Canadian Universities as Institutes for Civic Pedagogies
Sucked into the centrifugal force of the global economy, Canadian universities are failing the Canadian collective. Canadians want their society to be distinguished by social cohesion, social justice, and social responsibility, outcomes poorly addressed by higher education organized around disciplines and professions. A more promising approach would be a higher education initiative organized around contemporary citizenship per se, particularly participatory processes for late modernity. 1 Institutes for civic pedagogies in Canadian universities are proposed. Canadians and critical citizenship Canadians are puzzling about the complex and interrelated dynamics of late capitalism and democracy. Aware that Canada is ranked as highly as any country by the UN’s Human Development Index, residents of this country are still disquieted about the quality of life—their lives and that of others. Simply put, sleeping in the Canadian outdoors during summer vacations is still thought desirable; Canadians sleeping in the doorways of 7-Eleven stores is not. Signally, Canadians yearn for an economic sphere nested within a societal and cultural sphere and are dismayed that resources for the latter seem to be scraps left over from the economic juggernaut. 2 In the same vein, they are alarmed that Canadian technical know-how seems to be outstripping social know-how and that the Canadian ‘commons’ is—well, less common. Constructing meaningful lives as subjects within the opportunities and constraints of historical materialism is the perennial and ubiquitous task. But the concurrency, intensity, and paradoxical nature of issues in late modernity make the formulation of any sense-making, big picture particularly labyrinthine. Nonetheless, Canadians are doggedly searching for ‘solutions’ that emerge from collectivity, solutions for which there are no handy or immediate referents. In this quest, the ‘old’ subject of citizenship—as both an analytic idea and normative ideal—acquires new relevance and urgency. 3 Unsure about boundaries (Canadian? global? local?), nonetheless Canadians are adamant about democratic citizenship, whatever the sphere. The unheeding university Education— publicly-funded, democratically available—has been a structural means for Canadian society to approach common problems and realize shared aspirations. Currently, all Canadian educational institutions highlight education for individuals to compete in the global economy. Patently, education configured for individuals, competition, and economic functioning is not addressing the collective dimension of development so embedded in the Canadian psyche. Sadly, there’s a short supply of education for citizens whose desire is to find a Canadian balance between individual and collective well-being. Canadian universities, too, accentuate education