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Macalester College in St. Paul Minnesota took out
a full page ad on p. 21
in the Sunday 9/29/02 New York Times that is focused on the college's role in civic and social engagement. In the ad, which features quotes from prominent alumni in the corporate, public and nonprofit sectors, includes the following article by College President Michael S. McPherson. Civic and Social Engagement: Now More Than Ever. The recent round of corporate scandals reminds us, if we needed reminding, that some prominent business leaders have failed to understand that business success is not just a matter of private gain, but has important elements of civic and social responsibility as well. We must ask whether we educators share in this failure. Have we failed to impart an adequate understanding of the social and civic responsibilities that must accompany leadership in business and in other aspects of life? I fear that the answer is yes, and further, that this failure is part of a larger failure in American higher education to build education for civic and social responsibility into the basic college curriculum. Adam Smith, that great proponent of markets and self-interest, never forgot that the invisible hand works only when people operate within the rules; no invisible hand directs the jewel thief or the crooked accountant to socially desirable ends. Nor can the police of the SEC enforcement division, necessary as they are, do the whole job of making people obey the rules. A society in which no one felt an internal compunction against breaking the rules, one in which people lacked what Smith called "the still small spark of conscience" would need an impossibly large police force. Basic education may have done the trick in Smith's day, and it remains essential. Certainly nobody would expect a college to instill basic moral values in young adults who arrive bereft of them. But in a complex postindustrial society, the responsibilities of citizenship and of professional life - including business life - demand more sophisticated understanding that was true in Smith's day. The more technical aspects of business or legal or medical ethics need to be addressed in professional schools. But just as undergraduate education provides the grounding for advanced studies in these areas, so should it equip students to grasp and to act on the civic and social responsibilities that will accompany their professional and personal lives. The issue here is not to indoctrinate students in particular moral or political beliefs. Rather, we want to increase students' awareness of the moral values at stake in their personal and professional choices, equip them with the skills they need to reason well and to weigh evidence in executing these civic and social responsibilities, and help them to learn to act effectively in fulfilling their responsibilities. Every part of a modern college curriculum can be designed to contribute to education for active and responsible citizenship. Whether through learning how to weigh quantitative or scientific evidence about public policy, or through cultivating empathic understanding through the study of art and literature, or through learning the arts of civil discourse, students' classroom work can be strengthen their moral and civic capacities. With careful planning and community participation, colleges can also offer opportunities for great civic learning experiences outside the classroom, through internships, research on community problems and service learning courses. This kind of education can help all of our students learn to live more valuable and fulfilling lives. For those who pursue corporate careers, it will help them put the quest for personal gain in the context of the larger social and civic aims of corporate leadership, recognizing their responsibilities not only to stockholders but to society at large. And those who become corporate directors will know how to ask the right questions and press for clear answers about corporate practices - as the directors involved in the current scandals have so conspicuously failed to do. It would of course be absurd to claim that any college education can provide a guarantee against fraud or malfeasance. Nonetheless, a determined effort by colleges and universities to promote civic and social responsibility among their students should do much to improve the quality of civic life in America, and to make demoralizing scandals like those we are living through less likely. Posted by:
Stacy L. Holmes
Program Coordinator Community-Campus Partnerships for Health Tel. 206-543-7954 Fax. 206-685-6747 slholmes@u.washington.edu http://www.ccph.info |