civic engagement

Why I’m Assigning “Hillbilly Elegy”

This fall, I’m assigning J.D. Vance’s Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis in my politics and geography class on a deeply liberal and historically activist campus. I can already anticipate the reaction. Some students will object before they’ve read a page, convinced that reading the memoir means endorsing Vance’s politics […]

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Women Lead Campus Protests, Men Outperform in Civic Literacy

Men and women are increasingly diverging politically, a notably pronounced trend on college campuses. College-aged men—a shrinking demographic—have become more conservative, while college-aged women have moved into the liberal camp. Young women are more likely than their male counterparts to vote, care about political issues, and participate in social movements and protests. A cursory look […]

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Practicing Civic Behavior: A Key Student Priority

As a countermeasure to action civics, which aims to convert the “traditional subject of civics into a recruitment tool of the progressive left,” it is crucial for students to engage in civic behavior actively. This behavior, rooted in a nonpartisan American pluralism, accentuates the rights and duties of citizenship in various spheres-school, home, community, and […]

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Beware The Second Transcript

For years now, college students have been busy committing themselves to extracurricular activities. On the whole, such commitment can be constructive. It contributes to civic engagement by the young and helps them to develop personal responsibility and character. Meanwhile, college officials claim that would-be employers are now demanding that colleges provide evidence that graduates are […]

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