EX-OSU prof’s protest vow is part of fight for democracy

At 80, Walter “Mac” Davis, a retired Ohio State University English professor, is planning a new series of three-minute lectures which he plans to present to the board of commissioners at Grand Haven, Mich.

He intends to use his allotted time as a citizen to protest conservative actions at every meeting of the newly elected board for the next two years.

The Grand Rapids Press reported that Davis thinks the new board members are “fascists” and “troglodytic.” At issue there is book banning and library defunding.

“I want to get across the idea that to be a citizen is to bear a responsibility to think, read and reflect and always combat ignorance,” Davis told Mlive.com. “Voting is the beginning of citizenship, not the end.”

In a larger sense the issue is far more significant than book banning and library defunding.

It is about the role of the educational system overall in helping to foster democracy in America. At a time when autocracy seems to be gaining a foothold, educational institutions at all levels need to take responsibility for addressing the values of an illiberal world order.

Ohio, for example, has the seventh largest population in the U.S. Yet only 30 percent of citizens over 25 have a bachelor’s degree or higher compared with the national average of 35 percent, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

This, despite the number of colleges and universities within the state’s 88 counties: 14 four-year public universities with 24 branch campuses, and more than 50 four-year private colleges and universities.”

How far Davis gets with his mini lectures remains to be seen.

But the subject of education’s role in democracybuilding was disappointing as far back as colonial times. In his last will, George Washington reportedly expressed his regret that more progress had not been made in educating citizens.

More recently, Ronald J. Daniels, president of Johns Hopkins University, published “What Universities Owe Democracy” in which he contends civics education had been thought to be the responsibility of elementary and secondary schools.

In the 1980s, however, the K-12 schools responded to falling reading and math test scores and sidelined social studies and civics.

“Today, only about a quarter of K-12 students in the United States score as proficient in a test of civic knowledge, skills, and dispositions,” Daniels wrote. “Even more disquieting are yawning gaps that have emerged in civic education across racial, ethnic, class, and geographic lines …”

Daniels began working on his book in 2017, at a time when threats to liberal democracy and international order were increasing. He argues that colleges and universities have a compelling responsibility to promote liberal democracy. As institutions, they are “inextricably intertwined with democracy’s values and ends.”

Among his prescriptions, Daniels urges that colleges and universities develop democracy requirements for graduation. He writes:

“Recent civics research tells us that good citizenship consists of a multifaceted set of competencies: a knowledge of democratic history, theory, and practice; skills of reasoning, persuasion, and interaction with political institutions and community organizations; an embrace of core democratic values like tolerance and the dignity of all people; and aspirations toward cooperation and collective action.”

Despite numerous studies about the benefits of a college degree in terms of social mobility and lifetime earnings, enrollment in post-secondary institutions has been shrinking over the past decade. Reasons cited for the decline include the cost of college and fear of amassing large debt, as well as stress and uncertainty about future plans. In addition, certification and licensing programs have provide new pathways.

In writing about leadership and statesmen with whom he worked, Henry Kissinger at 99 recalls the characteristics of six world leaders who navigated through some of the world’s most trying times.

In his conclusion, he observes: “The West’s secondary schools and universities remain very good at educating activists and technicians; they have wandered from their mission of forming citizens – among them, potential statesmen.”

It is easy to write-off the counsel of the elderly, but it is foolish to ignore the wisdom they have accumulated in their lifetimes. Nowhere is this truer than in those difficult times when our core values are being challenged.

Walter Davis may have lost some of the spring in his step, but his mind is clear, and his spine is stiff. And we are all better off for it.

William Dimascio is a former Associated Press Bureau chief for the state of Ohio, executive editor of the Cleveland Press and communications consultant. Now retired, he lives in Upper Arlington.