sacrifice doesn't show up, pulling
together doesn't show up, 'we're all in this
together' doesn't show up."
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The Good News The ages 15-25 are the critical
period for the growth of civic skills and
habits. There is growing evidence that
educational interventions make a substantial
difference in knowledge, understanding, and
participation of students in civic life. We can
make a difference
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The death of democracy is not likely to be an
assassination from ambush. It will be a slow
extinction from apathy, indifference and
undernourishment  Robert Hutchins
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