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Full-Text Articles in Liberal Studies
Creating The Capable Public: A Call For Liberal Arts Education In Public Schools, Olivia R. Keithley
Creating The Capable Public: A Call For Liberal Arts Education In Public Schools, Olivia R. Keithley
Educational Studies Honors Papers
I argue that liberal arts education is critically important to the creation of a capable public in a democratic society. I draw on David Labaree and Henry Giroux to assert that education is a public good and must serve the purpose of promoting democratic equality. By promoting democratic equality, public education is capable of creating publicly minded citizens. Publicly minded citizens of a democracy must also be free-thinking. Liberal arts education has at its core the aim of creating individuals who are able to think freely and autonomously. In a democratic society where freethinking citizens are necessary in order to …
Spectators Or Patriots? Citizens In The Information Age, Amrita Dhawan
Spectators Or Patriots? Citizens In The Information Age, Amrita Dhawan
Publications and Research
In theory, a strong democracy rests on robust citizen participation. The practice in most democracies is quite different. This gap presents a challenge, which can be narrowed by augmenting civic education to bring it up to date with the current information environment and thus give citizens the opportunity to participate. Robert Dahl’s work on democracy provides a model that looks at this problem structurally. He writes about the ideals and the actual institutions necessary for a democracy and if we situate his model in the modern information environment we get a better idea of how to improve civic education. Successful …