<p>A few years ago, Harvard Professor Robert Putnam wrote a book entitled Bowling Alone. One of the themes in the book is that interest in volunteerism, civic leadership, and community engagement has declined dramatically in colleges, presenting serious problems for the quality of life in communities and for our democratic form of governance. </p>
<p>I’m assuming that if you <em>really</em> want to volunteer, you will. There’s pretty much always SOME sort of organization on-campus that does this sort of thing - and if not, there’s definately organizations off-campus. Just because it isn’t in a mission statement doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. My college isn’t on that list, and I was always volunteering… or other things like that. As a member of Habitat for Humanity we built homes on weekends, we did adopt-a-block cleanup’s of the neighborhood, we sold flowers for the American Cancer Society, we raised money for the homeless, etc. We went to Florida for spring break and worked on building homes and stuff down there. As a member of the College Democrats we helped out with cleanup’s as well as other things. My friends and I also had a Relay For Life team where we raised money around campus for cancer and participated in the event. That was in no way affiliated with our school - just something we found to do on our own.</p>
<p>At most of the schools my kids looked at, community service was the largest organization on campus. From what I saw of Putnam’s book (skimmed it) he was talking about how people don’t tend to get together to do even fun things in the community, such as join a bowling league, hence the title. </p>
<p>Most colleges seem to be all about participating in massive numbers of ECs and community service. Having said that, my kids, coming out of a community that is very diverse in every way, are not fans of “outreach” efforts that involve coming into a place and “doing good.” They are more interested in connecting with people of all backgrounds and working together to create change.</p>
<p>I wasn’t as concerned about it during the college selection as I was instilling it in my children as I raised them. UC Davis has ample opportunities for students to contribute to the community, but if they didn’t have any…there would be some after my D hit town. Volunteering makes everyones life richer.</p>
<p>It seemed to me for a lot of schools it was a PR thing from their admissions offices. For some schools, it was a genuine concern because their students were idealistic types.</p>
<p>What about the “community engagement” of the school itself? I think a lot of Yale’s security problem comes from the fact that they have absolutely refused in the past to be a good neighbor. JHU does all it can to hire from the adjacent community, redevelop/reuse buildings when possible and be as human as a behemoth organization can be. To me this is important for any school in an old city.</p>
<p>My kids have had to do a lot of volunteer work for their high school. It is a requirement. So, I’m not really surprised if they do not want to contribute their volunteer time while in college. That’s fine with me because I kind of know how it goes,…teach you kids to volunteer and give of themselves when they are young, like junior through senior high, and they will come back to it someday. Maybe not for years and years. There are so many demands, study, find a job, build a career. But I know they will come back to it. I know because I have done it. There will come a point in an adult’s life they will realize if they don’t help, it won’t be done, so I know they will come back to it as I did.
Also, I am a firm believer of community action. I do not feel it is a responsibility of a temporary resident to contribute his time or effort. But I do think it is the responsibilities of permanent residents to help their community. I believe folks should lend a hand where they live.</p>