Wresting control of higher education from the far left has been nothing less than a tug-of-war for many who believe the American college experience has become a hotbed of radical indoctrination. However, a new report by RealClearInvestigations reveals that civics education is gaining ground on college campuses across the nation, much to the chagrin of progressive professors.
This “ambitious movement to reform” and rebalance class offerings at universities is finally paying off, according to author John Murawski. Moreover, the evidence is nationwide and expanding. Proof of this movement is found at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, which has embarked on a new effort called the School of Civic Life and Leadership.
Better still, Murawski reports that “More than 100 civics programs have arisen in the past quarter-century in academia – emphasizing everything from the Great Books and the Western canon to free markets and entrepreneurship.” The reform is the result of cooperation among “Republican legislatures, fast-tracked by conservative regents, and bankrolled by conservative donors”:
“As an intellectual movement, civics represents more than a surgical strike against the dominant progressive mindset and hyper-partisanship that define elite campuses. The professors and leaders involved describe civics as nonpartisan, apolitical, and pluralist. They see themselves as leading a revival of the classical liberal tradition that not only rejects social justice advocacy as a university’s prime directive but also challenges academia’s hyper-focus on careerism and vocationalism and pushes back against the academic fetish for arcane sub-specialization within some disciplines.”
Thus, students are now able to enroll in classes that teach constitutional rights, federalism, and diplomacy rather than “women’s studies, ethnic studies, African-American studies, and gender studies.” The movement away from such courses and toward a more traditional curriculum came about as conservatives took a page out of the progressive handbook and learned how to play the higher education game by identifying underrepresented areas of study.
College campuses have not been a level playing field for a long time. Murawski pointed out: “[S]tudies consistently find that faculty political affiliations skew leftward, usually leaning liberal or leftist 10 to 1, and in some colleges leaning left more than 100 to 1.”
Arizona State University’s School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership is one such effort that is thriving. However, these higher-ed programs are receiving a lot of pushback from the ideological left. Jay Smith, a UNC historian, told RCI that the new civics program at UNC-Chapel Hill was an “intrusion” and “invasion” on campus. “To me civics is a code word the Right uses,” he added. “This is all intended to get students to get focused more on American greatness.”
Making Civics Great Again
Despite the negativity of those on the left, the civics programs are flourishing on campus. Instead of the narrow leftist studies, these courses encourage a broader aperture that fosters free thinking and free speech. Inside Higher Ed points out that the historical purpose of a college education is “To form character, refine the sensibilities, and immerse students in the best that has been thought and said; to think critically and reflectively about values, politics, and society; and to provide an opportunity to grow and mature personally and intellectually.” Perhaps this new movement in civics education at the college level will promote these ideals instead of standing in the way. One thing is for sure: It’s a course correction that is long overdue.
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