Exploration courses allow us to experience topics from different viewpoints and use a variety of methods to think about our world – past, present, and future – as well as build upon the skills developed in the Foundation. These courses can expose us to a number of artistic, civic, diverse, ethical, historical, literary, and scientific perspectives while expanding our approaches to thinking and wellness.

By studying Civic Learning, we can articulate the values associated with democratic and public institutions in the context of local, national, and global perspectives, and begin to develop practical skills and knowledge required for engaged citizenship to address issues such as social justice and inequality.

Perspectives

An essay attached to the Library of Congress collection “Women of Protest: Photographs from the Records of the National Woman’s Party” concerning the tactics and techniques used by women in the suffrage movement in the early twentieth century outlines what some of the protestors of the time were willing to endure in their quest to receive the right to vote. They used methods such as lobbying, parades, publicity stunts, picketing, and demonstrations. The latter two saw several of them arrested, including Lucy Burns, Dora Lewis, and Alice Paul. The essay describes that, in addition to the generally horrible conditions in U.S. prisons at the time, imprisoned suffragists suffered “compromised health and bodily harm,” due in some cases to verbal abuse, solitary confinement, and hunger strikes that resulted in the prisoners being force-fed (p.10). The force-feeding “was by all accounts a torturous experience for the women, one that they withstood repeatedly” (pp. 10-11). These women endured horrendous situations and physical and emotional torture. All to demand the right to vote. In their pursuit of that right, as many of the women had led up to that point comfortable lives ignorant of the extent of poverty, racial issues, and other hardships, they discovered circumstances that they wanted to help change – through the vote and through further activism.

Concepts to Consider

What this story reveals to us is the value that people have placed on the right to vote and the lengths to which they were willing to go to secure that right for themselves. It should give us pause as we consider why Civic Learning is a part of the general education curriculum. As we discussed in Chapter 1, the idea of a liberal education stems from the concept of free citizens needing to understand how to exercise their rights and responsibilities. That aspect is still inherent in the general education of today with research showing that many of the skills associated with such a curriculum are useful in Civic Learning. To participate in democratic activities, including voting and other forms of decision-making, we have to know how those processes work and what our – and others’ – rights and responsibilities are. Without such knowledge, inexperience or apathy makes it difficult to know when those rights and responsibilities are being encroached upon and then what we can do to address it.

The U.S. Department of Education 2012 “Advancing Civic Learning and Engagement in Democracy” report, which draws on the American Association of Colleges & Universities’ National Task Force on Civic Learning and Democratic Engagement report “A Crucible Moment: College Learning & Democracy’s Future,” states, “Education in America must prepare all students for informed participation in civic and democratic life,” noting the role of Civic Learning in student achievement and in job success. The Massachusetts Department of Higher Education documents that Massachusetts is the first state to make Civic Learning a goal for all public higher education students. The policy to create this goal in May 2014 acknowledges that the Civic Learning skills “needed by citizens are often the same as those needed in the 21st century workplace, including:  building consensus; solving problems in groups; and knowledge of other cultures and countries as economies grow more global.” They also indicate that these skills should be complementary with other general education coursework and majors, noting that we all will be a part of civic life no matter our “academic discipline or eventual field of employment.”

Sylvia Hurtado (2019, p. 98) identifies six dimensions of Civic Learning (note the other general education skills with which each dimension connects):

• Self – developing “one’s own identity, voice, reflective practice, and sense of purpose”
• Communities and cultures – developing “empathy and appreciation for diverse individuals and communities, the capacity to transcend one’s own embedded worldviews, and the recognition of inequalities that impact underserved communities” (see Diverse Perspectives in chapter 5.2 and Historical Inquiry and Analysis in 5.5)
• Knowledge – developing an understanding of “knowledge as socially constructed; information literacy in this era of ‘alternative facts’ and misinformation, including the capacity to understand scientific evidence and critically evaluate sources of authority; and deep knowledge of key democratic principles, processes, and debates that inform one’s major or area of study” (see Information Literacy in chapter 4.1 and Scientific Inquiry and Analysis in 5.9)
• Skills – includes “conflict resolution, deliberation, and community-building, as well as the ability to work collaboratively and communicate with diverse groups” (see Speaking and Listening in chapter 4.4 and Writing in 4.5)
• Values – includes “ethical and moral reasoning and democratic aspirations such as equality, liberty, justice, and interest in sustaining the arts and sciences for the public good” (see Ethical Reasoning in chapter 5.3 and Fine Arts Expression and Analysis in 5.4)
• Public action – includes “participation in democratic processes and structures, multiple forms of action and risk-taking to promote social progress, and ally behaviors such as working alongside communities in need to solve important problems” (see Integrative Learning in chapter 6.1 and Integrative High Impact Practices in chapter 6.2)

While Civic Learning does include voting and understanding how civic institutions work, it also includes “capacities and and habits of mind that include knowledge, skills, and values to counter misinformation, negotiate conflict, and identify threats to a pluralistic democracy” as well as the “skills and dispositions for a diverse and changing world” (Hurtado, p. 95). Given the interconnectedness of the world, especially through the internet, increasingly, knowledge of not only American civic processes but those of other countries and cultures is essential.

