Chapter 1 Preface Chapter 2 Political Education and the Modern University Chapter 3 Between Resignation and Utopia: Political Education and the Modern University Chapter 4 Liberal Education and the Civic Project Chapter 5 The Media, the Mall, and the Multiplex: America's Invisible Tutors and the End of Citizenship Chapter 6 The Values of Media, the Values of Citizenship, and the Values of Higher Education Chapter 7 Public Spaces and MyUniveristy.com Chapter 8 The Culture of Expedience: Liberal Education Meets the "Real" World Chapter 9 Education and Character in an Age of Moral Freedom Chapter 10 Democracy, Character, and the University Chapter 11 How Do We Talk?God Talk and American Political Life Chapter 12 Plato's Dogs: Reflections on the University after 9/11 Chapter 13 The Civic Education of a Black American in a Great Big World Chapter 14 Moral Education and Democratic Citizenship Chapter 15 Utopias Gone Wrong: The Anti-Political Culture of the Modern University and How to Change It
Robert E. Calvert is professor of political science at DePauw University.
A standard charge in recent years has been that the American
university has become unduly politicized. That is largely a
misperception fostered by the grandstanding of left-leaning
humanities professors and the consequent lamentations of
right-leaning commentators who seem to believe it a proper function
of universities to instill an uncritical patriotism in their
students. The more pertinent worry is whether today's universities
are doing what they can and should to give their students the
knowledge and the critical acumen needed to lead the sovereign
public of a democratic superpower. It would be hard to imagine a
more appropriate and illustrious cast of contributors than the one
here assembled to shed light on this very timely concern.
*Thomas A. Spragens, Jr., Professor of political science, Duke
University*
To Restore American Democracy addresses familiar political concerns
from an unexpected and promising direction. The essays collected in
this book consider whether and how modern universities can
encourage students to become true citizens, not just attractive
future employees and entrepreneurs. The essays are stimulating in
their own right and powerful as a collection. This is an important
book.
*James Fallows, national correspondent, The Atlantic Monthly*
This is an impressive volume whose participants include many of the
most important students of democratic political education. It would
be difficult to assemble a better group.
*Stephen Elkin, professor of government, University of
Maryland*
Having assembled an extraordinary roster of scholars, Robert
Calvert engages them in a fascinating discussion of the
University's civic responsibility. Exposing the Academy's
indifference to citizenship, the authors of this volume call on
administrators, faculty, and students to probe the deep
philosophical and historical roots of the troubled state of
citizenship in the United States. Even as they indict the modern
University for its inattention to our civic life, the essays of
this volume bristle with possibilities for the study of politics in
depth. Combining sophisticated intellectual inquiry with a deep and
abiding faith in self government, To Restore American Democracy
offers hope for those of us who believe that Universities can,
indeed, have a duty to appeal to the better angels of our
nature.
*Sidney M. Milkis, University of Virginia*
This book is an integrated collection of essays about how colleges
and universities are failing to prepare students to be responsible
citizens in a religiously and ethnically pluralistic America, and
what they should do to correct that failure. The authors, in their
varied voices, explore specific ways by which students might learn
to become adept practitioners of the democratic and republican
skills by which their clashing interests, intellectual
disagreements, and moral antipathies can be transformed into a
workable common good. These essays are both realistic and hopeful,
worried about the dangers political apathy and ignorance pose to
our liberties, convinced that through improvements in political
education a more involved and informed citizenry can be fostered.
Reading these authors is to become involved in a stimulating,
sometimes raucous, open-ended and action-oriented conversation
about what it means to be an American—which, of course, is
precisely what it should mean to be an American.
*George Allan, Professor of Philosophy Emeritus, Dickinson College*
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