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we can teach our students about civic education begins with education more broadly, that
words have meaning, that there are some words that describe reality better than others,
that there are few things completely new in human history, and yet the domain of public
policy presents us with morally gripping questions each generation must address: what
do we owe, to whom, why, and how to deliver. How do we negotiate conflicting
imperatives such as security and civil liberties? How do we distinguish wisdom from
data from information? How do we honor the individual, while being a member of one
or more groups, and serve the collective? How does one distinguish personal “grief from
(public) grievance,” as Robert Frost advises, and Edmundson refers. “Grievances may be
remediable; griefs are to be suffered.” (Edmundson, p.82) This latter distinction is not a
bad place to start in most any discussion about contemporary issues in politics and public
policy.
To distinguish the personal from the political, to recognize mutual obligations
among citizens and between the government and the governed, to make living the
concepts of sacrifice, compromise, duty, service, and participation, while embracing the
frequent discomfort that comes from knowledge—these are goals within our grasp and, to
my mind, the only antidote to alienation, despair, and passivity. While not a rallying cry
that fits neatly on a bumper sticker, nor will translate into a compelling course title, these
are worthy undertakings for our profession, and bolster the teacher and the student
simultaneously. Practitioners in humanitarian cases, philanthropic pursuits, and
enthusiasts of civic engagement are quick to advise that one can “do well by doing
good”; I would hasten to add that one can “do good, by doing well,” and encourage us to
leave our students with that hopeful and realistic confidence.
Convention