Educating our Students into Good Citizens: A Primer to the Civic Virtues

Most education today focuses on the attainment of skills essential for career and material success. Often left out is the task of educating for citizenship, for belonging to and participating in the wider American society of 330 million fellow citizens of which we all are part. As our common political life deteriorates, it is clear that at some point, neither the country at large nor we as individuals will be able to prosper unless we improve our common civic life. What are the intellectual and moral virtues that human beings should cultivate to be good citizens in a large, pluralistic, free society? And how can schools educate young persons into such virtues as part of the formation of their character?