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The Renaissance of Civic Education
November 4, 2024 | RealClearEducation
Over the last 60 years, there has been unconscionable neglect of civics and American history at both the K-12 and university levels.
Dr. Colleen Sheehan appointed to multiple distinguished positions across the nation
September 10, 2024
Dr. Sheehan, a SCETL professor, has been appointed to the National Commission on American History and Civic Education, Salmon P. Chase Center Academic Council at Ohio State University, and named a visiting scholar at The Heritage Foundation.
A New Hope for Saving the Universities
September 2024 | Commentary
A systematic effort to reframe higher education in terms of ‘civic thought’ could, perhaps, bear wondrous fruit.
Propelling Cybersecurity and Policy Forward at ASU
May 13, 2024
The School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership is actively supporting students interested in cyber policy. In March, the school sponsored a team of students to compete in the Cyber 9/12 Strategy Challenge in Washington D.C.
How Civics Can Remedy Higher Education’s Decline
April 29, 2024 | The Aaron Renn Show
Paul Carrese joins Aaron Renn to discuss SCETL and how restoring civic education will prepare the rising generation for their social duties.
Continuing a Tradition of Civics Excellence
April 25, 2024 | RealClear Education
Going forward at SCETL, Avramenko wants to work on building out a program that “yields free and responsible citizens” who have engaged with the world outside of themselves.
Opinion: It's Time for Ceasefire in the Civics Wars
March 25, 2024 | The 74
The Civic Literacy Curriculum is mentioned in this article about improving civic education."...as the university team has amplified it into the beginnings of actual curriculum by adding original sources, study guides, teacher materials and other supplements meant to 'exceed the USCIS test in helping students learn not just the facts tested but [also] the underlying concepts, ideas and events.'"
How Civics Can Remedy Higher Education’s Decline
February 13, 2024 | National Review | By Paul Caresse
Successful experiments in civic education at public universities point the way forward for beleaguered institutions such as those in the Ivy League.
Paul Carrese: George Washington saw what Martin Luther King Jr. saw
November 27, 2023 | Pittsburgh Post Gazette | By Paul Caresse
We tend to forget that George Washington was a leading proponent of the civil theology that Martin Luther King, Jr. would later invoke in his 1963 “I Have A Dream” address to great effect. It was the conviction that the true foundations for the American belief in equal natural rights of all human beings to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness lay as much, or even more, in the commandments of the God of the Bible as in the arguments of philosophers.
How to Save Higher Education From Itself
February 24, 2023 | National Review | by Joe Pitts
SCETL student Joe Pitts discusses his experience with classical liberal-arts education, and how states across the nation are cultivating the revival of American higher education, one school at a time.
How a Center for Civic Education Became a Political Provocation
February 22, 2023 | The Chronicle of Higher Education
The Hamilton Center for Classical and Civic Education, which was recently established at the University of Florida in Gainesville, draws inspiration from Arizona State University’s School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership.
A New Birth of Freedom in Higher Education: Civic Institutes at Public Universities
January 24, 2023 | AEI | with Paul Carrese
Conservatives frequently bemoan the ideological monoculture on college campuses, but they too rarely propose constructive solutions. One notable exception has been Arizona State University’s School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership (SCETL), which is funded directly by the Arizona state legislature as a distinct academic unit.
Arizona State University students visit Rajasthan to understand solar engineers training, Digital community school and rural health work being done
December, 2022 | First India | by First India
In this article published by First India, professor Susan Carrese discusses the significance of the Encyclopédie as the encarnation the Enlightenment and the Atlantic revolutions.
Heterodoxy on campus - the role of universities
April 13, 2022 | Arizona Capitol Times | by Carol McNamara
SCETL Associate Director of Public Programs Carol McNamara discusses the purpose of universities today.
"The Power of the Dog" Messages the Need for Civic Education
March 30, 2022 | Pop Matters | by Aaron Kushner
In this article, SCETL post-doctoral fellow Aaron Kushner discusses how Thomas Savage’s novel "The Power of the Dog" and Jane Campion’s popular film adaptation depict the danger in Americans’ distrust of civic institutions.
Federalism, Originalism, and Constitutional Amendments
November 17, 2021 | Law & Liberty | by Sean Beienburg
Why change the text of a Constitution when you can simply helpfully re-interpret it away?
The Future of Arizona Democracy
November 11, 2021 | Chamber Business News
Election policy experts examine ballot accessibility and accuracy in Arizona elections, as well as the lessons to be learned from the 2020 general election in a political environment where some Americans are expressing doubt about the administration of elections and the trustworthiness of their results.
Slavery and the Constitution in Madisonian Perspective
November 4, 2021 | Starting Points | by Michael Zuckert
There is no need to rehearse in detail the various debates over the Founders and slavery that have roiled academic and political waters since the mid-twentieth century.
The Enduring Interest Podcast
November 1, 2021 | The Enduring Interest Podcast | with Michael Zuckert and Catherine Zuckert
Leo Strauss once wrote, “I own that education is in a sense the subject matter of my teaching and my research.” Yet, as Michael and Catherine Zuckert note, Strauss wrote very little directly on this subject.
Opinion: Making Individuals Citizens
November 1, 2021 | Starting Points | Opinion by Coleen Sheehan
Much has changed since Washington, Madison, Hamilton, Franklin, and the Framers met in the Pennsylvania State House in the summer of 1787 to draft the Constitution of the United States.
