The political science curriculum does not force students to engage in local politics; international development studies students are not required to aid developing nations; and the economics department does not ask students to participate in any sort of legislative policy-making.
All too often, classes in North Campus are too theoretical and lack practical application. Students who join these programs with the intent of becoming politicians, shaping public policy or changing the world do very few of those things while studying for the majors.
Recently, a UCLA urban planning class of graduate students ventured to Bell, a city in east Los Angeles County currently mired in accusations of corruption. There, students explored the community and proposed their own urban design plans to reinvigorate the city.
Research, fieldwork and the application of principles learned in class all combined to provide these students with an educational experience that would never be possible within the confines of a lecture hall.
During their time in Bell, these students were actively engaged in the surrounding community as authorities in their field.
UCLA is not devoid of programs that provide students with hands-on experience. But most North Campus classes consist only of listening to a professor explain theoretical concepts. And while we don’t discredit the value of a liberal arts education, classes that integrate practical applications of academia only enhance the quality of such an education.
Currently, there are only a handful of programs that incorporate community involvement and public service into their curricula.
The civic engagement minor provides a healthy balance between the theoretical and the practical. The program provides students with a theoretical framework for community building while also requiring students to actively participate through the completion of at least one local internship.
This principle is not limited to policy-oriented programs. The Spanish and community and culture major requires students to do community service, but in a Spanish-speaking environment to provide practical conversational experience and to acquaint students with the local community.
While it is important to retain the intellectual pedagogy that defines many of the academic programs in North Campus, programs such as urban development give students a well-rounded education. UCLA should focus on creating more of these service-based programs that integrate practical experience with conceptual learning.
Doing so will produce a generation of scholars who are intellectual in the academic realm and active in the global community.