Civic Learning can encourage future action by promoting “civic commitment (i.e., plans to engage in civic activities in the future)” and “efficacy (i.e., the belief that one’s civic actions can lead to change)” (Ballard, Cohen,& Littenberg-Tobias, 2016). These plans and beliefs can be enacted through Civic or Community Engagement (see Integrative High Impact Practices in chapter 6.2).

View: “Why is Civic Education important?”

Civic Learning and Good, Necessary Trouble

In 1978, the Supreme Court ruled in the Regents of the University of California v. Bakke case, extending affirmative action, which grants limited consideration to historically marginalized groups, to higher education by allowing race to be one of several factors in college admission policy and finding that affirmative action was permissible under the Constitution and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which makes it illegal to discriminate based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin.  Regents of the University of California v. Bakke was then further upheld in 2003 in Grutter v. Bollinger, ruling that affirmative action in college admissions, if they took into consideration other factors besides race, was not against the Fourteenth Amendment and the Equal Protection Clause, which guarantees individuals be treated equally under the law.

Affirmative action in college admissions was an attempt to level the playing field and redress disadvantages created by segregation. Eight states have already banned affirmative action due to debates if affirmative action works, but, according to a BestColleges report (Nam, 2023), using data from the Civil Rights Project, the “average Black-to-white student graduation rate gap at the top dozen public universities without affirmative action is 10.1%, while the average gap at the top dozen public universities with affirmative action is 6%.” Meredith Kolodner of The Hechinger Report (2023) states that “[e]ight of the 10 flagships [the most well-known state-funded university in a state] with the biggest gaps for Black students do not consider race in admissions.” This data suggests that affirmative action yields positive results.

In 2023, the Supreme Court heard Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellows of Harvard and Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina. The Harvard case claimed that Asian-American applicants were disproportionately affected by the university’s affirmative action policies with the number of those admitted remaining flat despite an increase in applications. SCOTUS ruled, in a 6-2 vote (with one recusal) in the Harvard case and 6-3 in the North Carolina case, in favor of the plaintiffs. This decision essentially overturns Grutter v. Bollinger. Fabiola Cineas and Ian Millhiser (2023) lay out the stakes of these decisions: “The plaintiffs advocated a ‘colorblind’ theory of the Constitution that would prohibit the government from considering race in virtually any context, including efforts to voluntarily integrate racially segregated grade schools and other institutions.” There is debate of what exactly this means in terms of college admissions and how applicants can express adversities as a result of racial discrimination or related issues. Amy Howe (2023) writes: “Chief Justice John Roberts explained that college admissions programs can consider race merely to allow an applicant to explain how their race influenced their character in a way that would have a concrete effect on the university.” In a statement against the ruling, President Biden advocated, as a stop gap after the Supreme Court decision, for a practice “where colleges take into account the adversity a student has overcome when selecting among qualified applicants.”

Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote the dissent of those who voted against the ruling. Dissents in law are disagreements by individuals with the majority opinion and can themselves represent “good, necessary trouble” in their willingness to present evidence for the disagreement, which can be used in later law cases (see Writing in chapter 4.5). At the very beginning of the dissent, she states, “The Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment enshrines a guarantee of racial equality. The Court long ago concluded that this guarantee can be enforced through race-conscious means in a society that is not, and has never been, colorblind.” Here, she refers to Regents of the University of California v. Bakke and Grutter v. Bollinger as well as Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas (1954), which ended state-sanctioned segregation in schools. She continues to assert that “limited use of race has helped equalize educational opportunities for all students of every race and background and has improved racial diversity on college campuses.” The effects of the overturning of affirmative action in college admissions are yet to be determined. Understanding the process of how laws are made, upheld, and overturned is essential to participating in advocacy – another way of getting into that good trouble John Lewis loved so well.

Discussion 5.1

• If you have already taken a course with a primary focus on Civic Learning, think about what you were asked to do and what you learned. If you have not already taken a Civic Learning course, think about the types of courses you could take.
• In what ways did or might the idea(s) or example(s) discussed above apply in such a course?
• What other ideas or examples would you add to the discussion?