Even as charter schooling has been at the forefront of education reform efforts, we know remarkably little about how these schools approach this critical dimension of education. What have charter schools done with the opportunity to rethink civic education? Are there lessons to be learned? Are there challenges that impede their ability to teach citizenship?

The chief obstacle to ROTC's expansion today is not antimilitary sentiment but a Pentagon that prefers to allocate its resources to surer recruiting prospects, primarily in the South and the Midwest.

ROTC cadets on elite campuses across much of the nation still face serious obstacles to their aspiration to serve their country.In the case of Columbia, the blame lies not with Columbia or its students, but with the ROTC program in New York City--which has just four host units located on campuses remote from most students.

American students are less proficient in their nation's history than any other subject. If creating good citizens who understand the workings of their government is a national goal, schools need to do better.

Americans are rightly concerned that schools are not providing students with the knowledge and habits necessary to be good citizens.

The lifting of elite-school bans against the ROTC will be a lost opportunity unless the military and civilian leadership push for more substantive changes to the ROTC program, broadening its base and seeking more geographic and institutional diversity.

Just three weeks after Columbia's university senate voted in favor of engaging with ROTC, Columbia has announced it will reinstate its Navy ROTC program. Meanwhile, ROTC looks set to return to both Stanford and Yale.

Harvard recognizing its Naval ROTC program is a great moment and other universities should follow suit.