Education and Citizenship: Beyond 'The University of Excellence.'

Universities have a utopian ancestry. In centuries past they stood as model sites both for the formation of citizens and for the reproduction of national culture. Ideally, their internal organization and values represented the best structure of community for preparing students to serve the larger society of which the university formed part. The principle underpinning such organization might be reason (as in Kant's The Conflict of the Faculties) or, later, culture (as expressed in Humboldt's leadership in forming the University of Berlin and Arnold's Culture and Anarchy) or Christian theology (as in Newman's The Idea of a University). Whatever the inspiring idea, the role of the university was clear. It was not only a community of scholars. It was the place where good citizens were formed.