While nearly half of students surveyed strongly agreed that they had come to college aware of the importance of contributing to the greater good of society, only about a third felt strongly that the campus had helped them learn the skills they needed to change society for the better or that their commitment to improve society had grown there, the report says.
Moreover, the gap between the civic education students desire and what they actually receive appears to widen as they progress through their undergraduate years, with seniors being substantially less likely than freshmen to believe their institution is promoting the goal of contributing to the community.
While nearly three-fourths of the campus professionals surveyed strongly felt that getting students to contribute to the larger community should be a major focus of their institutions, fewer than half saw doing so as a top institutional priority.
Caryn McTighe Musil, senior vice president of the AACU, said the report's findings "really reveal for higher education that we need to walk the walk" when it comes to promoting the civic education of students. "We have to provide an array of opportunities for them, and we don't," she said.
George L. Mehaffy, vice president for academic leadership and change at the American Association of State Colleges and Universities and the leader of an effort by that group to promote civic education, said the AACU report suggests that colleges are much more effective in promoting civic engagement in freshman general-education courses than they are in the classes that students take later on, as part of their majors. Colleges need to do more to promote community involvement throughout the curriculum, and not merely as a separate activity, he said, adding, "It is important for all of us who are involved in this work to take this report seriously."
The promotion of civic engagement is widely seen on campuses as a key learning goal, and that some programs and activities appear to be succeeding in making students more community-focused.
Courses that require community engagement and student organizations with service components both seem to make a significant dent in promoting civic involvement, the survey found. Students who prayed or meditated, or interacted with faculty members outside of class, were substantially more likely than others to report a sense of being involved with the community.
Campus professionals at research institutions reported the biggest gap between aspiration and reality. Nearly 75 percent strongly agreed that contributing to the community should be a major focus of their institutions, but only about 42 percent strongly agreed that it actually was.
What's Next?
Colleges and campus professionals may implement civic engagement through service-learning projects, internships/practicums, student organizations, and etc. Civic engagement is also a vital resource that helps students build their resumes. Particularly at my institution, civic engagements is seen in a variety of capacities (i.e. student organizations., Greek Life, academic departments, athletics, staff council, and etc.) Being involved within the community as college students is vital to the learning process that allows the development of leadership traits, networking, philanthropy, character, and social and interpersonal skills to name a few. As student affairs professionals and academic advisors, it is important that we instill in our students the importance of participating within the campus and local communities. From reading the report found on this study, it brings to mind are colleges instilling in their students to be active in their community? Are students focusing more on academics today than before? Are students who were active while in high school more prone to be active in college? These questions may provide student affairs administrators evidence of their student bodies involvement within the broader community.
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