When students are too lazy to be socially and morally responsible, they shouldn’t blame the university; they ought to blame themselves.
But a recent survey by the Association of American Colleges and Universities placed the blame on the academy instead of the student. The survey found that only 30 percent of college students “”˜strongly agreed’ that their campuses emphasized refining ethical and moral reasoning.”
The survey aimed to “reclaim and revitalize the academy’s role in fostering students’ development of personal and social responsibility.”
However, it’s not the university that should be preaching moral and social guidance. Instead, students should be constructing their own sense of responsibility on an individual basis.
Of course, this does not absolve the university of all its commitments to its students. The most important priority of any higher education facility should be to provide an unbiased education to students. Students should be able to depend on an institution to lay out the facts so they can think critically about them.
Colleen Mullen, a second-year political science student and the logistics and finance coordinator for UCLA’s Student Activist Project said, “I think it’s the responsibility of the university to give us the critical thinking tools that we need to evaluate our own sense of social responsibility. … Those tools are incredibly important.”
Indeed, the university’s role is crucial in helping us come to a decision about our personal social responsibility and morality. But that doesn’t mean the university should be making those decisions for us. It shouldn’t be telling us how to live our lives. It’s a good thing to allow students to think for themselves, especially in the realm of moral and social responsibility.
By allowing us to flounder a bit without the life jacket of overpowering moral guidance to simplify our decisions, universities force us to come up with our own way of saving our souls.
From protesting the Vietnam War in the ’60s and ’70s to displaying our points of view on the Beijing Olympic Games today, students have played a major role in the global system, not by accepting the view of the administration but by thinking for ourselves.
By creating our own personal sense of social responsibility without excessive interference from the university, we are more likely to live by the standards we have constructed through our own intellectual thought.
Professor Mark Jepson, a UCLA sociology professor, said, “I’m not going to allow my students to cop out and just give them the answers and tell them how to think. Students have to situate themselves. … Professors are here to teach students how to look, not what to find.”
The survey claims it wants to strengthen the academy’s influence on its students, but Jepson is right: Instead of reclaiming the academy’s role in shaping its students, the academy should be reasserting students’ roles in shaping themselves.
So if the university does take a step back, how do we find moral and social guidance should we want it?
That’s where private campus organizations come in. Groups such as the Social Justice Alliance, Amnesty International, Bruin Democrats and Bruin Republicans allow students to focus on developing their sense of social responsibility and morality outside the direct influence of the university.
From religious groups to social justice clubs, or even dance troupes putting on a charity event, the busy thoroughfare of Bruin Walk is full of organizations and individuals offering students ways to find moral and social guidance.
What’s really important here is that none of these groups can be found in a classroom ““ students are free to choose the message they want to receive.
Instead of limiting points of view, this free choice creates a student body that is more interested, excited and dedicated to its organizations. Students will be increasingly committed to the beliefs they wish to pursue rather than those laid out by a university.
Mullen, commenting on her social justice-oriented organization, said, “People who join our club seek us out. … We try to challenge them in how they think about issues, but they basically know what the Student Activist Project stands for.”
The fact that students can join the clubs that appeal to them means students can find their own ways to reach conclusions about social responsibility.
Odds are, personal conclusions will be far more meaningful than if they had been lectured in the classroom.
If you’re through with being lazy about social responsibility, e-mail Fitzpatrick at cfitzpatrick@media.ucla.edu. Send general comments to viewpoint@ucla.media.edu.