Students and Higher Education Not Seeing Eye to Eye on 'Civic Responsibility'

Many educational scholars and practitioners argue the importance of civic responsibility in higher education. With the outcome of students learning how to be good citizens in focus, colleges and universities talk a great deal about fostering an appreciation of social responsibility and civic engagement on their campuses, with some institutions doing more than others.

A survey released this week by the Assocation of American Colleges and Universities as a part of its Core Commitments initiative reflects the importance with which civic responsibility is viewed among students, faculty, and staff, but points to a large split between what students perceive to be happening in the way of civic education on campus versus the faculty, staff, and administration's view.

Here are some of the survey's findings:

There is a Gap Between Campus Aspirations and Campus Realities.

While 58 percent of students surveyed strongly agreed that contributing to a larger community should be a major focus of their institutions, only 41.5 percent strongly agreed that contributing to a larger community currently is a major focus at their college or university.

Campuses are Perceived as Promoting the Value of Community Involvement but Fewer Agree that Their Campus Actually Advances Students’ Knowledge and Awareness of Public Issues.

About half of all faculty and 45 percent of students strongly agree that their campus promotes the value of contributing to the community. Only 37.7 percent of faculty and 40.4 percent of students strongly agree that their campus actively promotes awareness of U.S. social, political, and economic issues.

Student Skepticism About Campus Focus on Civic Engagement Grows From First to Final Years.

The percentage of students who strongly agreed that contributing to a larger community is a responsibility that their campus values and promotes declines markedly from first to senior year. The number of seniors who “strongly agree” that their campus actively promotes awareness of social, political, and economic issues is roughly one-half of first-year students who “strongly agree” with that statement.

Campuses Offer Opportunities to Become Civically Engaged, but Few Students Take Advantage of Them.

About half of all students strongly agreed that their institutions offer opportunities for contributing to the larger community, but only one out of five (18.9 percent) students report frequent participation in community-based projects as part of their coursework. One in four (25.6 percent) report frequent participation in community-based projects that are unconnected to their courses.

The main message here is that saying and doing are two different things.

Yes, institutions like to use language like "civic engagement," "civic responsibility," "social responsibility," "engagement," and the like, and while some actually do put into practice these values, the reality is that the higher ed system doesn't reward it. Faculty actually lack the necessary incentives to incorporate civic education into their classrooms given the weight of published work in the tenure process. Student affairs educators are bound by time and the legitimate fear untenured faculty have of engaging in this style of learning. And as a result, students don't believe colleges and universities are providing them with the civic responsibility they are expecting. Unless we have a culture of intentionality and a structure encouraging authentic, collaborative learning among students, I believe those of us working/studying in higher education are always going to be stuck in this divide.

Students acknowledge there are opportunities present to connect to a "larger community" in their current experience, but their concept of a "larger community" apparently does not match the institution's. Perhaps the structure of the academy is holding itself and students back from properly teaching the importance of civic education to college students.