Moral, civic lessons lacking in U.S. colleges

MENLO PARK, Ca. — The nation’s colleges and universities need to do more to address moral and civic learning among undergraduates, scholars have concluded after a three-year study.

“Students’ moral and civic development is not a high priority in American higher education,” said Anne Colby, a scholar at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

“We have been struck again and again by the many lost opportunities for moral and civic growth in curricular and extracurricular programs on most campuses.”

Colby is one of the authors of “Educating Citizens: Preparing America’s Undergraduates for Lives of Moral and Civic Responsibility.” The authors urge campuses to address proactively such values as truth, mutual respect and tolerance for others in academic life. “Colleges and universities ought to place these values at the center of their work if they are committed to graduating engaged and responsible citizens,” said Tom Ehrlich, another author and scholar at the foundation in Menlo Park, Calif.