There are so many generous and high-sounding phrases and ambitions in A Crucible Moment: College Learning & Democracy’s Future, the report by the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U), that to criticize them almost seems bilious and misanthropic. Few would dispute this goal, one of several listed under the “Knowledge” segment of “A Framework for Twenty-First-Century Civic Learning and Democratic Engagement,” figure 1 of the report:
Knowledge of the diverse cultures, histories, values and contestations that have shaped U.S. and other world societies.
And who would question the “Values” of “Empathy,” “Justice,” and “Responsibility to a larger good,” not to mention the “Skills” of “Deliberation and bridge building across differences” and “Collaborative decision making”?1
A Crucible Moment, too, grounds its recommendations in measures of civic ignorance such as National Assessment of Educational Progress civics exams, the
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