Community college faculty and administrators need to examine their institutional mission and assess how well they are fulfilling it. At the very core of community colleges is the call to serve all segments of society and the community Vaughan, How evident is this mission in classes, personal interactions, curriculum, and general college activities?
To serve the community, institutions must help prepare students to be effective leaders and citizens who understand and embrace the concept of civic responsibility. Attempting to define civic responsibility can be a daunting task because of frequently overlapping constructs, values, and interpretations.
Indeed, the very mention of the term civic responsibility evokes notions of what it means to live in a democracy, in addition to the complementary ideas of citizenship, social responsibility, civic engagement, and community involvement.
In constructing a working definition of civic responsibility, we chose to depict it as an overarching concept that encompasses civic engagement and what it means to be a citizen:. Civic responsibility means active participation in the public life of a community in an informed, committed, and constructive manner, with a focus on the common good. We encourage you to work with your students to reshape or change this definition entirely to formulate one that works for your class.
For example, is anything missing from the definition? What about concepts such as social justice, social change, or respecting the rights of others? Does the notion of the common good include respecting and protecting the rights of others? Does this definition only work in a democracy?
Given the working definition, how can faculty make civic responsibility an integral part of their curriculum and potentially affect student learning outcomes? Other definitions of civic responsibility often exhibit some or all of the following characteristics:. The American Association of Community Colleges AACC defines service learning as the combination of community service and classroom instruction, with a focus on critical, reflective thinking as well as personal and civic responsibility.
We believe service learning offers the greatest potential for fostering civic responsibility because it provides opportunities for students to engage directly in their communities and meet community needs while enhancing their course work.
It is important that, at the same time, students purposefully explore what civic responsibility means and the importance of both understanding and embracing this concept. With the belief in the potential of service learning in mind, this section addresses several issues and areas of concern. First, because some college students reflect the pattern of the larger society toward civic disengagement, one of the roles of higher education should be to find ways to renew and strengthen the commitment of students to civic life.
It is critically important for the leadership of higher education to call on their institutions to play an active role in civic renewal. However, this renewal will not happen until faculty find ways to engage students in their communities and take the time to help them think critically about the importance of civic responsibility and their role as citizens.
Second, although there are hopeful signs that students, especially those in high school and college, are now more involved in service than in the past, it is not clear whether this service is actually cultivating a greater understanding and commitment to civic responsibility, or indeed how this could be measured Sax, ; Skinner and Chapman, Here again, higher education can promote civic renewal through innovative initiatives such as service learning.
Although service learning continues to gain momentum as an important and far-reaching movement in higher education, it seems that faculty and service learning program coordinators are not sufficiently addressing the concept of civic responsibility with their students.
Simply involving students in a service experience does not necessarily result in students gaining a better understanding of the importance and complexities of civic responsibility. It is imperative that we help faculty better understand this concept and how it relates to service learning, and provide tools to help them more purposefully integrate learning about civic responsibility into their teaching.
Finally, the increase in immigration experienced by our society in the last two decades has transformed both our communities and our college campuses. Faculty can help recent immigrants and international students find avenues toward wider participation in civil society and understand the values and beliefs that underlie American political and civic life. Much has been written about the growing disengagement of young people from civic life.
Based on research using a number of independent data sources, he found that older Americans — specifically those who reached adulthood during the Depression and World War II — have been much more deeply engaged in civic life than the generations that came after them Putnam, In subsequent investigations, Putnam discovered that the trend toward civic disengagement has become even more significant since Putnam, It concluded:.
Too many of us lack confidence in our capacity to make basic moral and civic judgments, to join with our neighbors to do the work of community, to make a difference. In a time that cries out for civic action, we are in danger of becoming a nation of spectators. Student responses to an annual nationwide survey of college freshmen conducted by the Higher Education Research Institute of the University of California — Los Angeles demonstrated the degree of disengagement from certain forms of civic life.
For example, interest in politics has plummeted, as measured by students understanding the importance of being informed, voting, and discussing political affairs Sax, In response to these trends, the presidents of several colleges and universities from across the nation issued a declaration on the civic responsibility of higher education at a meeting of Campus Compact, a national organization of college presidents that focuses on civic engagement and service in higher education.
They acknowledged that a growing number of students were participating in public and community service, but that these experiences did not necessarily lead them to embrace the duties of active citizenship.
The assembled presidents identified a set of related trends among young people: a decline in voter turnout, increased feelings of indifference to political participation, a sense of cynicism, and a growing lack of trust in the political process.
In their declaration, the presidents called on their colleagues to take action against a rising tide of civic disengagement:. But now, with over two-thirds of recent high school graduates, and ever larger numbers of adults, enrolling in postsecondary studies, higher education has an unprecedented opportunity to influence the democratic knowledge, dispositions, and habits of the heart that graduates carry with them into the public square.
Higher education is uniquely positioned to help Americans understand the histories and contours of our own present challenges as a diverse democracy.
It is also uniquely positioned to help both students and our communities to explore new ways of fulfilling the promise of justice and dignity for all, both in our own democracy and as part of the global community. Despite these negative trends, there are some hopeful signs. Young people today show an increased involvement in volunteerism and community service apart from politics.
There are many different routes to involvement in the community. The Corporation for National and Community Service, created in , is a federal agency that supports institutional and individual efforts to provide service to local communities. Each year more than a million Americans, young and old, participate in activities and projects funded through the Corporation. Except for positive changes in the community and raising collective welfare, volunteer work also helps us in our individual journey.
And I can best prove this on a personal level. I started doing volunteer work in my primary school as a need to help my friends in school who had started to drop out of school. There my enthusiasm and love for volunteer work started, not having stopped even today. It as a special feeling when you see that you were part of a process and with your commitment you managed to change the mind of a person for them to not give up on school.
My commitment to the community through volunteer work, today is also part of my success as a young entrepreneur, not yet 18, and is also opening roads toward studying abroad. The support for volunteer work should come not only from family, but also educational institutions, professors and school directors to contribute to the community and not denying it.
They should congratulate and celebrate for every success student achieve with volunteer work. If each one of us gives only a bit of importance to their free time and contributes in the community, does good things for the neighborhood, school, society then the impact can be noticed in the whole city or village where we live. In this way, we can become the change we want in society. About the author: Leona Jahiri is an 18 years old girl who attends studies at the Competence Center in Ferizaj.
As a result, volunteers become more confident networking with government offices to address social needs. Also, research behind the Ready-Set-Go!
Practicing such problem-solving skills at a young age, combined with insights gained through service, leads to confident leaders who believe they can make a difference in their communities. Setting the stage for lifelong volunteers Volunteers become engaged citizens because their personal experiences with social problems give them the confidence and tools to do more.
Role modeling: Parents and educators should set the example , and expose children to volunteering. Acquainting children and teenagers with the social values of volunteering will instill compassion and a sense of civic responsibility. Adults should also allow teen volunteers to make decisions and take action on their own, which will give them a sense of ownership.
Their successes will build confidence, and mistakes will offer valuable learning experiences. Education, service, and reflection: Studies show that volunteering which involves learning, planning, and reflection i. Such experiences challenge students to learn from differences, reflect on their own fortunes, and determine ways to mobilize others for change.
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