In a file photo, Emily Lich, a freshman international affairs major, demonstrates with the Gay-Straight Alliance and other GBLT community members rallying near a debate about gay marriage on campus Jan. 25. A new report by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute’s National Civic Literacy Board claims that college makes students more likely to support same-sex marriage and abortion while failing to teach basic civic knowledge. (CU Independent file/Lauren Walter)
A new report claims that college makes students more likely to support same-sex marriage and abortion while failing to teach basic civic knowledge, according to a report released by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute’s National Civic Literacy Board.
“A college degree moves a person towards the Democrat/liberal side of the political spectrum, while greater civic knowledge moves a person to the Republican/conservative pole of the spectrum,” according to a press release regarding the report.
According to the press release, civic knowledge refers to elements of American history, government and economics
The report, titled “The Shaping of the American Mind,” is ISI’s fourth major study on the relationship between higher education, civic knowledge and citizenship, according to the press release.
Dr. Richard Brake, ISI’s director of university stewardship, explained ISI’s mission in creating the report: to provide college students with civic knowledge that will allow them to use their freedom wisely.
“We want colleges to teach this stuff well because in a republic you need educated citizenry to maintain self government,” Brake said. “If you are teaching American history, well then that’s going to produce a student that appreciates the American tradition of self-government and where that tradition comes from.”
Kevin Correa, assistant director for the GLBT Resource Center at CU, said he felt that along with civic knowledge, support for same-sex marriage also demonstrates appreciation for the American tradition of government.
“The report expresses a concern that college graduates may devalue the USA’s founding principles,” Correa said. “Support for same-sex marriage–which, according to the report, is increased by attending college–is in absolute accordance with the USA’s founding values of liberty, equality and justice.”
ISI selected a random sample of 2,508 American adults with and without college degrees who were asked 33 questions drawn from a basic civic knowledge test, according to the report. From the survey results, the report claimed that on average, the college graduate failed the test with a score of 57%.
Brake said he thought both colleges and high schools were to blame for the lack of civic knowledge among students.
“This is one of the reasons why we wanted to go down this path,” Brake said. “If colleges aren’t doing well teaching the basics, are they having any other influence on our civic life?”
Colby Kamin, secretary of the College Republicans at CU, said he thought the results of the report were “disquieting, though not unpredictable.”
“This [the report] shows students are establishing political beliefs without understanding why,” Kamin said. “This fosters highly ideological thinking, rather than independent thinking.”
Kamin said that although he thought the results of the test were disturbing, there remains a “silver lining.”
“The study goes on to show that, as any good conservative would expect, a greater level of civic literacy translates into a more positive view of America and more skepticism about government and market regulation,” Kamin said.
Brake said respondents who did well on the test tended to identify with the conservative view and had opinions on more than just the controversial propositions.
“What I take away from that is that basically education on civic knowledge itself creates a more sophisticated mind—a more diverse frame of mind,” Brake said.
Brake also said that ISI receives money from both conservative organizations as well as Americans concerned about education, but is not a political output.
“We are conservative in the sense of returning to an older more traditional way of doing college education to these tried and true subjects,” Brake said. “That’s the only way of saying I’m a conservative.”
Embry Gillet, a 20-year-old sophomore studio art major, said she was raised in a conservative household and a liberal high school, but retains her conservative views as a CU student.
“It’s tough at schools like this because it seems like all your teachers are liberal so it seems like both sides are never seen,” Gillet said. “Like if I were to stand up in my sociology class and say that gays shouldn’t be able to get married, I would probably be shot.”
Michael Grant, associate vice chancellor for undergraduate education at CU, said he encourages students to express their political views.
“I would argue that our faculty is very willing to hear argument and accept disagreement and students should not fear taking a different view,” Grant said. “Our goal is to try to get them to think independently.”
ISI suggests a “traditional way of doing college” where students are required to take similar subjects the first few years of college, Brake said.
“What’s happened on college campuses is you had an explosion of the curriculum and college seized requiring the core,” Brake said. “You can now take all certain courses like The History of American Cinema rather than just American history.”
Brake added that it is important for students to be educated on the fundamental principles of our government before analyzing and debating it.
“Kids can’t learn what they’re not taught,” Brake said. “That’s the university’s fault that they’re not requiring them to take the basics.”
Grant said it is important for students to be educated beyond the basic facts and concepts of civic knowledge.
“From our point of view, I would like our students to understand the ‘whys’ of separation between church and state rather than just the name of the person who identified the ‘whys,’” Grant said. “It’s the conceptual critical analysis that we would like them [the students] to be knowledgeable about when they graduate.”
CU Spokesman Bronson Hilliard, a 1986 CU graduate history major and a longtime observer of student culture at CU, said he feels CU has room for improvement on the amount of civic knowledge transmitted to students.
