Module1

Civic Responsibility

[AmeriCorps Project Ayuda]

Module 1: Civic Engagement in Higher Education

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Learning Objective:

Foster an understanding of how higher education is not simply for private gain, but is also a public good.

Reading

On May 21, 2004, Stanley Fish published an editorial in the New York Times titled Why We Built the Ivory Tower. In this essay, Mr. Fish argues that colleges and universities should be wary of taking on the "additional responsibilities" of "forming character" and "fashioning citizens."

The following are a few excerpts from Fish's article:

". . . don't confuse you academic obligations to save the world; that's not your job as an academic . . ."
"Marx famously said that our job is not to interpret the world, but to change it. In the academy, however, it is exactly the reverse: our job is not to change the world, but to interpret it."
"My point is not that academics should refrain from being political in an absolute sense -- that is impossible -- but that they should engage in politics appropriate to the enterprise they signed onto . . . These responsibilities include meeting classes, keeping up in the discipline, assigning and correcting papers, opening up new areas of scholarship, and so on."

Reflective Activity:

1. Think back to when you started thinking about going to college, or to when you began looking for a college or university. What do you remember about how colleges and universities were advertising?

2. Why do you think that the civic mission of higher education has recently been the focus of a great deal of attention? What are some of the potential causes of concern?

3. What can you do as a student to advance this civic renewal?

Now, you must send in your answers:

E-mail them to pvcceap@pvmail.maricopa.edu

Fax them to 602-787-7297

Or, mail them to:
ATTN: Project Ayuda
Paradise Valley Community College
18401 N. 32nd Street KSC 151A
Phoenix, AZ 85032

Next Module

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*Special thanks to the Midwest Campus Compact Consortium for their work in putting this guide together.