A civic mission for Oberlin: educate toward good citizenship

Over the past several decades in the United States, there has been a subtle but devastating shift from communitarian norms toward individualistic norms, something which (noticeably) Oberlin College has been unable to avoid, leading to a dispiriting erosion of civic culture with corresponding growth of civic apathy, resentment and even anger. Tolerance has been lessened and the trust people have for one another diminished.

Many students here at Oberlin have not attained the lowest requisites of good citizenship. While some may argue that they have attained the lowest requirement of being a good citizen, voting, they are wrong. Voting, when not done in the proper civic context, is just a form of individualistic expression that amounts solely to voting the public scoundrels out of office and/or voting for the candidate who represents your individualistic interests into office. Voting that occurs in this way has no regard for the greater whole, because everyone has legitimate interests and cannot get all they want. It is the littlest actions, such as reading the newspaper and associating with others that allows one to become conscious and informed about other people. Citizenship implies the existence of tolerance as opposed to values and quick judgment. In an isolated society, every issue gets boiled down to an absolute right or wrong (values) which leave no room for any compromise, otherwise known as the moral high ground of political correctness, where individuals know they are correct, and anyone who thinks otherwise must be wrong. Tolerance implies listening, and listening implies a recognition that one's ideas may not necessarily be correct.

As people become more individualized and less aware about others living around us, communities become fortified and afraid of anyone who is different. This was exemplified in the decision not to let the community play at Philips Gymnasium. To many, the community of Oberlin is seen as nothing more than a problem community. A "them" which "we" can help but to which "we" do not belong. All that is done are a little conscience soothing fund-raisers, animal rights and environmental protests, as well as voter registrations drives (obviously to register only liberal voters) which never allow for association with anyone different. Without true civic relationships, society denigrates into a struggle of competing groups unmediated by public solidarity which has manifested itself through the rise of interest groups and the multiculturalist movement.

Interest groups are just individualistic people who share similar ideas or backgrounds but are interested in only protecting their interests many times by using value-loaded argumentative words designed to start a fight. Belonging to groups, such as the Sierra Club, the ACLU, and others, does not effectively fill the civic void, because there is no interactive participation between members. The group is run by a few die-hards, who are probably more radical than the membership base, with the typical member just writing a letter or making a phone call should something threaten the groups interests.

Along the same lines is the recent move towards multiculturalism and multiculturalist studies. Diversity can and does bring benefits. Fiercely articulated multiculturalism erects barriers to cooperation and community. When people pull into their cultures, they are in essence becoming uncultured, because they are unwilling to recognize and learn about other cultures. The price of emancipation was assimilation. In order to receive the benefits of community and civil society one must become part of the whole which means giving a little as well as receiving from others.

To re-instill the virtues of citizenship back into society, we must, ideally, turn to the elementary schools, but realistically, it means starting with the institutions of higher learning that are in the best position to begin the restoration of civil society. Specifically, Oberlin College must actively attempt to educate its students to become good citizens, because it is not currently happening. Oberlin is not fulfilling its duty as an educational institution if all its students are expected to do while enrolled is to move further down the road towards their individual careers. Careerism in itself does not foster civic culture, so something more needs to be done to ensure that the civic tradition does not die. The tradition gets passed on, but only to those who actively seek it out. However, it should be required that everyone leave Oberlin with the understanding of their place in a greater world.

A program of civic learning is different than one of service learning. The latter being associated with altruism and charity with the view that, "I am obliged to help others less fortunate than myself, and it will do my character good to do so," rather than the former which is an obligatory activity of good responsible citizens captured by the statement, "I cannot flourish unless the communities to which I belong flourish, and it is in my self-interest to become a responsible member of the community that I live in."

Civic learning should be analogous to mathematical or cultural literacy, emphasizing mutual responsibility and the interdependence of rights and responsibilities, focusing not on altruism but an enlightened self-interest. The civic approach would encourage an educational partnership between the college and the community, with the community actively involved in defining its own needs as well as the college defining the role service will play in the education of students. Such a partnership would underscore mutual interdependence and help create an understanding of our surrounding community not as one with problems which we as outsiders can help but as a group to which all of us belong.

For our democratic culture to withstand the challenges of a complex, often undemocratic, interdependent world, educating students to become good citizens is not a discretionary activity. Freedom is a hot-house plant that flourishes only when carefully tended. Without active citizens who see in service not the altruism of charity but the responsibility of citizenship, democracy will not survive. Schools must jump out to take responsibility for what goes on beyond the classroom and work to remove walls that separate, otherwise students will continue to see public life only as the realm to further their own self-interest.

-Alex Levine

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