THE STRONG HAVE SOMETHING TO YEARN FOR & THE WEAK HAVE NOTHING TO RUN FROM

Sister Edith BogueAssociate Professor of Sociology

Benedictine Pedagogy Conference 2011

TRADITIONAL NARRATIVE:COLLEGE AS OPPORTUNITY

Access is increasingly open• Enrollment in degree-granting institutions

increased by 14% between 1987 and 1997.• Increased 26% between 1997 and 2007• In 2007, 18.2 million students were enrolled

in American colleges.• About 39% of Americans aged 18-24 were

enrolled in college in 2007.

Income and Employment

• Historically, income increases with each level of education.

• Percent employed is higher at each level of education.

Programs for less advantaged work!• Upward Bound –77.3% of all students

immediately went to college. • Upward Bound Math/Science –86.5% of

students go directly to college.• Talent Search – 79% of Talent Search

participants were admitted to postsecondary institutions.

• Educational Opportunity Centers –57% of college-ready students were admitted to institutions of higher learning.

• Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement – 25-41% reported as attending graduate schools

• Student Support Services –Students saw their GPA rise from a 2.3 in their freshmen year to a 2.6 by their senior year.

Source: Council for Opportunity in Education – TRiO Fact Sheethttp://www.coenet.us/files/bulletin_board-New_to_TRIO_Fact_Sheet_031209.pdf

NARRATIVES OF COLLEGE AS CONFUSION & FAILURE

• Arum, R., & Roksa, J. (2011). Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses

Learning (College Learning Assessment)

• 45% of students “did not demonstrate any significant improvement in learning” during the first two years of college.

• 36% of students “did not demonstrate any significant improvement in learning” over four years of college.

• Those students who do show improvements tend to show only modest improvements.

• Brandon, C. (2011). The Five-Year Party:

How Colleges Have Given Up on Educating Your

Child and What You Can Do

About It

• Professor X. (2011). In the Basement of the Ivory Tower: Confessions of an Accidental Academic

Graduation Rates• Graduation rates of bachelor’s-seeking

students at 4-year institutions increased when measured after 6 years, rather than after 4 years, from time of entry

• The graduation rate of all bachelor’s-seeking students in the 2001 cohort is ―36% after 4 years, ―53% after 5 years, and ―57% after 6 years

Source: U.S. Dept. of Education: Enrollment in Postsecondary Institutions, Fall 2007; Graduation Rates, 2001 & 2004 Cohorts; and Financial Statistics, Fiscal Year 2007: First Look- MARCH 2009. Laura G. Knapp, Janice E. Kelly-Reid, Scott A. Ginder http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2009/2009155.pdf

• Bok, D. (2007). Our Underachieving Colleges: A Candid Look at How Much Students Learn and Why They Should Be Learning More.

Reduced Employment Options• Vie for entry level jobs

with laid off workers with more experience

• Few jobs created and many lost

• Even service jobs hard to get

• Hacker, A., & Dreifus, C. (2010). Higher Education?: How Colleges Are Wasting Our Money and Failing Our Kids---and What We Can Do About It.

Student Debt• Average debt levels for

graduating seniors with student loans rose to $23,200 in 2008.

• In 2008:―At public universities,

average debt was $20,200―At private nonprofit

universities, average debt was $27,650

―At private for-profit universities, average debt was $33,050

Correlates of this narrative• Scrutiny

• Reduced funding and support for funding

• Amplified utilitarian rhetoric

• Internal discussion about response

Is this a new narrative?• 1980’s criticism

(Proxmire’s Golden Fleece awards, ‘75-’88)

• Model of breadth + depth developed after World War II―Harvard’s “all elective” period―Princeton’s “all classics” period

“I regard the average American collegian … as a careless boy-man who is chiefly anxious to have a good time and who shirks his work and deceives his instructors in every possible way.”

Lyman Hotchkiss BaggFour Years at Yale (1871)

How can we look at 21st century realities with the wisdom of our Benedictine heritage?