“Let’s all agree that Americans, both college students and people of all ages, need to be more civically engaged and civically aware,” Hilliard said. “The knowledge of government, economics and politics among our citizens is not where it should be…I think that is something all people in the political spectrum would agree on.”
Hilliard added that throughout the past generation, grades K through 12 have moved away from educational value being placed on just memorizing key facts and dates.
“It might be a fact that our students are not as knowledgeable about the facts, but look at what we’ve got here in Boulder,” Hilliard said. “We have more students engaged in community service who are actually out civically engaged than any other university in the country.”
CU has 13,000 students engaged in community service—more than half the undergraduate student body, Hilliard said.
“I think it’s safe to say that our generation of students comes to learn about government by going out and doing things, rather than memorizing key facts and concepts,” Hilliard said.
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Kylie Horner at Kylie.horner@colorado.edu.
7 comments
I am liberal and was before I came to college. Being in college has made me more liberal but not because of my professors. Yes, I have taken a lot of sociology classes that are in a way extremely liberal ideas, but what has made me much more liberal are the people I have chosen to hang out with. Because I am liberal I found a lot of liberal friends because we are similar people, and being able to discuss my ideas on gay marriage, abortion, and world peace has just confirmed to me that I am more liberal than I thought. There are many conservative people at this school, however, and while I try not to discuss too many of my political views with them, I don’t think they are in the wrong to be thinking right and still am friends with many conservatives as well. I loved this story! It was an extremely interesting perspective on college. Nicely done.
Overall well done, but the story was hard to get into. “A new report claims…” followed by “according to a report by…” in the opening sentence is not the most compelling way to open a story.
This piece is ridiculous. It is either brazenly mischaracterizing things, or just sloppy. Its non-objective and highly conservative viewpoint hides itself in a clear attempt to undermine and invalidate ANY questioning of the status quo and the existing systems of government as civic “illiteracy.”
To prove this, I would like to point out several major problems in this piece and the reporting therein. First and foremost, the fact checking and “unbiased” reporting of the intercollegiate studies institute. The ISI is a conservative organization whose stated goal is to preserve the existing form of government and to spread the feeling that this is the best form of government. It’s own Mission statement includes to “work at different levels and in different ways to nurture in the rising generation an appreciation of our nation’s founding principles—limited government, individual liberty, the rule of law, a free market economy, personal responsibility, and moral standards.” Having taken their quiz: the questions regarding “civic literacy” are directly correlated to their conservative values. I quote: “Which of the following fiscal policy combinations would a government most likely follow to stimulate economic activity when the economy is in a severe recession?” This is NOT an unbiased question to measure civic literacy…. The fact that they quote ISI and the college republicans, and an unrelated apolitical GLBT organization is a farce of unbiased reporting.
Secondly. College education teaches us to examine the many outcomes of our actions, policies, and existing structures. OF COURSE it would be detrimental to a conservative idea that things are “perfect the way they are.” We are taught to analyze history and society through many lenses because there is NO 100% correct and comprehensive way to do so. The reason we don’t teach plain “American History” is because there is not just one American History to teach. The thought that there *is* just one is a conservative wet dream, because it means that the story of rich white men is the only story that matters.
Finally: If this reporter cannot report events on their own campus correctly, they shouldn’t be trusted to report larger news at all. The demonstration in the photo was not organized the GSA, but the Queer Initiative… I should know, I help run that group.
You should stop trying to prove that people who believe in progressive politics are “stupid” because you’re afraid to talk to us directly. Instead, learn how to write a fact based argument to prove us wrong.
Thanks for the real life demonstration of the study Spencer. It takes guts to say that things like “individual liberty” and “the rule of law” have a conservative bias. I’m also amazed that you view the question about how a government can best stimulate the economy as conservatively biased, because any half wit who got a D- in an Intro. to Economics course could tell you that both cutting taxes and increasing government spending (i.e. boosting aggregate demand from both sides) is the answer.
Makes me scared to think what your particular brand of “progressive politics” really is.
Nice to know you think that “cutting taxes” and “increasing spending” are both possible… Did they teach you about limited resources in economics? Or inflation for that matter?
They did, actually. And when you have $1.5 trillion in deficit spending each year like we’re getting with Obama, it shows that the Federal government is more than capable of doing both at the same time. I didn’t say that when you reach a certain point, you don’t get some negative long-term effects. In fact, I would argue very strongly that you do, especially when the debt is already approaching 100% of GDP. But that doesn’t make the fact that cutting taxes and increasing government spending both boost aggregate demand, which is the best way to drive economic growth. Plain and simple.
I don’t agree at all this is bias!! She was just reporting about the claim and not stating any opinion of her own in the story. Clearly the organization is conservative and the reporter had to report about it but that doesn’t mean that she is conservative at all. Don’t shoot the messenger!! I am a liberal and personally loved this story and thought it was interesting to see a different view point because everyone is aloud to think different things.