Creating civil citizens? The value and limits of teaching civility in schools

Cormier, Andrée Anne; Brighouse, Harry

doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9781315146928-5

Creating civil citizens? The value and limits of teaching civility in schools

Citation

Cormier AA, Brighouse H. Creating civil citizens? The value and limits of teaching civility in schools. In: Macleod C, Tappolet C, editors. Philosophical perspectives on moral and civic education: shaping citizens and their schools. New York: Routledge; 2019. p. 68-85. DOI: 10.4324/9781315146928-5

Abstract

Andrée-Anne Cormier and Harry Brighouse explore the question of whether there are good reasons for schools to try to produce citizens disposed to use, and practiced in, civil discourse and behavior, and if so, what this implies for schools. First, the authors propose an account of the value (and disvalue) of civility, drawing on Cheshire Calhoun’s conception. They argue that civility is good in many circumstances, but not always. In some circumstances, it is neither beneficial nor morally required. Second, they elucidate the reasons for teaching civility in schools and what they think that doing so would involve, what demands it would make on teachers, and how the aim of promoting civility would shape the structure of schools. Finally, they identify some reasons for pessimism that schools can be very successful in promoting civility. They do not think that these are conclusive reasons against teaching civility in schools, but they suggest that civility can only be taught well if educators are clear-eyed about the hurdles they will have to overcome.