- Joseph M. Knippenberg
Plato posed a question that still feels uncomfortably current: What kind of education forms a good citizen?
That question framed a recent panel I joined at the Hoover Institution. We were asked whether or whether they pull in different directions.
The tension is real.
Civic education prepares students for participation in a nation鈥檚 political life. Liberal education cultivates habits of mind such as open inquiry, skepticism and intellectual independence.
Of course, commitment to these habits of mind really only makes sense if there is a goal. For liberal education, that goal is the truth about the way things are. For civic education, it is the peace and prosperity of the nation. At a high level, these goals can be reconciled. But truth does not belong to one country or one people.
A familiar American tension
As the United States approaches its 250th anniversary, this debate should sound familiar. The Founders themselves disagreed, sometimes sharply, about the nature of citizenship and government. What held the project together was not consensus, but a shared commitment to the self-evident truths affirmed in the Declaration of Independence.
That same tension runs through our classrooms today.
The risk to avoid
There is real momentum behind civic education. That is a good thing. But it carries a risk.
There is always a temptation to take for granted that the moral imperatives of the moment are the final and highest truth. 鈥淢y country, right or wrong鈥� can become 鈥渕y country, always right.鈥� The great contribution of liberal education to civic education is to remind us of something higher than our country or our people.
Even the authors of the Declaration of Independence affirmed this. The United States is entitled to a separate and equal station among the powers of the earth by 鈥渢he laws of nature and nature鈥檚 God.鈥� They appeal to a candid world on the basis of truths that are universal, not somehow peculiarly American.
A colleague of mine, John Seery, makes a related argument in 鈥�.鈥� He describes the small liberal arts college as a place where ideas are worked out in conversation, not delivered for acceptance. That kind of environment preserves the freedom and rigor at the heart of liberal learning.
That distinction matters.
What leaders actually need
If you lead a business, a nonprofit or a civic organization in Atlanta, you already know what matters.
You need people who can:
- Think clearly
- Weigh competing ideas
- Work across disagreement
You do not need people who simply repeat what they have been told.
That is why liberal education still matters.
Holding the line
A healthy democracy depends on citizens who can reason, listen and revise their thinking when necessary. Those capacities are not dictated. They are developed.
Universities should introduce students to the ideas and institutions that shape public life. But they should resist the urge to script conclusions.
The goal is not agreement. It is capacity.
Back to Plato. And the Founders.
Plato鈥檚 question remains.
What kind of education forms a good citizen?
The Founders offered one answer. Not through uniformity, but through argument. Not through consensus, but through a belief that free people must be capable of thinking for themselves and regulating themselves for the sake of a common good.
If civic education is to be liberal, it must do the same.
Not tell students what to think.
We must acquaint them with the great and timeless political alternatives, preparing them to think soberly and self-critically about our nation鈥檚 circumstances.
黑料吃瓜网 Joseph M. Knippenberg
Joseph M. Knippenberg, Ph.D., is a Professor of Politics at 黑料吃瓜网 in Atlanta, Georgia, where he also serves as the Politics Program Coordinator. Based in Atlanta, he is an experienced educator and scholar whose work focuses on political theory and the role of ideas in public life.
Dr. Knippenberg specializes in the history of political philosophy, religion and politics, and contemporary liberal theory. His teaching and research examine how foundational political thinkers and philosophical traditions continue to shape modern political systems and civic discourse.
