Need Your Help With My Syllabus to Change the World
I’m on my way to an annual conference in Philadelphia of people like me (professionally, that is, because I think I’m a bit of an odd duck outside of my simple professional title). Philly is a place known for legacy of courage and wisdom that still inspires. I, along with a crew of other deans of students (I know it sounds both dangerous and boring), am on a mission.
Our mission: Explore the necessary conditions and skills to develop imaginative, future-oriented solutions to seemingly intractable problems like wasteful war, unemployment, global migration, a polluted environment, debt, homes for humans, the role of corporations in our lives. We’re taking the time to think together about what it means to be educated for a life of purpose.
We’re want to figure out how to champion the next great generation and help young folk use their power to re-make the world. We plan to ask each other hard questions.
- What are the lost works that we are trying to recover? For whom? Our students? For us?
- Has the Internet made society more cohesive?
- Are conversations on feminism and racial equality still needed?
- Is our culture in decline? Does it matter?
- Why do we keep re-reading and re-editing the same narrow range of texts?
- Society?
- Harmony?
- Why is there a generation gap? Inevitable?
- Boycott?
- Should we worry about the loss of grand narratives in history? De-construct them?
- Should we be concerned about the welfare of future generations?
- Can a poem, a song, a painting, a post change the world?
Usually, articles and book chapters that I read on the topics I’ve mentioned are uninspiring and hard to read. I need your help. How can we transmit our convos so they are compelling? What other questions should we ask? Answers?
Stay tuned.
Peace.
P.S. You know I travel with a playlist – enjoy it, too (and add a track or two).
2 comments
in NYT electronic under most popular check David Brooks “modesty manifesto.”. The piece is interesting but I direct your attention to the top reader recommendation comments, written by young ppl.
Love your work at BU where my daughter is student
Hey Dean Elmore,
Maybe this is too late. Maybe your conference is over, but here are some thoughts just in case:
What about service-learning? Will your course include some sort of experiential component? For example, what if an engineering class took students to see projects that, however successful, had seriously negative environmental effects? What if those students were then asked to create solutions as a part of their grade?
Does an urban university have a different obligation to its community, to fix it or ‘re-make’ it, than a not-so-urban one? What does that mean for its students?
Do students consider themselves public problem solvers in the making?
Is service a must if we’re talking about the ultimate goal of making a difference with this generation?
And in response to:
“Heard: Have we organized and managed campus community service to be devoid of meaningfulness? More organized the better?”
There is no ‘one size fits all’ when it comes to campus community service. There are best practices and not so great ones from which to learn. Community service reifies what each campus considers to be ‘community’ and what each campus considers ‘service’.
At BU, that means a Center that is organized, but in such a way that coordinates service AND encourages student leadership. If you can build a system for service that not only points a student in the direction of helping others, but cultivates their own growth, then I think you’re #winning. I don’t think anyone could say it was “devoid of meaningfulness”. Instead, I think we could do even more, by consistently reflecting on the service we do and the larger problems that service exposes to the student mind, so that we might better imagine future-oriented solutions to seemingly intractable problems.