The blows of the financial recession of 2007-09 and now the COVID-19 crisis have emboldened populist political leaders across the globe. Their platforms typically involve a mixture of nativist or nationalist tropes, often infused with hostility to refugees and immigrants and built upon foundations of racism and intolerance. The internet provides…

New religious diversity of the late 20th and early 21st centuries requires Americans to move from the idea of a Judeo-Christian America to that of an Interfaith America. This article notes that a big part of America's current problem is how it has sacralized its tribal divide, with tribalism in today's America taking a particularly dangerous turn.…

The author is a Black woman working and teaching within the field of criminology. Her students at Ball State University are predominantly White and have had few interactions with Black, Indigenous, and people of color. The author feels that it is important for her to disrupt stereotypes her students may have by introducing them to Black people who…

The Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) has embarked on a sustained program to enhance the quality of student learning on campuses, while also supporting AAC&U members' efforts to bring liberal education to all sectors of society. This commitment to quality and equity in service to democracy forms the basis for…

The Lilly Endowment's Programs for the Theological Exploration of Vocation offered a range of educational activities and opportunities for students, faculty, and staff to reflect on and discern their values, beliefs, and goals across a wide spectrum of collegiate life. Tim Clydesdale has found that these opportunities were of much value to those…

In this article, Deborah Dunn reflects on the need to rethink the concepts of service learning. Students are well acquainted with the basic concept of service learning and community engagement, as some form of service or engagement is often required for them to graduate both high school and college these days. The lack of authentic meeting with…

Today's college students must become adept both at interacting, cooperating, and engaging with individuals from diverse backgrounds and at grappling successfully with the kinds of unscripted problems and challenges that characterize life and work in the complex world they will enter upon graduation. Accordingly, global learning is widely…

Encouragement of service as public work is one strategy higher education can use in fulfilling its civic mission to socialize society's future leaders. The diversity of American higher education includes large land grant state universities, small liberal arts colleges, religiously sponsored institutions, and local community colleges. This array…

By definition, democracies depend on citizens' involvement in their governance. Laws and institutions are necessary but insufficient for sustaining such systems; democracies also depend on certain psychological dispositions in the people, with an ethic of civic participation, trust in others, and tolerance of dissenting views topping the list. The…

A decade ago, research on the civic engagement and learning of young people was still in a "bear market" (Cook 1985). The body of literature was strikingly small, considering that the future of democracy depends on the preparation of young citizens. Today, the situation is dramatically different. There is a torrent of research on youth civic…

Through its signature initiative, Liberal Education and America's Promise (LEAP), the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) is promoting a vision for learning that begins in school: Starting in School . . . Rigorous and rich curriculum focused on the essential learning outcomes; comprehensive, individualized, and…

Global perspective-taking involves three critical, developmentally based questions: (1) How do I know?; (2) Who am I?; and (3) How do I relate? As students grapple with these questions, their answers mutually reinforce the cognitive, interpersonal, and intrapersonal domains of human development, highlighting its holistic and integrated nature.…

In working with urban poverty, the director of Heads Up-DC discusses his experience in providing services to public school students through involving college students as teachers and mentors. (EV)

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…

Describes an initiative at Emory University (Georgia) to create an ethos of humane learning through a course that combines theory with internships and actively involves partner communities with faculty and students. In the seminar component students discuss what they are learning from the experiential component and record their individual…