Benjamin Storey and Jenna Silver Storey of the American Enterprise Institute
are proposing a new field of academic study called “Civic Thought” which
highlights the importance of civic education, free speech, and viewpoint
diversity in higher education. It’s worth it to read their latest white paper
mapping it all out — it’s thoughtful, well-researched, and full of great ideas.
To develop future leaders and active citizens of our democracy — which the
University of Virginia has been committed to since its founding — the authors
point out that students need to learn to listen to ideas they disagree with and be
able to work with those who may see the world differently than they do.
Competent citizens need to “deliberate with others who have different
perspectives and experiences.” The authors pointed out in a recent Wall Street
Journal column that “the elements of Civic Thought are derived from the
intellectual demands of American citizenship, which requires the ability to
deliberate about everything from war to education. Equipping the mind for such
responsibility is an ambitious intellectual project, fully worthy of the
university.”
They point to Arizona State University’s School of Civic and Economic
Thought and Leadership as a good model — since its founding in 2016, it has
grown to 20 faculty teaching more than 1,000 students annually, all with
bipartisan support. Similar efforts are underway in North Carolina, Ohio,
Tennessee, Florida, Mississippi, Utah, and Texas. As the flagship public
university in Virginia, UVA has the opportunity to lead the effort across the
Commonwealth. We should take that opportunity.
Here’s their argument I like best: “The conversations of Socrates and Catherine
of Siena and the speeches of Cicero and Frederick Douglass should be analyzed
and imitated as models of how to seek truth in common with others. One might
learn from them how to persuade people of things those people do not wish to
see, yield before the more comprehensive views others may present, and gather
diverse human beings for the sake of action.” That’s exactly what we do in my
class called Democracy Out Loud, which is a 3500-level seminar in the Politics
Department. We need more classes like it, taught by people of all walks of life.
If UVA undergrads could major in Civic Thought before heading out to lead our
Republic, I think our nation would be in a much better place. Isn’t that what our
motto, “Great and Good,” calls us to?