Failing civics

Despite the often-heard claim that the U.S. needs more people with college educations, the economy doesn’t need educated people as much as it needs people trained to do certain kinds of work and encouraged to have certain kinds of social class aspirations.  That is because the desire for more things and more experiences is the major driver of a market economy.  Most people will be happy with their education if it allows them to earn a living that will ensure their place in the middle class.

Higher education in the U.S. does a better job of graduating good producers and consumers than in graduating informed, thoughtful citizens.  Berkowitz (see previous posts) argues that college students are not getting the kind of education they need to be good citizens of a democracy.

The same argument is made by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI), which tested about 14,000 freshman and seniors at 50 colleges and universities on their knowledge in fields ISI considered necessary for enlightened citizenship. Sixty multiple-choice questions measured students’ knowledge in America’s history, government, international relations, and market economy.

According to ISI,  “Seniors, on average, failed all four subjects, and their overall average score was 53.2%.”   Seniors did no better than freshmen, and occasionally did worse.  ISI also notes, “When measured by the civic knowledge students had gained during college, the most prestigious schools were the worst performers.”

ISI calls on colleges to correct this situation.  But the truth is that many college students are just not at a stage in their lives where they care about citizenship.  You can expose an impatient 20-year-old to higher level cognitive skills and subject matter outside his or her major, but you can’t force that student to acquire any more skills or knowledge than are necessary to earn a passing grade.

That is why we can’t identify the proper place of higher education without considering its place in the life of the individual.