A common refrain in education at every level is simple: pay attention. Hidden within this practical command is a transcendent truth: that, as Simone Weil stated, “attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity” and the precursor to love.

As advances in technology have monetized attention, there can be a temptation for the conversation to focus on distraction and devices, missing the deeper call to practices fundamental to human flourishing.

But there is also a movement within higher education to become a prophetic voice at this critical moment. For instance, the Franco Family Institute for the Liberal Arts at Notre Dame declared “attention” the research theme for the year, and is hosting a symposium in April with leading artists and thinkers on the theme “How Should We Hold Attention?”

Similarly, the Educating for the Virtues of Attention (EVA) initiative at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, is asking what it would mean to educate not just with attention, but for attention itself. EVA is a three-year, campus-wide initiative led by philosopher Michael Vazquez that aims to respond to what he calls a widely recognized “crisis of attention” while refusing to frame the problem only in negative terms.