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Harry Boyte writes for Education Week

Education Week - logoHarry Boyte, senior fellow at the Sabo Center for Democracy and Citizenship, recently published an article for Education Week about democracy in education. The article is part of a conversational series between Boyte and Deborah Meier, senior scholar at New York University’s Steinhardt School of Education.

Boyte argues that we should view democracy as “an empowering way of life,” and not merely a decision-making process. “We need to combine the ‘head,’ which makes decisions, the ‘heart,’ moral imagination and emotion, and the ‘hand,’ civic muscles that power action in the world,” he writes.

In regards to education, Boyte offers an antidote to a culture that separates the hard sciences, the arts and the professional or vocational fields, parallels to the “head”, “heart” and “hand” metaphor. He argues in favor of Cooperative Education, “a method that combines academic study and classroom learning with practical work experience for which students can receive academic credit.”

Read the article, which also was published on the Huffington Post Education site.

Harry Boyte remembers Martin Olav Sabo ’59 in Huffington Post article

Huffington-Post - logoHarry Boyte, senior scholar in public work philosophy for the Sabo Center for Democracy and Citizenship, shared in a recent Huffington Post article his experiences working with the Center’s namesake: the late Martin Olav Sabo ’59. Prior to the 2009 merging of the Sabo Center and Augsburg College’s Center for Democracy and Citizenship, Boyte had met Sabo while working for the Reinventing Citizenship initiative in 1993.

Boyte writes of Sabo’s reputation as a respectful, bipartisan advocate for democracy. He states that Sabo exemplified the values of Augsburg College “in extraordinary ways, believing in the positive role of government and also the need for a much bigger environment of civic interaction.” He further notes that “Martin was enthusiastic about our work to… create public discussions on the purpose and future of colleges and universities that can reframe what is now often a polarized and narrow debate.”

Read Martin Olav Sabo and the Spirit of Democracy on the Huffington Post site.

Harry Boyte examines public spaces and democracy

Huffington-PostIn his latest Huffington Post article, Harry Boyte, Augsburg’s Sabo Senior Fellow, discusses the need for public spaces in higher education.

The idea, Boyte says, is that public spaces on college campuses can be used for discussions and demonstrations allowing for more political and democratic expression, therefore bridging the gap between “private” and “public” worlds.

“Public spaces allow for expressions of higher education’s best democratic values — free exchange of ideas, thoughtful discussion, appeal to evidence and respect for different perspectives,” Boyte said.

To read the “Universities, public spaces and the democratic way of life” article, visit the Huffington Post news site.

Harry Boyte talks special education and civil rights

Huffington-PostIn his latest Huffington Post article, Harry Boyte, Augsburg’s Sabo Senior Fellow, discussed special education and how it has become part of a “new” civil rights movement.

In the article, Boyte says that Augsburg College is a school that has gotten it right.

“The Augsburg special education program, dedicated to changing the entire special education profession from an approach which seeks to fix “problem kids” to an empowering pedagogy called Public Achievement which develops their public skills, is an outstanding example,” Boyte wrote in the article.

Read “The march is not over yet: a different education for the 21st century,” on the Huffington Post news site.

Harry Boyte discusses importance of civic agency

Huffington-PostHarry Boyte, senior fellow in the Sabo Center for Democracy and Citizenship, in his latest Huffington Post article talked about the importance of civic studies within schools.

In 1991, Boyte helped start Public Achievement, an “interdisciplinary action-oriented field focused on agency and citizens as co-creators,” to encourage the practice of self-organized civic action among students.

Read “Civic Agency and Executive Function: An Emerging Conversation” on the Huffington Post site.

Huffington Post covers college skyways

Huffington-PostAugsburg College was mentioned in an article about the skyway systems in use on some college campuses.

In Minnesota, the skyway systems help students stay out of the elements whilst still enjoying the natural beauty that abounds.

To learn more about the skyway systems and see a clip of Auggie Eagle enjoying a leisurely walk in an off-campus skyway, visit the Huffington Post site.

Harry Boyte discusses student citizenship

Huffington-PostHarry Boyte, senior fellow of the Sabo Center for Democracy and Citizenship at Augsburg College, in his latest Huffington Post article spoke about a national live-streamed conversation titled, “The Changing World of Work – What Should We Ask of Higher Education?”

The conversation, which was organized by Augsburg College and drew support from the American Library Association’s Center for Civic Life, the Service Employees International Union, and other organizations, was focused on how to increase and improve citizenship among college students.

Read “Educating for the work of democracy – the Freedom Spirit then and now,” on the Huffington Post.

Harry Boyte discusses public work on Huffington Post

Huffington-PostIn his recent article for The Huffington Post, Harry Boyte — Augsburg’s Sabo Senior Fellow — discusses the role Augsburg College and other universities can play in helping students address problems, meet challenges, and build a more democratic society using the public work approach. Read the article, Colleges as Agents of Change — The Public Work Approach, to learn more about Augsburg’s “down-to-earth quality wedding liberal arts education to career training grounded in practical experience.”