MoMent

Since the majority of these
students do not transfer beyond
the community college, it is all
the more important that civic
learning be integrated into the
curriculum, including career
training programs.
education in such instrumental ways will have grave consequences for
America’s intellectual, social, and economic capital. Such recommendations
suggest colleges are no longer expected to educate leaders or citizens, only
workers who will not be called to invest in lifelong learning, but only in
industry-specific job training.
Calling for colleges and universities to prepare students for careers and
citizenship, rather than only the former, is especially important for students in
community colleges. Forty-three percent of first-time undergraduates enroll in
this sector, including approximately 50 percent of African American, Latino,
and Native American undergraduates (AACC 2011). Since the majority of
these students do not transfer beyond the community college, it is all the more
important that civic learning be integrated into the curriculum, including
career training programs.
Why must the United States require its educational system to educate
for citizenship as well as careers? Public schooling and ever-expanding access
to postsecondary education have been distinguishing characteristics of our
democratic nation. Higher education in a robust, diverse, and democratic
country needs to cultivate in each of its graduates an open and curious
mind, critical acumen, public voice, ethical and moral judgment, and the
commitment to act collectively in public to achieve shared purposes. In stark
contrast, higher education in a restrictive, undemocratic country needs only to
cultivate obedient and productive workers. As A Nation of Spectators astutely
asserted, “We believe that economic productivity is important but must not be
confused with civic health” (National Commission on Civic Renewal 1998, 7).
The National Task Force wants to stress that educating students for
purposeful work in a dynamic, complex economy is more than ever an
essential goal of higher education. However, we reject a zero-sum choice
between the fullest preparation for economic success and education for
citizenship. A Crucible Moment outlines a path that prepares students for
both knowledgeable citizenship and economic opportunity. As employers
themselves make clear, the United States should not be forced to choose
between preparing students for informed democratic citizenship and preparing
students for successful college completion and career opportunities.
Public leaders who believe that the “economic agenda” of higher
education is reducible to workforce training also fail to understand that there is
a civic dimension to every field of study, including career and technical fields,
as well as to every workplace. Industries and services have ethical and social
responsibilities of their own, and, in a democracy, citizens and community
partners routinely weigh in on such questions. Workers at all levels need to
anticipate the civic implications of their choices and actions. The nation—and
the world—have experienced disastrous results when civic consequences are
ignored and only economic profit is considered, as the subprime mortgage
crisis and the bundling of toxic loans have dramatically illustrated.
Happily, there are some signature employment models that braid together
high standards of work and civic responsibility. For example, more than seven
hundred companies worldwide have produced corporate social responsibility
reports in accordance with guidelines published by the Global Reporting
Initiative (GRI), which include environmental health, human rights, fair labor
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