The Proper Role Of Higher Education In A Democratic Society

Download or read book The Proper Role of Higher Education in a Democratic Society written by Vincent Bowhay and published by . This book was released on 2021 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This book of contributed chapters is for educators who want to improve their understanding of the role higher education can play in developing students who are actively engaged in democratic processes and civic engagement opportunities"--

Download or read book The Proper Role of Higher Education in a Democratic Society written by Bowhay, Vincent and published by IGI Global. This book was released on 2021-06-25 with total page 314 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: American higher education has served to prepare students to be active participants in a democratic society. During a time of great civil upheaval following the tumultuous elections of 2016 and 2020, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, and mass demonstrations following the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, higher education may be the only institution left to be both responsible for and responsive to society at large. Public trust in the federal government is at near-record lows, but confidence in higher education has decreased more than any other U.S. institution since 2015. In a time where public opinion is quickly changing for the better or the worse, higher education must respond to this decline in trust in it as an institution, but also the decline in the belief that a college degree is worth the time and cost. Higher education was founded on the idea that colleges would prepare citizens for a life of public service, but they have quickly changed to a business model that largely puts profits over people. Practitioners of higher education must respond to this lack of trust and the pressures of preparing a 21st century workforce while battling the threats of a pandemic, declining enrollment, budget destabilization, and increased regulation. The Proper Role of Higher Education in a Democratic Society reexamines the purpose of higher education during rapidly changing times, offers practical advice and best practices to reclaim higher education’s most fundamental mission, and argues that if higher education is called to prepare students to serve a government by the people, the people must be prepared to govern effectively. This book provides resources and suggestions for restoring the public faith in higher education by connecting the educational experience with civic engagement outcomes. Diverse perspectives presented in this book challenge traditional notions that civic engagement is handled by one office on a college campus and is only discussed during a presidential election. Covering everything from civic engagement to diversity perspectives, this book is ideal for higher education practitioners and those interested in promoting civic engagement and democratic participation, improving assessment or accreditation standards using a civic engagement perspective, and infusing civic engagement to diversity conversations on campus.

Download or read book Democracy and Education written by John Dewey and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 1916 with total page 456 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: . Renewal of Life by Transmission. The most notable distinction between living and inanimate things is that the former maintain themselves by renewal. A stone when struck resists. If its resistance is greater than the force of the blow struck, it remains outwardly unchanged. Otherwise, it is shattered into smaller bits. Never does the stone attempt to react in such a way that it may maintain itself against the blow, much less so as to render the blow a contributing factor to its own continued action. While the living thing may easily be crushed by superior force, it none the less tries to turn the energies which act upon it into means of its own further existence. If it cannot do so, it does not just split into smaller pieces (at least in the higher forms of life), but loses its identity as a living thing. As long as it endures, it struggles to use surrounding energies in its own behalf. It uses light, air, moisture, and the material of soil. To say that it uses them is to say that it turns them into means of its own conservation. As long as it is growing, the energy it expends in thus turning the environment to account is more than compensated for by the return it gets: it grows. Understanding the word "control" in this sense, it may be said that a living being is one that subjugates and controls for its own continued activity the energies that would otherwise use it up. Life is a self-renewing process through action upon the environment.

Download or read book Democracy, Civic Engagement, and Citizenship in Higher Education written by William V. Flores and published by Lexington Books. This book was released on 2019-05-24 with total page 411 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the most recent Democracy Index, the Economic Intelligence Unit downgraded the United States from a “full democracy” to a “flawed democracy.” Democracy, Civic Engagement, and Citizenship in Higher Education takes a hard look at the state of American democracy today through the lens of one of the nation’s most important actors: colleges and universities. Democracy is more than voting: it includes a wide range of democratic practices and depends on a culture of civic participation. Critical for strengthening democracy is the role that higher education leaders play in educating their constituencies about their responsibilities of citizenship. During a period of time when higher education is under pressure to meet 21st century workforce needs, the authors here exhort to remember the public mission of education to serve the needs of the democracy, a government by the people means that the people must be ready to govern. It is in this spirit that these stories are offered to show how institutions across the country are reclaiming and reinvigorating one of the essential pillars upon which American democracy is based.

Download or read book Higher Education for Democracy written by William G. Tierney and published by . This book was released on 2021 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bronze Winner, 2021 Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Award in the Education Category Democracy and higher education are inextricably linked: universities not only have the ability to be key arbiters of how democracy is advanced, but they also need to reflect democratic values in their practices, objectives, and goals. Framed by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the ongoing crisis of structural racism, Higher Education for Democracy explores academe's role in advancing democracy by using a cross-national comparison of Los Angeles, New Delhi, and Hong Kong to develop strategies that universities can employ to strengthen democracy and resist fascism. William G. Tierney argues that if academe is to be a progenitor in the advancement of democracy, then we need to consider five areas of change that have been significant across national contexts amid both globalization and neoliberalism: inequality, privatization, the public good, identity, and academic freedom. Taking a comparative approach and drawing on scholarly literature, archival research, and interviews, Higher Education for Democracy aims to understand these changes and their implications and to position higher education in defense of democracy in a globalized economy framed by fascism.

Download or read book Social Empathy written by Elizabeth A. Segal and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2018-10-16 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Our ability to understand others and help others understand us is essential to our individual and collective well-being. Yet there are many barriers that keep us from walking in the shoes of others: fear, skepticism, and power structures that separate us from those outside our narrow groups. To progress in a multicultural world and ensure our common good, we need to overcome these obstacles. Our best hope can be found in the skill of empathy. In Social Empathy, Elizabeth A. Segal explains how we can develop our ability to understand one another and have compassion toward different social groups. When we are socially empathic, we not only imagine what it is like to be another person, but we consider their social, economic, and political circumstances and what shaped them. Segal explains the evolutionary and learned components of interpersonal and social empathy, including neurobiological factors and the role of social structures. Ultimately, empathy is not only a part of interpersonal relations: it is fundamental to interactions between different social groups and can be a way to bridge diverse people and communities. A clear and useful explanation of an often misunderstood concept, Social Empathy brings together sociology, psychology, social work, and cognitive neuroscience to illustrate how to become better advocates for justice.

Download or read book Education, Justice & Democracy written by Danielle Allen and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2013-03-04 with total page 366 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Education is a contested topic, and not just politically. For years scholars have approached it from two different points of view: one empirical, focused on explanations for student and school success and failure, and the other philosophical, focused on education’s value and purpose within the larger society. Rarely have these separate approaches been brought into the same conversation. Education, Justice, and Democracy does just that, offering an intensive discussion by highly respected scholars across empirical and philosophical disciplines. The contributors explore how the institutions and practices of education can support democracy, by creating the conditions for equal citizenship and egalitarian empowerment, and how they can advance justice, by securing social mobility and cultivating the talents and interests of every individual. Then the authors evaluate constraints on achieving the goals of democracy and justice in the educational arena and identify strategies that we can employ to work through or around those constraints. More than a thorough compendium on a timely and contested topic, Education, Justice, and Democracy exhibits an entirely new, more deeply composed way of thinking about education as a whole and its importance to a good society.