Student Development Philosophy

In terms of continuous development of my personal Student Development Philosophy¹ I was reflecting on current events and decided I need to update the document. Then, I decided to make it a post. Here we go!

In terms of structure, I’ve worked in organizational leadership and management for nearly 30 years, I do believe and practice establishing a vision, mission, and values, whether it is for your organization or you personally.

Vision:
Recognized for integrating academic and co-curricular lived experiences characterized by student involvement and responsible global citizenship.

Mission:
The development of responsible global citizen leaders who are prepared to make positive contributions to the common good, in whichever society they choose to reside.

The values to which I subscribe and attempt to uphold have gone through multiple iterations. In this particular writing, one has been replaced, and one added based on recent work experiences.

Listed alphabetically:

Compassion: desire to see no living thing suffer.

Honesty: ability and willingness to be truthful.

Pragmatism: belief that action is more important than doctrine; ideas borrow their meanings from their consequences and their truths are derived from their verification.

Sacrifice: holding interests of others and the ends of virtue over one’s own well-being.

Self-awareness: personal assumptions about the way the world works, learning styles, personality traits, knowledge competencies, strengths and limitations, values, decision-making methods, and what has influenced who one is at the moment.

Formal education must be intentional and holistic, combining the curriculum and co-curricular activities. In laypersons’ terms, that means we should have purposes, those purposes should be aimed at personal, individual development as catalysts for community development, and the purposes should be based on theory as well as being adjusted to “fit” our particular student demographic and any special need(s) that our demographic demonstrates.

The context of community is significant: our students do not live in vacuums and the actions of each person effect other individuals and situations. “Systems thinking” as represented in Senge’s (1990) Fifth Discipline serves to remind us that we do not live on deserted islands. Particularly within the context of the millennium generation’s (self) reliance on hi-technology gadgets is a crucial need to re-examine and re-focus on the ability to operate as part of a team, with other individuals who may or may not share our particular world views or beliefs. Understanding a system and focusing on systems thinking will lead to a better understanding of how collaboration is necessary and may increase feelings of worth, as we attain goals and objectives. “People must have the inherent satisfaction of re-creating the school together, with one another’s support . . .” (Senge, 2000, p 28); here, one can easily (both in the abstract and concrete senses) transition from Senge’s term of “school” to “school community.”

Involvement is crucial. In order to fully learn about one’s responsibilities to others, students must become involved within their communities. Opportunities to participate, share opinions and ideas, assume responsibility, serve in leadership roles, and deal with conflicting opinions are all valuable experiences that add realism to the university and college experience. Experiences, in the forms of both successes and failures, guide what students learn and how they use learning to develop. Responsibility begins and ends with an individual, not a group. Accepting mistakes, and learning from those, rather than offering excuses, is a critical step in self-authorship²,³,⁴,⁵ self awareness, and in building successful communities.

Recognition of imperfection, while at the same time striving for personal development and growth is paramount to improving global relationships. Our program(s) should promote learning and development in students by encouraging outcomes such as intellectual growth, realistic self-appraisal, clarification of values, leadership development, physical fitness, meaningful and caring interpersonal relations, independent and collaborative skills, communication skills and an appreciation of aesthetic and cultural differences.

In a global environment, effective career management is of cardinal importance. Planned Happenstance⁶ and The Happenstance Learning Theory⁷ offer excellent guidelines. Focusing on and developing the five skills of curiosity, persistence, flexibility, risk-taking, and optimism enables student leaders to begin to understand just how and to what extent they might control of their own destinies. Creative use of gamification⁸ principles encourage and reinforce the creation of meaningful community connections and networking. Meaning-making ensures the creation of learning partnerships and learning networks that can positively transform local and global communities and lives⁹.

Finally, a deeply-held secure belief in something greater than oneself is necessary for a fulfilled life. For many years both as a professional and as a family-member I’ve relied on a set of Virtues¹⁰ and Principles¹¹. It is important to improve and get as close to the embodiment of Avatarhood as possible. Bottom line: We need to be good to other humans on the planet. Particularly in times as we are experiencing now, this message is critical. One’s core-belief-system may be religious, secular, or a mixture, but the virtues should be strengthened if they already exist, introduced if they do not exist, but developed nonetheless. Maimonides (115)¹² taught about developing one’s moral character, “One is obligated to conduct his affairs with others in a gentle and pleasing manner.” . We should strive to instill and develop this element of students’ developmental processes. Students may then choose to use or discard the knowledge, but we ought to feel inclined to facilitate the awareness of the powerful, positive difference such a belief may make in one’s life.