We begin by presenting a case statement in support of civic learning. While much of this report deals in statistics, classroom practices, and policy arguments, we begin with something more basic—a broad look at what civic learning is, why it matters, and its centrality to American democracy throughout our history.

BY MICHAEL GERSON, MIKE MCCURRY, LES FRANCIS, AND JOHN BRIDGELAND

I. Our Current Challenge
It is the current crisis of America that great civic exertions are required of a divided people. Our bonds are strained, our civility has worn thin, and our sense of common purpose has weakened, just as the need for cooperation on
large challenges grows urgent.

We are an optimistic people, and rightly so. Born out of the simple belief that life could and should be better, each generation of Americans has risen to great challenges, from a revolution for independence to a civil war to end slavery to economic upheavals to world wars to building a more just and inclusive society for all people. Our history, while imperfect, evokes pride. And even in difficult times, Americans believe in exceptionalism—not an exceptionalism built on a sense of superiority, but in firm confidence that a nation that protects individual liberty, promotes equality of opportunity, and permits the human spirit to flourish is fundamental to building a more perfect union at home, while serving as a beacon of hope to people around the world.

But the ideal of America as composed of a unified “We the People” can at times seem to ring hollow, since so little seems to unite three hundred million Americans. At a time of our greatest division, Abraham Lincoln reminded his
countrymen that, “though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection.” Americans' bonds of affection are once again threatened, and we must call upon the better angels of our nature to restore them.

The present decline in common purpose is closely linked to a decline in civility. When Americans do not feel bound to their fellow citizens, spirited rhetoric leads to divisiveness and inaction. Even a brief look at cable news or political blogs makes clear that many Americans are talking past— rather than to—each other, and they often do so with a fundamental lack of respect for the other's perspectives. Daniel Patrick Moynihan famously told opponents that they were “entitled to their own opinions, but not their own facts.” Today, on nearly every public issue, different fact patterns to which various sides subscribe make productive discourse nearly impossible.

Worse yet, these divisions and this dysfunction come at a horribly inopportune time. On our current trajectory, America will not only place unfair burdens on the rising generation, it will leave them unprepared and ill–equipped for success in a competitive world. And that course would betray the greatest duty of any generation—the duty to leave its children loved, prepared, valued, guided and educated to and for a better life. Consider just a few of the many challenges we face:

!We are at the beginning of an historic economic transformation as we move from an industrial, national economy to a technological, global one. The individual, economic, and societal impacts are already staggering, and few of our leaders have presented a plan that fully explains how we as a nation will emerge even stronger in the newly globalized world. Many wonder how we can restore the American Dream, as rates of social mobility in America fall behind those of our European counterparts.

! Our education system routinely fails urban, rural, low–income and minority students. Too many students drop out of high school and college, and those who do graduate—particularly those from low–income families—often lack the education, skills, and training necessary to succeed in the twenty–first century global economy.

! Our national health care system measures worst among industrialized nations on nearly every metric, despite our spending more, on a per capita basis, on health than any other country on earth.

! The nation's infrastructure—road, transit systems, water, sewers, airports, rail, and ports—is crumbling, literally falling to pieces at a rate that will cripple economic growth and individual freedom.

And perhaps worst of all, these crises come when we can least afford to deal with them. Our national debt will soon exceed our GDP for only the second time in American history, every child born today comes into the world owing at least $45,000, and the “balance due” grows each and every day.

Structural deficits leave us with no easy answers. Benefits and entitlements that Americans hold dear, such as Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, will not be immune from the pressures of our fiscal reality. On the revenue side we have, at the federal level, a tax code that is cumbersome and riddled with loopholes.
The fiscal crisis of the states and cities is, in some cases, even more urgent, with fiscal pressures and constitutionally mandated balanced budget requirements forcing cuts in education, public safety, health services, and more.

Instead of securing the blessings of liberty for our posterity, we are imposing upon them a crumbling infrastructure, broken health care and education systems, and a burden of debt they do not deserve and should not bear.