Abstract: As a product of constructed imaginations, national identity is fragile, especially in pluralistic democracies where cohesion depends on the faithful execution of an aspirational ideal, such as “the American Creed,” a statement about fairness and merit. Cohesion is difficult to build and easily fractured. When fractured, the humanities may provide the material needed to stitch together a new identity, one that emerges out of the old. Repairing fractures and maintaining a cohesive democratic identity is the work of citizens serving as custodians of democracy. But failure is always a possibility.

Abstract: Moral growth is an evolutionary process, for both the individual and the society. Democracy requires a certain kind of respect that is different from the expression of respect called for in other settings. Here, an object of respect is the capacity of the individual and the society to shape their own development and to determine their own idea of a good life. This calls for an education that aims to promote self-consciousness about existing and emerging possibilities and that enables rising citizens, both as individuals and as part of collective enterprises, to recognize their capacity for growth.

Abstract: This chapter addresses the tension between truth and social cohesion. Since all stories are interpretation of some event or behavior, the examined life is always an interpretation of an interpretation. But the interpretation of one’s own national history is not of some distant object: It is of the self, and it has a purpose – to open up and explore the possibilities that the past offers in the present for the future. This chapter examines the qualities of a good interpretation and role of the humanities in shaping it. I show how progress in interpretation is possible and argue for a dialogical view of interpretation where meanings evolve as contexts change, as new knowledge becomes available, and as the implications of different possible interpretations become clearer.

Abstract: This chapter explores the potential of mathematics education for the formation of critical democratic habits of open-mindedness, flexibility, and concern for understanding. It shows how different approaches to the teaching of math serve to model different conceptions of authority and analyzes the implications that these conceptions have for democratic engagement.

Abstract: Democratic ideas and habits do not arise automatically; they have taken centuries to develop, and stitching democracy together after its fault lines have been exposed, as they recently have been in the United States, is a long-term affair. Citizenship education requires contributions from an extended curriculum – math and science, art, and the humanities, as well as social studies and civics – focused on the specific needs of rising citizens. One place to begin is by taking the idea of citizenship as an office seriously and then asking what kind of education is needed to make that office effective in advancing democratic culture.

Abstract: The capacity of artistic works to speak directly to the emotions – to move us in one way or another – is a critical consideration in determining how an experience is to be represented and who should do the representation. When significant groups are left out of the national story, or when some groups dominate the storytelling, distortion is a likely result. But the distortion is not only of the past experience; it continues to influence the present and the future. It perpetuates harm. A powerful response to this harm comes from those who have been left out or whose experience has been distorted. Protest art serves to penetrate and challenge these distortions.

Abstract: All democratic education is directed against tyranny, but some kinds of tyranny are easier to identify than others. One kind of tyranny involves a visible dictator who controls public and private lives toward arbitrarily determined ends. Another kind of tyranny, more insidious than the first, controls what people come to want for themselves and for others – this is the result of the tyranny of habit. We want what we are conditioned to want, and we often find it hard to imagine anything else. One of the aims of education for the office of citizen is to provide students with the intellectual tools and to develop the character dispositions required to recognize, monitor, and respond to the tyranny of habit. The remainder of the chapters in the book is an elaboration on this aim and the way it sets the stage for the education of new patriots and their role as custodians of democracy.

Abstract: The integrity of the scientific process depends on preserving the institutional framework that is critical for maintaining and reproducing the methods and attitudes required for systematic inquiry. A major aim of science education for custodians of democracy should be the development of the habits and skills required to protect the institutional production, application, and dissemination of reliable knowledge. Custodians need to understand how science is informed by values at virtually every stage, from the problem selected for study to the way a problem is defined and supported, to the methods chosen to test a scientific claim, to the logic that moves the argument from premise to conclusion, and from conclusion to recommendations for policy and action. This requirement is important for citizens in general and for citizens who work in scientific fields in particular.

Abstract: Cultivating custodians of democracy requires a deep understanding of the environmental and cultural forces that impel change, as well as the skills to respond to unexpected events in ways that promote inclusive participation. While civics, history, and social studies have traditionally been assigned the task of citizenship education, I will argue that if democracy is to flourish, the education of the new patriot will require the reconstruction of the STEM and expressive (aesthetic) curricula as well. The aim is to create a body of citizens who are committed to maintaining a democratic culture, who are open to change, and can reassess their individual and collective responses to it. Thus, Educating for Democracy holds that today democracy requires a new form of patriotism, one where loyalty and commitment are informed by disciplined inquiry and broad participation. The book shows how different subject areas can contribute to this aim.

Abstract: The material for this chapter is drawn in part from a class I taught on American pragmatism at a local correctional institution. It raises the question: Since a habit is something we take for granted, how could we even begin to recognize our own habits as supporting tyrannical relationships? A response to this question and to the role that formal education could play in promoting this recognition is the topic for the remaining chapters in the book.