{"id":155,"date":"2018-05-14T14:15:02","date_gmt":"2018-05-14T18:15:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/cheb\/?p=155"},"modified":"2018-05-14T14:15:02","modified_gmt":"2018-05-14T18:15:02","slug":"the-purposeful-graduate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/cheb\/2018\/05\/14\/the-purposeful-graduate\/","title":{"rendered":"The Purposeful Graduate"},"content":{"rendered":"

Clydesdale, T. (2015). The purposeful graduate: Why colleges must talk to students about vocation<\/em>. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.<\/p>\n

\"\"\u00a0This book tells a story about “systematically inviting and supporting reflection about life\u2019s purpose [an initiative funded by the Lilly Endowment\u2019s Programs for the Theological Exploration of Vocation, PTVE] on dozens of college and university campuses, and among thousands of students, faculty, and staff\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While the author acknowledges the many problems with contemporary higher education, he is more optimistic than many writers on the topic.\u00a0 The accessible style make the book a refreshing read, although there is rather a lot of repetition.<\/p>\n

One pertinent observation is the benefit of involving faculty and staff in the program (which included a series of seminars) on an equal footing: \u201cthe more a college can bridge its faculty and staff divide, the better it can deliver the education it promises\u201d (p. 32). This speaks to the larger problem that<\/p>\n

\u201cRarely do campus populations see themselves as part of a larger endeavor; the contemporary university is not an ocean liner that delivers essential goods and personnel to distant shores but rather a flotilla of rafts loosely tied together while their thousand pilots grab a share of the cargo\u201d (p. 51).<\/p>\n

\u201cA sustained rebound [from the problems that beset modern universities] requires three things: \u2026 colleges and universities must unequivocally prioritize students, faculty, and staff as whole persons; these persons must, in turn, prioritize the organization\u2019s mission; and all must prioritize local and global citizenship\u201d (p. 55).<\/p>\n

Much of the book is devoted to detailed descriptions of PTVE\u2019s implementation at various colleges included in the author\u2019s sample, its impact on students (chapter 4) and faculty (chapter 5) and a critique of some of the implementations (chapter 6).<\/p>\n

Overall, the study shows the benefits of participation in the program in terms of student confidence, satisfaction, broadened perspectives, and a form of \u201cresilience and persistence\u201d that Clydesdale calls \u201cgrounded idealism\u201d (p. 118; the overall results are summarized in Appendix 4). Clydesdale also reported increased collegiality among faculty, and better understanding of and connection to the mission of the institution for students, staff, and faculty.<\/p>\n

The final chapter, \u201cLarger Lessons\u201d, summarizes the results of the study and places them in a broader context, including reviews of previous studies. Clydesdale notes the increasing anxiety reported by college students and their parents, and the \u201csocietal impact\u201d of record rates of college attendance and the associated debt. \u00a0He attributes the \u201clengthening path to adulthood\u201d to a combination of \u201cmacroeconomic changes that have made financial independence elusive; macrocultural shifts that have replaced traditional family formation with a menu of lifestyle options; and insufficient socialization of youth by families, schools, and congregations\u201d (p. 201). He points to declining academic standards and academic inefficiencies as troubling, but the central problem is lies with a flawed view of the purpose of higher education.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere I argue higher education is culpable is in not creatively and systematically engaging students in a wide-\u00adranging conversation about living lives of purpose in a complex, globally competitive, and deeply unjust world (p. 202). \u00a0\u201cWhen students view college education as a means to an economic end and not as an opportunity to learn, explore, and investigate the world, even the most efficient college or university will not foster genuine learning or engaged citizenship\u201d (p. 204)<\/p>\n

The author agrees with previous studies documenting the importance of vocation and \u201cspiritual engagement\u201d (including religious participation) in fostering purpose and providing a \u201ccentrality of meaning-\u00ad making to human life\u201d (p. 216), but criticizes the umbrella term \u201cspirituality\u201d as too vague and inclusive to be engaging. He notes that the most successful programs \u201csprang rather from exploration of theological ideas grounded in denominational narratives and traditions\u201d, and\u201dtheology offers a robust starting place for conversations about meaning and purpose\u201d (p. 217).<\/p>\n

Most importantly, Clydesdale stresses the need for faculty to engage discussions of purpose in their classes, and for higher administrators to actively and visibly support purpose-driven programs and discussions on campus. \u00a0Like Lonergan and many Catholic writers, he asserts that we \u201cyearn for truths that matter, truths that are worth caring about\u201d (p. 229).<\/p>\n

Appendix five provides and annotates \u201cresources for purpose exploration programming\u201d, including books, films and suggested program elements.<\/p>\n

Local Note<\/h5>\n

Seton Hall received a PTVE grant, although it was not one of the institutions studied here; see http:\/\/scholarship.shu.edu\/cgi\/viewcontent.cgi?article=1009&context=vocations<\/a>\u00a0 The funds established the Center for Vocation and Servant Leadership, which sponsors (among many other programs) the Faculty Seminar on Mission and the Praxis Program of the Advanced Seminar on Mission.<\/p>\n

Questions<\/h4>\n

A common problem in contemporary universities is the \u201cdivide\u201d between faculty, staff and administrators.\u00a0 How might we better bridge this division?<\/p>\n

What \u201cpurposeful\u201d programs do we currently have, and what more might we develop if funding could be obtained?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Clydesdale, T. (2015). The purposeful graduate: Why colleges must talk to students about vocation. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. \u00a0This book tells a story about “systematically inviting and supporting reflection about life\u2019s purpose [an initiative funded by the Lilly Endowment\u2019s Programs for the Theological Exploration of Vocation, PTVE] on dozens of college and university campuses, … Continue reading “The Purposeful Graduate”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":116,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-challenges-in-higher-education"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/cheb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/cheb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/cheb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/cheb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/116"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/cheb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=155"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/cheb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":157,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/cheb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155\/revisions\/157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/cheb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/cheb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/cheb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}