Opinion: Viral video aside, ASU can have an honest and civil debate on race and social justice
October 2, 2021 | The Arizona Republic | Opinion by Paul Carrese and Carol McNamara
A recent video showing a heated argument between ASU students shows how polarizing we've become. It's also an opportunity for honest and civil talk.
Can Civics Save America?
May 15, 2021 | The Atlantic | with Paul Carrese
Paul Carrese, a political scientist and the director of the School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership at Arizona State University, told me this “historical and civic ignorance” contributes to the polarization that is generated on social media.
Opinion: Our democracy is ailing. Civics education has to be part of the cure.
March 2, 2021 | The Washington Post | Opinion by Danielle Allen and Paul Carrese
For decades, our national educational policy has focused on achieving global competitiveness from a national security and economic standpoint.
Massive investment in social studies and civics education proposed to address eroding trust in democratic institutions
March 1, 2021 | The Washington Post | with Paul Carrese
Now, a diverse collection of academics, historians, teachers, school administrators and state education leaders is proposing an overhaul of the way civics and history are taught to American K-12 students.
America Needs History and Civics Education to Promote Unity
March 1, 2021 | Wall Street Journal | with Paul Carrese
A key part of our task is to reinvigorate teaching and learning of American history and civics in our nation’s schools. A constitutional democracy requires a citizenry that has a desire to participate, and an understanding of how to do so constructively, as well as the knowledge and skills to act for the common good.
Radical enlightenment now?
March, 2018 | Liberty Matters | by Johnson Kent Wright
In this article published by the prestigious Liberty Matters, professor Johnson Kent Wright discusses the significance of the Encyclopédie as the encarnation the Enlightenment and the Atlantic revolutions.
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Educating for American Democracy
Educating for American Democracy (EAD) is an unprecedented effort that convened a diverse and cross-ideological group of scholars and educators to create a Roadmap to Educating for American Democracy— guidance and an inquiry framework that states, local school districts, and educators can use to transform the teaching of history and civics to meet the needs of a diverse 21st century K–12 student body.
Below you can learn more and read about the school's involvement in the project.
Watch more EAD talks
Break Glass in Case of Emergency: Why Democracy Education Is Not a Drill
In the Media
Conservatives Should Give the New Civics Roadmap a Fair Chance | Paul O. Carrese & James R. Stoner Jr.
June 27, 2021 | American Greatness
Decades of the obstruction-only strategy have left Americans ignorant and polarized; it’s time for a constructive alternative.
Scholars Develop Road Map For Teaching Civics In A Politically Divided U.S.
June 22, 2021 | KJZZ
Paul Carrese of Arizona State University's School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership was involved with a team of scholars in developing the "Roadmap to Educating for American Democracy." KJZZ spoke with him to learn about the project and what spurred his involvement.
Step Up to Restore a Sound American Civics
What’s So Un-American about a Shared American Civics? | Paul O. Carrese & James R. Stoner Jr.
June 9, 2021 | National Review
Why are our conservative friends deriding and denouncing the Educating for American Democracy proposal for the enhancement of civics teaching in K–12 schools? They claim it is a Trojan horse for the leftist ideology of the 1619 Project and for “action civics,” both of which all people of conservative temperament — and probably many non-“woke” liberals — see as misguided, the first for its distorted account of American history, the second for its eagerness to politicize the classroom and enlist young students as advocates of left-wing causes.
Mobs in America's Past and Present | Colleen Sheehan
January 28, 2021 | We the People
A mob stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6, leading to a ricochet of effects including the impeachment of President Trump. On this episode, experts Larry Kramer, president of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and Colleen Sheehan, Director of Graduate Studies at the Arizona State School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership, explore the history of mobs past and present, online and in-person.
Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, Jon Kyl: How to revive a shared dream for America's future
November 18, 2020 | USA Today
With improved civics education, the next generation will be better equipped to engage in constructive debate about our future.
ASU’s School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership
November 16, 2020 | RealClear Education
As Americans deal with the political fallout from the 2020 election, Arizona State University associate professor Adam Seagrave says that “extreme political polarization” and the “breakdown of productive civil discourse” continue to be defining features of our times.
To heal our nation, Americans need to recommit to shared values | Marc Morial
October 13, 2020 | USA Today
One of the most powerful means of assuring racial and social justice lies in building a shared sense of American values and commitment to each other.
Saving the American Constitution | Colleen Sheehan
September 23, 2020 | Arizona Capitol Times
Our nation today is badly fragmented, and civil discourse is, well, not very civil. Some have even speculated about disunion, of becoming two Americas.
Someone recently asked me, “How can the Constitution save us?” My response was that it can’t. Rather, it is up to us to save the Constitution.
How women, who could decide the 2020 presidential race, won the right to vote | Catherine Zuckert
September 18, 2020 | Arizona Capitol Times
Pundits now say that the votes of “suburban women” may determine the outcome of the 2020 election. We don’t know exactly who these “suburban women” are or how they will vote, but it is clear that women’s votes now count.
Does A Lack Of Civics Education Make Americans Less Likely To Vote?
April 23, 2019 | KJZZ
Harvard University professor Danielle Allen has studied and written about civics education extensively, and she was recently in the area as part of a presentation for ASU’s School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership.
Latest episode of Keeping it Civil.
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What can future leaders learn from today’s most prominent scholars and commentators?
Keeping It Civil is a new podcast produced by the School of Economic Thought and Leadership that seeks answers to key questions about the future of American life with fast-paced interviews with scholars and intellectuals. Hosted and produced by Lecturer and award-winning journalist B. Duncan Moench, PhD.