HOSPITALITY:INVITING PEOPLE

Admissions Officers• Goals, quotas, counts

• Revenue stream

• Key Indicators

• Marketing

• Face outward

• Enthusiasm

• Opportunity

• Welcoming

• Mobility

• Committed

The language of admissions…“Our yield rate is right on goal and on par with historical data, and our discount rate is also tracking nearly perfectly to the goals we set last fall. So the models we built for this incoming class hit on all cylinders. The identified big drop in … is the only unexpected variable we need to overcome to make our class.” “For now, our staff continues to work with our remaining applicant pool to get them to deposit. We are in the midst of our first set of orientations this week, during which we will have nearly xxx students and families on campus over four sessions.”

“If you see families wandering around in the hallways looking lost, please take the time to stop and help them figure out where they are going.”

Source: Report from Admissions Officer

What St Benedict says• Guests are welcomed

as Christ himself.• Attention and care for

all, especially the vulnerable

• Be open to the qualities and gifts of visitors

• First, pray with the guest or visitor

What St Benedict says• If someone arrives to enter,

let her wait a few days and knock several times.

• Ask the person what she is seeking.

• Invite her into the guest house for a few days.

“Read the Rule straight through”• “Clearly told the hardships”

• “This is our Rule. If you can keep it, come in. If not, you are free to leave.”

• “After due reflection…”

Chapter 58

Benedict’s insights• Open to all• Attentive to special

needs of week• Clear attractive identity• Discernment:

neither staying nor leaving is pushed

HOSPITALITY:GROWING INTO COMMUNITY

21st century 18 - 24 year olds• Education has an instrumental purpose• Optimistic about the future• Present actions unconnected to future life• Philosophy of “no regrets”• Hard to see objective reality beyond the self• Uncertain purpose

Smith, C. (2009). Souls in Transition: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of Emerging Adults

Students in the 21st century• Less than 50% the amount of time devoted

to studying as students in 1960• Less engagement and commitment to

academic endeavor• Mediocre performance of America high

school students on science and math tests• Average college grades have increased

Students come to our colleges for purposes different from the mission and vision we hold dear.

Howcan we build

bridges to adult lifethat are meaningful?

Novices – learning the life• “Senior chosen for skill in

winning souls looks over them with careful attention”

• Learning is individual – people receive what they need and work according to ability

• Primary focus: does the person truly seek God?

Faults, Errors, Correction• Errors are normal• Correction is also normal• Feedback is prompt• Correction responds to

―the problem ―the individual

• Goal: that a person can see, acknowledge, and remedy errors and so grow in holiness

Medieval Monastic Schools• Learned immense amounts of

material―History, philosophy, theology

―Mathematics, music, nature

―Practical skills: construction, horticulture

• Memory was emphasized

• Understanding arose from the interplay of ideas and knowledge

Medieval Monastic Schools• Seeking knowledge was

seeking God:If we want to know the heart and mind ofGod, what better way than by understandingall that God made? (Hugh of St. Victor)

• Education & knowledge were transformative

Pondering Bloom’s Taxonomy• Focus on Higher Order

Thinking Skills (HOTS)• Lower Order Thinking Skills

(LOTS) less valued• Students lack skill and

content in LOTS.• Students easily memorize

much information in domains of personal interest

Mike Bowar’s Qatar Academy Wikihttp://mbowe.qataracademy.wikispaces.net/

Purpose and Meaning• Survey of 1200 undergrads and 800 faculty• Almost 80% said that they were spiritual and

committed to a search for purpose and meaning

• Almost 60% of both groups said that they had never experienced such a search in the classroom.

Research by Sandy & Helen Astin as reported in Palmer & Zajonc (2010) The Heart of Higher Education:

A Call to Renewal

Integrative education“How can higher education become a more multidimensional enterprise, one that draws on a full range of human capacities for knowing, teaching, and learning; that bridges the gaps between the disciplines; that forges stronger links between knowing the world and living creatively in it, in solitude and in community?”

Palmer & Zajonc (2010) The Heart of Higher Education: A Call to Renewal

Benedictine Colleges• Offer a vibrant, strong, and durable context of

purpose and meaning• Draw on a holistic view of the development

of the person• Cultural temptation to appear as we think the

students want us to appear• Are most attractive and most appealing when

we offer something to yearn for

Benedict’s insights• Community of purpose

that draws the strong

• Fellow seekers for theconfused and weak

• Open to change

• Engaged with the world

HOSPITALITY: The stronghave somethingto yearn for, andthe weak have nothing to run from